Daily Reflection Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

The Book of Tobit, which we will browse all this week, is a short work (fourteen chapters) of religious folklore probably written about 200 B.C. It is among what we call the Apocrypha, significantly later works than the rest of the Old Testament and usually written in Greek, not Hebrew. They are not accepted as canonical in Judaism, but they are by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Tobit is usually seen as an early version of a type of folklore known as The Grateful Dead (which were present in many cultures), where a traveler discovers either an unburied corpse and has it buried or pays the debt of a dead man enabling his proper burial so that he can rest in peace. The spirit of the dead person, the grateful dead, then appears as an animal or a person and blesses the mortal in some way for his kindness, usually by protecting him or saving his life somehow or bringing healing.

In Tobit, the angel Raphael stands in for the grateful dead, since Tobias, out of his continual devout following of Jewish law (while so many of his Jewish neighbors had abandoned it), has buried many Jewish persons who had died at the hands of hostile peoples in the Jewish diaspora in which they lived. However, Tobit is much more a spiritual story of remaining faithful in faithless times. It is therefore, rather fascinatingly, something of a parable of our own times, with so many in the Church today abandoning the faith of their fathers and mothers.

Tobit continues to follow the Jewish law, continues to offer the tithes and sacrifices of the old temple, continues to follow Jewish dietary laws and Sabbath laws. And he continues to pray and bury the dead, even after it had brought him enmity from the local tyrant who had been executing many Jews, and ridicule from his apostate Jewish neighbors for continuing to do so and risk such danger.

But Tobit remains faithful in a quiet and earnest way. He does not shout or remonstrate with his neighbors. He never scolds or lectures or threatens any who have fallen away. He simply remains faithful and full of hope and trust in God, always believing fully that God will provide, that God will take care despite any evidence to the contrary.

We can all learn from Tobit. By continuing to love, care for and serve our family, friends and neighbors, whether or not they continue to follow the faith, continuing to show them compassion and tenderness without arguing or preaching or warning, we actually offer the greatest witness to the faith of all. A meek and humble, compassionate and gentle caring for others as well as prayers and sacrifices for them, says and does far more than any arguing or wringing of hands or dramatic tears of grief or accusations of betrayal. Let us simply put them in God’s hands and just love them as much as we can, devoid of any judgement or reservations or fear, trusting in God’s love for them always. That will finally be a very great sign to them that we do indeed hold a treasure in earthen vessels.