Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
June 2, 2021
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Tobit 3:1-11a, 16-17a
The scripture writer tells us that Tobit was grief-stricken and he groaned and wept aloud. And yet he begins his prayer with, “You are righteous, O Lord, and all your deeds are just; All your ways are mercy and truth.” Sarah, who is suffering from the verbal abuse of her father’s maid, prays, “Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God, and blessed is your holy and honorable name. Blessed are you in all your works for ever!”
Both–despite their suffering and sorrow–could pray with praise and thanksgiving. They didn’t deny their situations, but rose above them to recognize the goodness of God. Their faith and experience told them that God is bigger than their present circumstances.
We can get bogged down in our troubles and begin to see the world in a negative light. It is then that we need to go to our faith and to both our experience of God and those of others to get a bigger picture. Like Tobit and Sarah we will still face our present difficulties, but we can see hope and light beyond them.
