A king’s secret it is prudent to keep,
but the works of God are to be made known with due honor.
Today we hear the end of the story we have been reflecting on all week. Tobit and Tobiah’s family fortune has been restored; Sarah’s sadness from her seven previous husbands dying on their wedding night has been turned into joy when she was given in marriage to Tobit. And finally, in yesterday’s first reading, Tobit helps heal his father’s blindness, and Tobiah sings in praise to God. It’s an almost uncharacteristically happy ending for a book of the Old Testament!
But happiness, real happiness, eternal happiness, that is the purpose of the Scriptures. That happiness comes finally from the resurrection of Our Lord which opens to us the way to salvation. Just as Tobiah and Sarah were saved from their ailments, so we are saved from the ailments of sin and death by the death and resurrection of Christ. The happy ending of the book of Tobit foreshadows the happy ending of the life of grace which we receive by following our Risen Lord.
But, as the archangel Raphael makes clear twice in today’s first reading, this happiness is not to be a well-guarded secret. Some things are best kept secret, sure, but not salvation, not the works of God. So we have to be disciples who live as saved people and tell everyone the reason for our happiness. Others need to see our joy so they can experience it too.
A king’s secret it is prudent to keep,
but the works of God are to be made known with due honor.