PERSEVERE IN HOPE

“At that very time, the prayer of these two suppliants was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.” –Tobit 3:16

God heard the prayers of Tobit and Sarah instantly. He also answered their prayers quickly, sending the angel Raphael to work out the glorious answer to their prayers, an answer that far exceeded anything Tobit and Sarah could ask for or imagine (Eph 3:20). Yet it took some time for the answer to those prayers to unfold. As the answers to the prayers unfolded, God used the time interval to begin the healing process.

The unfolding process was as important as the actual answer to the prayer. Day by day Tobit and Sarah had to persevere in their faith in God, despite not seeing any results from their petition. Yet “hope is not hope if its object is seen” (Rm 8:24).

God has let us see many of His works, but there is so much activity in the spiritual world that we cannot see. Tobit and Sarah clung to those past mercies of God, trusting in His future mercies. “The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, His mercies are not spent; they are renewed each morning; so great is His faithfulness” (Lam 3:22-23). Persevere in hope. Pray: “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief” (see Mk 9:24).

PRAYER: Father, I will trust in You at all times (Ps 62:9), especially when I am blind to Your action.

PROMISE: “He is the God of the living.” –Mk 12:27

PRAISE: Pope Paul VI declared that the canonizations of St. Charles and his companions “inaugurate a new age” and praised their “simplicity and unshakable fidelity.”