My words will not pass away

29 NOVEMBER (Lk 21,29-33)

The faith of the pious men is based on only one certainty: the Word of their Lord and God will never fail. It will always be fulfilled. The Word of God is the foundation of true hope. In the Christian faith and hope merge into one reality: The disciple of Jesus hopes, he is certain and confident that the Lord will always implement his Word; he will realize it because he uttered it, and He is always faithful to every word that came out of his mouth. Here is how Tobi is a witness to this truth. For the son Tobias he is a true teacher of faith and hope, in the same way that earlier he had been a great master in charity.

Tobit died peacefully at the age of a hundred and twelve, and received an honorable burial in Nineveh. He was sixty-two years old when he lost his eyesight, and after he recovered it he lived in prosperity, giving alms and continually blessing God and praising the divine Majesty.

Just before he died, he called his son Tobiah and Tobiah’s seven sons, and gave him this command: “Son, take your children and flee into Media, for I believe God’s word which was spoken by Nahum against Nineveh. It shall all happen, and shall overtake Assyria and Nineveh; indeed, whatever was said by Israel’s prophets, whom God commissioned, shall occur. Not one of all the oracles shall remain unfulfilled, but everything shall take place in the time appointed for it. So it will be safer in Media than in Assyria or Babylon. For I know and believe that whatever God has spoken will be accomplished. It shall happen, and not a single word of the prophecies shall prove false. “As for our kinsmen who dwell in Israel, they shall all be scattered and led away into exile from the Good Land. The entire country of Israel shall become desolate; even Samaria and Jerusalem shall become desolate! God’s temple there shall be burnt to the ground and shall be desolate for a while. But God will again have mercy on them and bring them back to the land of Israel. They shall rebuild the temple, but it will not be like the first one, until the era when the appointed times shall be completed. Afterward all of them shall return from their exile, and they shall rebuild Jerusalem with splendor. In her the temple of God shall also be rebuilt; yes, it will be rebuilt for all generations to come, just as the prophets of Israel said of her. All the nations of the world shall be converted and shall offer God true worship; all shall abandon their idols which have deceitfully led them into error, and shall bless the God of the ages in righteousness. Because all the Israelites who are to be saved in those days will truly be mindful of God, they shall be gathered together and go to Jerusalem; in security shall they dwell forever in the land of Abraham, which will be given over to them. Those who sincerely love God shall rejoice, but those who become guilty of sin shall completely disappear from the land.

“Now, children, I give you this command: serve God faithfully and do what is right before him; you must tell your children to do what is upright and to give alms, to be mindful of God and at all times to bless his name sincerely and with all their strength. The day you bury your mother next to me, do not even stay overnight within the confines of the city. For I see that people here shamelessly commit all sorts of wickedness and treachery. Think, my son, of all that Nadab did to Ahiqar, the very one who brought him up: Ahiqar went down alive into the earth! Yet God made Nadab’s disgraceful crime rebound against him. Ahiqar came out again into the light, but Nadab went into the everlasting darkness, for he had tried to kill Ahiqar. Because Ahiqar had given alms to me, he escaped from the deadly trap Nadab had set for him. But Nadab himself fell into the deadly trap, and it destroyed him. So, my children, note well what almsgiving does, and also what wickedness does – it kills! But now my spirit is about to leave me” (Tb 114,1-11).

Every Word of Jesus will be fulfilled for us. Both those of eternal life, and the others of eternal death, the ones that proclaim the good, but also those that prophesy evil. Everything will be realized. Who has faith bases his life on the Word of Jesus and set off for life. Who does not have faith, proceeds and advances towards death. Fallacious and vain is all hope that it is not firmly built on the Word of Jesus and on a strong, sturdy and resolute faith in the Gospel. The Gospel is the only book of true hope.

He taught them a lesson. “Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints give us true faith in the Word.