St. the 2014

The book of Tobit is one of 7 books of the which the Jews rejected from their Scriptures around the year AD 200. On the basis of the Jewish rejection of those 7 books many of the Protestant Reformers also rejected them, including Tobit, around the year AD 1500. That is why many of you do not find Tobit in your , printed by Protestant publishers. In deed it is not even in our pew Bibles. And that is a real shame because Tobit is a wonderful book with an essential point to teach Christians today.

I first read this exciting and encouraging work when I discovered that Tobit was in the Bible which Jesus used, in the Bible which the quotes, and in the Bibles of all the early Church Fathers. In fact, all seven of these books, including Tobit, were in the original King James Bible. So, I commend the book of Tobit to you with confidence that it rightly belongs to our faith and that you will find it profitable for faithfulness.

I am speaking to you about Tobit because in its pages we meet one of the seven who minister in the presence of God. Recently we celebrated the feast day of Michael, another one of the seven, and we all know Gabriel, the Archangel who spoke with the Blessed Mother Mary. But today we celebrate the ministry of Raphael, whom we would never know, were it not for this wonderful book of Tobit. Here is the basic story in few paragraphs.

Tobit was a patriarchal figure among the jews, the head of a family that was carried away in the captivity of the Assyrians. Because he was righteous before God, he was able to build a prosperous life even in where his family was taken. But before long, this righteous family, Tobit, his wife Anna, and their son Tobias lost everything to thieves and vandals. What's more, Tobit became ill and was left blind. Anna, his wife, had to earn their living as best she could while the family struggled with illness and poverty.

After prayer and fasting, Tobit remembered something. Before he was taken captive, knowing he was about to be deported, he had left a small fortune in the safe keeping of a friend. He could restore his family's fortune if he could retrieve that treasure.

So he sent his son, Tobias, on a journey to fetch the treasure and restore the family. Tobias hired a man to help him on his journey and the rest of the story is about how this mysterious hired hand helps Tobit and Tobias recover their livelihood.

When they were hungry, the mysterious man caused a fish to jump into the hands of Tobias. When they were in danger, the man rescued them. When Tobias was to marry a woman plagued by a , the man taught Tobias how to overcome the demon and the couple were happily wed. After a great adventure, the money was recovered. Upon their return to Ninavah, the mysterious man taught Tobias to make a medicine which healed his father's eyes.

With the family restored, Tobit consulted his son to determine the wages of the hired hand. That's where we started reading today. They decide to give the man half of their money for the wonderful benefit of his assistance. When they offer him his reward, the man announced, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the saints and enter into the presence of the Glory of the Lord."

That revelation is part of a long exhortation which we read today. I'd like to draw out just a few relevant points.

First, Raphael the Archangel calls us to worship the Lord, to sing praises to God, to revel in the glorious work of our Heavenly Father by proclaiming the goodness of his blessings to us. By this, St. Raphael calls us to remember the great truth of human existence. We are made to live before God, beings who receive the glory of God and offer it back to him. This is the real meaning of the priesthood of all believers. The heart of man is made to worship, that is, our hearts are made to be loved and to requite the love given to us.

Secondly, Every blessing of this life, including the daily mundane blessings of home and family and labor, these are all from the hand of God. St. Raphael tells us insistently, when the angels intervene on our behalf, it is the work of God. When the Angels bring us otherworldly, supernatural blessings ­ to heal our diseases, to restore what had been lost, to minister to those we love, to answer our prayers ­ when the angels intervene in our lives it is because God himself, our Heavenly Father commands the Angels to bless us.

"When I blessed you," says Raphael the Archangel, "I did not come as a favor on my part, but by the will of God. Therefore, praise him forever." Raphael would remind us, teach us that God loves us so much, cares for his people so very dearly, that he commands his angels to bless us. Furthermore, the Angels of heaven are so certain of the will of God toward mankind, that they listen for our prayers and bear them into the presence of God. Why? Because they know that God wishes to bless us.

Third and last: When Raphael the archangel had finished speaking with Tobit and Tobias, he said, "And now bless the Lord upon the earth, and give thanks to him, for I am ascending to him who sent me. Then they stood up and they saw him no more."

St. Raphael's ascension is so like Christ's ascension that we can not help but see a prefigurement of that glorious moment. Jesus Christ, Son of God, who belongs at the right hand of the Father, after he had come own from Heaven for our sakes, he ascended again to the Father who sent him, there to reign in his father's presence, forever.

But we should also see in St. Raphael's Ascension a prefigurement of our own ascension into glory. As a mere Angel, St. Raphael could not take Tobit and Anna, Tobias and Sarah into heaven with him. But Christ, the man who is God, can take us with him. And so we confidently pray at the feast of the Ascension, "As Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, may we thither ascend and with him continually dwell."

This vision of Ascension into the Kingdom of God, this glimpse of our ultimate destiny as a race of beings dwelling in the glorious presence of God, this is the Christian hope, the Christian vision.

In theological terms we call this the eschatological vision, which means the way things will be in the end, when all the work of Christ is finished and we ascend into heaven. St. Raphael's Ascension reminds us of this eschatological vision of end things, and its essential to our faith. I would suggest to you that this is the most important thing you and I could learn from Raphael today. Because it is this vision of our end, this knowledge of and hoped for final state of humanity which Christianity has largely abandoned, today.

I believe that Christianity will be restored to its beauty and glory when we recover the theology of the Ascension. When the ultimate fulfillment of the Kingdom of God becomes our vision, our purpose, our focus, our desire, our labor and our love then all things will be right and all things will be well.

Let us pray:

St. Raphael, we were made a little lower than you, the angels, yet you have favored us with glory and honor from God. Thank you for bearing our prayers into the presence of God. And thanks be to God, blessed be his holy name for sending his favor to us by your ministry. Intercede for us, Holy Archangels, as we praise the name of the Lord, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.