1ST CATEGORY NT QUESTION 119. ON TOBIT. — The providence of the Lord God towards us is so great that, not wanting us to err, he gave us the law and examples of good works, so that, following them, one may lead an honest and peaceful life with the fear of God. For he who is the maker of life naturally does not wish his work to be subject to death. Although nature itself is not devoid of law, the Lord, being good and merciful, wanted us to have greater knowledge of the things to be pursued and of the things to be avoided, and to this end he showed them through texts and examples, as the present reading attests. Therefore God's servant holy Tobit was given to us, after the law, as an example, so that we may know how the things we have read are done, and so that, if trials come, we may not desist from the fear of God, and that we may not hope for help from any other source than from him, keeping in mind that it is written, "I have been young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread" (Ps. 36:25). Therefore he who hopes in God with all his mind can never be deceived. Even if tribulations arise for a time through Satan's maneuvers, the examples of holy men teach us that these things are permitted by God only for the sake of increasing our rewards; because if we bear tribulations with composure, we shall here be given consolation with effect, and in the future we shall be given eternal life with glory. For because our God is just and there is no respect of persons with him (Rom. 2:11), he lets us be tested, because he loves us, so that he may give us immense rewards after the hardship. Indeed, when the apostle was praying for his trials to cease, the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you; for power is made perfect in infirmity". As a reaction to this the apostle said, "When I am weak, then am I stronger", and "I rejoice in my tribulations," he said, "that the power of Christ may dwell in me" (2 Cor. 12:9-10). So, let us be informed by the Scripture of how praiseworthy holy Tobit is, whose devotion captivity did not diminish, whom the loss of his eyes did not stop from blessing God, whom the exhaustion of his resources did not divert from the way of justice and truth (Tob. 1-3). Indeed, need tests a just man and proves him to be just, and keeping fairness when in poverty is the true and perfect justice. From things that diminish the devotion of some, praiseworthy Tobit gained an increase of it. For want, he says, humiliates a man, and he who is humiliated cannot keep justice. But holy Tobit's spirit, intent on God, was neither broken by captivity nor humiliated by want, because he buried the bodies of the slain in spite of the prohibition, and, certain of God's generosity, he was compassionate even with the small means that he had, knowing that God prefers the compassion that is done from small means, as did the widow whom the Lord praised in the Gospel (Luke 21:2-4). For the truly faithful person, the person who does not doubt God's promises, is the one who gives generously from little. Therefore, comforting his heart with the hope of the future, Tobit, devoted to God, was found to be strong and brave in trial, showing that, when in want, one ought to be all the more vigilant in God's fear, because if want does not prompt you to seek God's help, how much less will security? Therefore holy men, certain that God has reserved for himself the judgement of all that is done in this world, not only have not been vexed about tribulations, losses, and other calamities or reproaches, but they have even accepted them with gratitude, as did our apostles, who after being beaten rejoiced that they had been accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41). Indeed, the calamities that unjustly strike the faithful, whether in tribulations or in reproaches, are the signs of future rewards. Therefore just Tobit was so pleasing to God that he obtained for his merits a twofold reward: for the present he recovered, through the angel's agency, the sight that he had lost, and was also enriched with the resources that are useful in this life; and for the future he was made an heir of the kingdom of heaven: so that we might be taught through this that when someone obeys God's law with all their heart and does not doubt his promises, God often augments their resources in this world, and grants them eternal life in the next. There is also something else that invites us to compliance with God's law: holy Tobit did not only obtain the rewards of his own justice, because there is added to the sum of his glory also something from the good actions of those who behave as his imitators. For examples are praised in their imitators. This can happen to us as well if we live in such a way that it becomes appropriate for us to have imitators too.
(Tobit 12:7) 2ND CATEGORY OT & NT QUESTION 8. IT IS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF TOBIT, “IT IS HONORABLE TO REVEAL AND TO CONFESS THE WORKS OF GOD;” WHILE THE SAVIOR, AFTER DOING THE WORK OF GOD, RECOMMENDS NOT TO TELL IT TO ANYONE. (MARK 8:26) — The Savior did not recommend hiding the work of God, because he says in another place, "Go, and tell the great things that God did for you" (Mark 5:19), but he sometimes refused the testimony that men wanted to give him and repressed their vanity, so as not to appear to testify to himself, as a seducer, unreasonable conduct in the eyes of every prudent man. |