Light from the Altar - Raphael the Archangel, 24 October

Any one with time to spare would do well to read carefully in the Old Testament the Book of Tobias, or should his leisure not suffice for that, let him read from the fifth to the twelfth chapter. They tell of the Archangel and the young Tobias. There is no story or legend or idyll to compare with this book of the Old Testament. It is human yet divine, natural yet permeated with the supernatural! It is the story of a perfect child and only son; of fond, doting parents who, nevertheless, love God more than their boy, and bring him up almost austerely to serve and adore the divine majesty. It contains the exquisite figure of Raphael in the guise of "Azarias son of Ananias," the traveling angel who is charged to guard Tobias' boy in the dangerous journey to Media.

The story shortly told is as follows: Tobias, a holy Jew, an exile in Ninive, has sunk into the most abject poverty. To recover a sum of money lent to a kinsman living in Media, he resolves to send his young son thither. But mindful of the dangers of the road, he bids the youth seek a companion in the market-place. Young Tobias returns with a stranger of pleasing aspect, who, giving proofs of being of good family, is hired to guide Tobias to Rages, a city of Media. The journey accomplished, he brings the son back to his old parents with the sum required, a virtuous wife, and a miraculous medicine for the cure of the blind father's eyes. And there is joy in that little family surpassing anything mere earthly prosperity can bring.

But Azarias must be paid his wages, and father and son debate about the price. Their hearts are overflowing with gratitude for the service he has rendered them. Nothing they can offer can be too great. At length, half of all their new possessions - Sara's dower and the regained sum, are offered to the guide, but he answers: "It is good to hide the secret of the king, but honorable to reveal and confess the works of God. I am the Angel Raphael, one of the seven who stand before the Lord." When they understood the angel's words, "Tobias and his son, lying prostrate for three hours upon their face, blessed God, and rising up they told all His wonderful works."

Such is the story of Tobias, shorn of all its beauty in the quick telling. But we can go back a little and think it over in the space remaining.

One thing we note especially. The angel-visitor, when he stood revealed, shot such a thrill of bliss through these holy men that for three hours they lay motionless upon the earth, and then rose up blessing and praising God. That one of the seven who stand before the Lord should deign to wait upon the children of men, do an errand at their bidding, be as a servant in the way - this was beyond their dreams and wildest expectation! Yet they had an angel's word for the truth. Raphael had been their willing guide and guardian.

Three hours ecstasy and a whole lifetime of thanksgiving because they had been served by an angel!

These holy patriarchs rouse up in my heart a feeling of wonder at my own dull self! Am I not waited upon by an angel? Is not my best friend an angel guardian? More, a thousand times more. Did not One come in the flesh to minister to me upon earth, to show me the way to Heaven, to help me to find riches and lay up treasure where neither moth nor rust can spoil? And was that One an angel, cherub, or seraph! He, the Lord before whom the seven stand, became my Brother, my King, my Savior. And has this thought given me a three hours' rapture? Has it colored my life with praise and blessing and thanksgiving? In deepest humility I bow my head at the bright Raphael's feet and beg him by his blessed office, by his burning love, by his zeal for the souls of men, to pray for me that I may know Him who "took flesh and dwelt amongst us," and praise Him all the days of my life, as Tobias praised Him, but, as is seeming, with infinitely higher and loftier praise.

- taken from Light from the Altar, edited by Father James J McGovern, 1906