Today's feast and today's readings started my meditative juices flowing this morning. The Book of Tobit is one of those "Catholic" books of the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. Since it wasn't written in Hebrew, it didn't qualify for inclusion in the Hebrew canon. However, the story it tells is, I believe, endearing and fascinating.
Today's selection tells about Tobit's willingness to put his life in danger simply to bury the earthly remains of a fellow kinsman. His neighbors thought him foolish. When he was blinded later on in the story, his neighbors taunted him for his foolish behavior. They believed that God did not "honor" him and that he had brought this shame on himself through his foolish ways. Needless to say, Tobit held on to his principles and to the customs of his faith despite their ridicule, despite the fact that he was an exile in a foreign land.
The young African martyrs from Uganda died for their faith. Because they were unwilling to renounce their faith, the king had them slaughtered. Some were beheaded. Some were pierced by lances. Others were rolled up into reed mats which were then burned. The amazing thing about their steadfast faith is that they were not even baptized Christians at the beginning of the ordeal. Charles Lwanga, their catechist, secretly baptized them while they languished in prison awaiting execution. As green in the faith as they were, they did not give into the commands of the king.
Both Tobit and the martyrs we celebrate may seem foolish in the eyes of the world. To people of faith, they have become beacons of steadfastness, constancy, perseverance, and so many other virtues. I stand in awe of their faith and can only pray that I would be as strong if faced with such dangers.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator