Book of Tobit

So he says, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth." And that was a common Jewish way of addressing God in that time period.

So if you look at Tobit chapter 10 and 2 Samuel chapter 22 verse 48, there's the same language of God of heaven and earth.

The difference here of course is that Jesus uses the term Father instead of just Lord of heaven and earth.

He adds in Father as well.

God himself speaks of children whose angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven.

In the book of Tobias, the archangel Raphael accompanies young Tobias on a dangerous journey, protecting and guiding him, even though Tobias initially has no idea who the traveling companion is.

early christians took this very seriously church fathers wrote about angels assigned to individuals and over the centuries devotion became increasingly personal by the middle ages christians were regularly praying to their guardian angels for protection against temptation danger and especially a sudden or unprepared death But interestingly, the feast itself took a while to develop.

Local celebrations honoring guardian angels appeared during the Middle Ages, particularly in Spain.

But again, the very intimate secret of our hearts is for God only and for our good angels according to our own free invitation to them to come visit us, assist us, guide us.

If you haven't, I very much recommend that you read in the Old Testament the very short and highly entertaining, if I may say, Book of Tobias.

You will see there how Archangel Raphael accompanies, guides, saves, and protects not only this young man, but also his future bride.

That's a very detailed depiction in Holy Scripture, the Word of God, of the diligence of angels to assist us and protect us against perils.

But the chief duty of a guardian angel is to protect us from the snares of the devil.

The holy angels have powers over the fallen angels or the evil spirits.

And we also see this in the book of Tobias, who flew away.

The fallen angels would flee at the approach of a good angel.

Now, I, um, I said the Septuagint was the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, but actually it's more, and that's what makes it, um, fascinating to study as well, um, is that the Septuagint includes some Greek biblical manuscripts that are not in the Hebrew Bible.

Some of those, uh, fa- more famous example are Tobit, Judith, and the most famous one, the Maccabees.

The book of Ma- the books of Maccabees are fascinating historical records, um, um, around the Hanukkah time, um, that are not included for various reasons in the Tanakh, in the Hebrew scriptures, but are included in the Septuagint, in the Greek, um, Bible.

Now, one other, one other point here, um, that's I think fascinating about the number 70.

Uh, you have, uh, in, in our reading today from Exodus, um, the Lord speaking to, uh, Moses saying, the Lord himself says this: "I myself will send an angel before you to guard you." Okay.

Then, uh, to Tobit, angels appearing him, to him there.

Then you have the Archangel Gabriel appearing to Our Lady saying that she will become the mother of the Savior.

You have Jesus, who is tempted in the desert as his mission begins.

Psalm 91.11 These words invite trust in God's providence, not an expectation that we will never face difficulty, but confidence that we are never beyond His loving care.

The Book of Tobit gives families a vivid picture of angelic help.

Raphael accompanies young Tobias on a journey, then reveals that he has brought the family's prayers before God .

As we pray to our guardian angel, we can ask for that same kind of faithful guidance.

If you retain the sins of any, they are retained." And in 2 Thessalonians, we see again from St.

Paul that he tells the faithful to, "Stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by a word of mouth or by letter." In the Book of Tobit, chapter 12 verse nine, that, "For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin.

Those who perform deeds of charity and righteousness will have the fullness of life." Going back to the Book of Matthew, our Lord tells the apostles, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." In the early church, there were many martyrs called confessors, and they believed that awaiting their martyrdom, there was redemption in their suffering.

The idea of redemptive suffering and indulgences goes all the way back to the apostles.