Tobit 3:1-11, 16-17 / Mark 12:16-27
Whenever we see a person in misery, it will evoke our sympathy.
To suffer alone can be one of the greatest misery because loneliness itself is a great misery.
In the 1st reading, we heard Tobit's prayer of lamentation. That line of his prayer "Therefore, Lord, remember me, look on me. Do not punish me for my sins or for my heedless faults ... " says it all, that he was alone in his suffering.
But in the same passage, just after his prayer of lamentation, we also heard that "It chanced on the same day that Sarah" was insulted by one of the maids, and she grieved and sobbed and even contemplated suicide.
At the end of the passage of the 1st reading, we also heard that the prayer of each of them found favour before the Lord God and Raphael was sent to bring remedy to them both.
Indeed, God hears the cry of the lonely and lost, the least and the last, because these are the ones who have no one to turn to and they only have God to help them.
For them, God is their only hope and when God answers their cries, they will know who God is.
God is God of the living and He is the God of life and love. He lifts up those in misery and He raises the poor so that they can experience His love and mercy.
May we in our misery turn to God and receive His mercy.