Books Jesus Read

Chapter 5: Suffering and Spirituality – Tobit and Sarah

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prepare the household for their arrival. Be ready with the fish gall to anoint your father’s eyes.” Now Anna sat by the road waiting for any sign of her son. When she saw him approaching, she said to Tobit, “See, your son is coming along with the guide who went with him!” Then Raphael said to Tobias, “I know that your father’s eyes will be opened. Therefore, anoint his eyes as soon as we arrive. As he wipes the fish gall from his eyes, the cloudiness will fade and he will see you!” Anna ran ahead and embraced Tobias, and they both wept. “Now that I know you are well, my son, I am content to die!” Tobit then stumbled out of the door of his home. Tobias ran to catch his father, and anointed his eyes with the fish gall, saying, “Take courage my father!” Tobit’s eyes stung from the fish gall, so he rubbed them. As the cloudiness left his eyes, he could now see his son clearly and embraced him, weeping. Tobit then cried out, “Blessed are you, O God, and blessed is your name forever, together with all your holy angels. For you punished me but now have taken pity on me, and behold, I can see my son with my own eyes!” After Tobias explained the reason for his delay, Tobit ran to meet his new daughter-in-law at the gate of Nineveh. All who saw Tobit marveled that his eyesight was restored. When Tobit met Sarah, he blessed her saying, “Welcome, daughter, and may God be praised who has brought you to us, and may your mother and father be blessed as well.”