Tobit — Chapter 12

ME DUXIT ET REDUXIT SANUM — Seven great benefits of Raphael enumerated by Tobias: (1) He guided him to Media and brought him back safely; (2) He procured Sara, an excellent and wealthy wife; (3) He drove out Asmodeus from Sara; (4) He brought joy to both families; (5) He saved him from the devouring fish; (6) He restored sight to his blind father; (7) He filled him with every temporal and spiritual good. Lapide notes that these same seven services are performed by every guardian angel for every man he watches over; their person and office Raphael here exemplified in himself.

TULERUNT IN PARTEM — They led Raphael aside into a more private part of the house to speak with him more secretly, freely, and confidentially. Hence Raphael, thus drawn aside, 'spoke to them in secret' (v.6), wishing to reveal secretly the divine mysteries entrusted to him.

ETENIM SACRAMENTUM REGIS ABSCONDERE BONUM EST OPERA AUTEM DEI REVELARE ET CONFITERI HONORIFICUM EST — It is good to keep a king's secret: 'Silence is the treasury of counsels' (Gellius X.25). Tiberius Caesar, asked why he did not share his plans with friends, replied: 'A prince's mind ought to be known to none, or to very few, for many are full of leaks.' Antigonus King of Macedon to his son Philip asking when they would break camp: 'Do you fear you will not hear the trumpet alone?' Metellus Macedonicus: 'If I thought my shirt knew my counsel, I would take it off.' But to reveal and confess the works of God is honorable: that all who hear may recognize, reverence, worship, and adore His clemency, wisdom, and magnificence. Pope Stephen I (Rheginon, ad ann. 753 AD): 'Just as none should boast of his own merits, so the works of God done through his saints must not be silenced, but preached, as the Angel admonishes Tobias.'

BONA EST ORATIO CUM JEJUNIO ET ELEEMOSYNA MAGIS QUAM THESAUROS AURI RECONDERE — Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the three chief kinds of good works, to which all others reduce: prayer pays our debt to God, fasting to ourselves, almsgiving to our neighbor. Prayer alone is feeble, but becomes powerful and efficacious when equipped with its two wings — fasting and almsgiving — by which it flies to God in heaven. Cyprian (De opere et eleemosyna): 'Let us pray with our whole heart and our full trust. Let almsgiving discharge us from death. Let fasting quench the fire of sins. Let prayer wash away our misdeeds. Let the three work together and let us prayerfully and watchfully stand ready for the Lord's coming.' Daniel's counsel to Nebuchadnezzar: 'Redeem your sins with almsgiving' (Dan. 4:24). The Greek adds: 'Better is a little with righteousness than much with unrighteousness' (cf. Prov. 15:16).

ET QUIA ACCEPTUS ERAS DEO NECESSE FUIT UT TENTATIO PROBARET TE — Temptation and tribulation prove, preserve, augment, and perfect patience and virtue. One is unworthy of God's grace and friendship who refuses to suffer adversity for Him, serving Him only in prosperity. Hence the Apostle's eternal law: 'All who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution' (2 Tim. 3:12). Lapide quotes Seneca's De Providentia at length: 'God does not have a good man as a pet; He tests him, hardens him, prepares him for Himself' (ch. 1). 'Just as the vast weight of Mediterranean springs does not change the taste of the sea, so the onset of adversities does not turn the soul of the strong man; he remains in his state and whatever happens draws it to his own color' (ch. 2). 'Athletes rejoice in meeting the strongest opponents; to be beaten and worn down is their bread and butter. Virtue fades without an adversary. There is no great good fortune that does not wound one who has not been tested. Calamity is the occasion of virtue' (ch. 3).

EGO ENIM SUM RAPHAEL ANGELUS UNUS EX SEPTEM QUI ADSTAMUS ANTE DOMINUM — Raphael reveals his identity as one of the seven chief angels standing before God; the Greek adds 'who offer the prayers of the saints and walk before the holy Majesty.' These seven therefore have care of the human race. Lapide explains seven modes of 'standing before God' for angels: (1) standing to seek divine light and direction; (2) offering human prayers, sacrifices, almsgiving, and good works to God; (3) standing ready for divine commands like soldiers prepared for battle; (4) standing as advocates for human causes before God the Judge against demonic accusers; (5) standing in praise, as the Seraphim (Isaiah 6); (6) standing to contemplate the divine face and draw from it supreme beatitude; (7) standing in the strict sense — referring to the higher orders (Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations) who teach and illuminate the lower orders and are distinguished from the ministering angels. Lapide with Toletus (on Luke 1): 'To stand before God indicates not just being in heaven (common to all angels) but a certain principality in ministry.'

CUMQUE HAEC AUDISSENT TURBATI SUNT ET TREMENTES CECIDERUNT SUPER TERRAM IN FACIEM SUAM — They fell prostrate on the ground in reverence and holy awe. As St. Antony observed: 'Fear arises not so much from faint-heartedness of soul as from the sight of great things.' Bede (on Luke 1): 'As it belongs to human frailty to be troubled by the vision of a spiritual creature, so it belongs to Angelic goodness to soothe with gentle consolation the mortals terrified by the sight of it.'

DIXITQUE EIS ANGELUS PAX VOBIS NOLITE TIMERE — The sign of a good angel's apparition: first he causes reverential awe, then consoles and fills with joy and confidence. The sign of an evil spirit: he increases the terror of those already frightened. Lapide quotes Bede (on Luke 1) and St. Antony at length (Athanasius, Vita Antonii): 'When a good angel appears to good men, though at first his unusual aspect may cause fear, at last he leaves consolation and peace of soul, for with them is the Lord, the fount and source of joy.' And the contrary signs of demonic apparitions: 'ferocious faces, horrible sounds, foul thoughts, clapping, the riotous movements of undisciplined youths or robbers, from which instantly spring fear of the soul, stupor of the senses, hatred of Christians, sadness and weariness of monks, fear of death, desire of wickedness, lassitude of virtue, dullness of heart.' Conclusion: 'If after the initial trembling there follows joy and confidence toward God and ineffable charity, we should know that help has come; for the security of the soul is the sign of the majesty present.'

VIDEBAR QUIDEM VOBISCUM MANDUCARE SED EGO CIBO INVISIBILI ET POTU QUI AB HOMINIBUS VIDERI NON POTEST UTOR — In truth Raphael did not eat, for eating is a vital action of the soul — chewing the food vitally in the mouth, and conveying it vitally from the mouth to the stomach for digestion. Since Raphael did not enliven (informare) the assumed body with a soul, he did not eat vitally; rather what was put in his mouth he dissolved into vapor or air, as he exhaled it again. 'I use invisible food and drink that cannot be seen by men' — God's vision and enjoyment is the food of Angels, on which they delight and are beatified perpetually (cf. Ps. 77:25: 'Man ate the bread of angels').

ET NARRATE OMNIA MIRABILIA EJUS — The Greek says: 'Write all these things in a book.' Hence it is clear that Tobias the younger, obeying Raphael, wrote this history and is the author of this book — as the Greek confirms at ch. 1:1. The Hebrew adds a further command: 'Write yourselves all these words in a book, and it shall be for a testimony between you and your God in all the days of your life.'

ET CUM HAEC DIXISSET AB ASPECTU EORUM ABLATUS EST ET ULTRA EUM VIDERE NON POTUERUNT — Raphael vanished by dissolving the assumed body, which he had formed by condensing air, back into air or vapor through rarefaction — as the Scholastics with St. Thomas (I q.51 a.2) teach about how angels form and dissolve their assumed bodies.