June 3, 2013

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Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs 

Lectionary: 353

Reading 1TB 1:3; 2:1A-8

I, Tobit, have walked all the days of my life
on the paths of truth and righteousness.
I performed many charitable works for my kinsmen and my people
who had been deported with me to Nineveh, in Assyria.

Tobit was a righteous man who sought to do the will of God.  He lived during the time that the Jews were scattered to different parts of the world and he lived in a town which was considered very wicked.  You can read a bit more about Nineveh in the book of Jonah.  

On our festival of Pentecost, the feast of Weeks,
a fine dinner was prepared for me, and I reclined to eat.
The table was set for me,
and when many different dishes were placed before me,
I said to my son Tobiah: “My son,
go out and try to find a poor man
from among our kinsmen exiled here in Nineveh.
If he is a sincere worshiper of God, bring him back with you,
so that he can share this meal with me.
Indeed, son, I shall wait for you to come back.”

Fifty days after the Passover, Tobit was celebrating the feast of the Pentecost at home.  But since he was in exile far from home, he decided to search for some other Israelite to celebrate with him.  So he sent his son in search of one to bring home.

Tobiah went out to look for some poor kinsman of ours.
When he returned he exclaimed, “Father!”
I said to him, “What is it, son?”
He answered, “Father, one of our people has been murdered!
His body lies in the market place where he was just strangled!”
I sprang to my feet, leaving the dinner untouched;
and I carried the dead man from the street
and put him in one of the rooms,
so that I might bury him after sunset.
Returning to my own quarters, I washed myself
and ate my food in sorrow.
I was reminded of the oracle
pronounced by the prophet Amos against Bethel:

But what Tobiah  found is that one of the Jews had been murdered and his body left in the street.  So he informed his dad.  And Tobit left his dinner untouched in order to pull the man's body off the street and hide him so that he could bury him in the morning.

“All your festivals shall be turned into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation.”

And Tobit recollected that because of their disobedience, the Jews festivities had been turned into mourning.

And I wept.
Then at sunset I went out, dug a grave, and buried him.

Then, in the morning, he gave the man a decent burial.

The neighbors mocked me, saying to one another:
“He is still not afraid!
Once before he was hunted down for execution
because of this very thing;
yet now that he has scarcely escaped,
here he is again burying the dead!”

Tobit had been in trouble with the authorities before for doing the right thing.  And his neighbors, who saw what he was doing, mocked him for putting himself in jeopardy again, by doing the right thing towards God.

Remember that we also are called to do the right thing towards our fellow man, in life and in death.  We are to respect people's bodies because they are made in the image of God:  The seventh work of corporal mercy, commanded us by the Church is that we must "bury the dead."

2447 The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God:

He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none and he who has food must do likewise. But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you. If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?

Remember also, to have prayers said for your loved ones who have passed away.  The most effective prayer is the Mass.  It is very simple to go to your church and have masses said for your departed loved one.  St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, said to her son, "“Bury my body wherever you will; let not care of it cause you any concern. One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.” (Read more)

Responsorial PsalmPS 112:1B-2, 3B-4, 5-6

R. (1b) Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
His generosity shall endure forever.
Light shines through the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.
R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice;
He shall never be moved;
the just man shall be in everlasting remembrance.
R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Happy is he who obeys God and does all that God wills.  God will bless him abundantly and he will rest with God in eternity.  

GospelMK 12:1-12

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes,
and the elders in parables.
“A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.
At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants
to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.
But they seized him, beat him,
and sent him away empty-handed.
Again he sent them another servant.
And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.
He sent yet another whom they killed.
So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.
He had one other to send, a beloved son.
He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
So they seized him and killed him,
and threw him out of the vineyard.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
He will come, put the tenants to death,
and give the vineyard to others.
Have you not read this Scripture passage:

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?”

They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd,
for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.
So they left him and went away.

The Jews were the ones to whom God had leased the vineyard.  And they wanted to keep the fruits to themselves.  God sent them many prophets to let them know that He wanted them to do good works and become righteous but they killed His prophets.  Then God sent His Son, Jesus.