Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Lectionary: 355
Reading 1
2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12
Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God
for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dear child:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to God,
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.
For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel,
for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher.
On this account I am suffering these things;
but I am not ashamed,
for I know him in whom I have believed
and am confident that he is able to guard
what has been entrusted to me until that day.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 123:1b-2ab, 2cdef
R. (1b) To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
Alleluia
John 11:25a, 26
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mark 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her."
Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”
Reflection 1
Catholic Daily Reflections
The Wisdom of God
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers…” Mark 12:18–20
And these Sadducees then go on to present to Jesus a long and unlikely hypothetical scenario in which this woman eventually married all seven brothers after each one died. And at the conclusion of their hypothetical situation, the Sadducees ask Jesus, “At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?” Of course, Jesus offers them the correct answer and then also states something interesting. He tells the Sadducees that they “are greatly misled.” Just prior to this conversation with the Sadducees, the Pharisees had presented their own question to Jesus in an attempt to trap Him. The difference seems to be that the Sadducees had more sincerity in their pursuit of the truth whereas the Pharisees were more obsessed with their own authority and power.
The Sadducees were considered the more traditional of the religious leaders, in that they accepted only the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, as authentically revealed. They also did not accept the afterlife or the resurrection of the dead because they believed that the Torah did not explicitly teach those things. The Pharisees not only accepted the Torah but also the rest of what is contained in the Old Testament. The Pharisees also accepted what was referred to as the “tradition of the elders,” which meant that they paid much attention to the scrupulous multiplication of laws and regulations that other Pharisees devised, and they sought to impose those man-made laws upon the people.
In this Gospel passage, the problem with the Sadducees seems to be scrupulosity and rigidity in their approach to the faith. They clearly relied upon human reason, and they applied their human reason to the Torah. And though human reason and logical deduction are helpful and necessary in life, they attempted to solve every matter of faith by their own effort by narrowly and rigidly interpreting the Torah. They did not allow themselves to be open to the deeper wisdom of God that floods one’s human reason when one is attentive to divine inspiration and revelation. Instead, they were black and white in all of their deductions and practices. This rigidity left them “greatly misled.”
In our own lives, we can also become greatly misled when we use the gift of our human reason in a rigid and narrow way. We must never overly simplify the faith, and we must never think that we will easily be able to arrive at all the answers by our own effort. Our constant goal must be to allow our minds to become fully immersed in the deepest wisdom of God and all that He has revealed. The teachings of the Church will guide us, keeping us on the straight path, but it will be the voice of God, speaking to our minds in a real and personal way, that will help us to understand the depth and breadth of God’s Will, His Truth, and Wisdom.
Reflect, today, upon any tendency you have to be like these Sadducees. Are you rigid? Or narrow minded? Do you allow yourself to be misled into thinking you have all the answers? If so, seek humility. Humble yourself before the awesome mysteries of Heaven. Use your mind to probe the truths that God has revealed and be ready to be drawn deeper and deeper into the life of God Himself.
Reflection 2
One Bread, One Body
THE 120 SPRINT
“I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God bestowed when my hands were laid on you. The Spirit God has given us is no cowardly Spirit.” —2 Timothy 1:6-7
At the first Christian Pentecost, 120 disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit at 9:00 AM (Acts 1:15; 2:15). They reached 3,000 people with the Gospel that day (see Acts 2:41). The 120 were not only the recipients of Pentecost but also immediate participants in Pentecost. Jesus said that it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
At Pentecost, we understand that it is better to receive the Spirit so as to give the Spirit as soon as possible. For example, Mary received the Holy Spirit and conceived Jesus (Lk 1:35). “Thereupon Mary set out, proceeding in haste into the hill country” to share the Spirit, and the Baby she was carrying in her womb (Lk 1:39ff), with her cousin, Elizabeth.
St. Boniface, whose feast we celebrate at Mass today, was martyred as he shared the Holy Spirit in preparing people to be confirmed. Like St. Boniface, we need to share the Holy Spirit right now because today may be our last chance. We need Christians who will stir into flame the gift of the Holy Spirit and join the original 120 who began and continued Pentecost without delay. Join in the mission of the 120 now.
Prayer: Father, may I move in the Spirit.
Promise: “When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but live like angels in heaven.” —Mk 12:25
Praise: St. Boniface devoted his life to converting the German people from paganism to Christianity.
Reflection 3
Shared from God's Word
The Sadducees, a small sect of the priestly family, known for their conservatism comes to Jesus to criticise and ridicule faith in the Resurrection. They tell him about the fictitious case of the woman who got married seven times and eventually she died without childless. While Jesus deals with the Sadducees’ question, he points out what lies at the heart of their denial of the resurrection – their ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God. These could be the same deficiencies we struggle with today. We can go wrong in our belief and action if we don’t know the Scriptures or don’t trust or believe in the power of God. Instead of limiting God by our own narrow-mindedness, we should make an attempt to widen our vision of life based of the revealed truth of God.
Prayers
My Lord of infinite wisdom, You are Truth Itself, and You continually reveal Yourself to us. Give me the humility I need to always be open to all divine Truth in my life so that I will come to know You and Your holy will as You desire. Jesus, I trust in You.
May the Lord Jesus put his hands on our eyes also, for then we too shall begin to look not at what is seen but at what is not seen. May he open the eyes that are concerned not with the present but with what is yet to come, may he unseal the heart's vision, that we may gaze on God in the Spirit, through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, whose glory and power will endure throughout the unending succession of ages. (Prayer of Origen, 185-254 AD)
Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy
Reflection 156: The Lord is Our Refuge
There are times in life when fear enters into your life. You may have some daunting task before you, or may be walking down a path of the unknown. These, and many other experiences in life, can become a cause for fear and anxiety. Fear of the unknown can especially become all consuming. But it need not be if the Lord is with you and is your constant Refuge. Jesus desires that you turn to Him in childlike trust and simplicity, knowing that He will lead you through life every step of the way. We need not fear if our eyes and heart are fixed on Him. He will never leave us (See Diary #797).
What is it that you fear the most in life? What is it about your future that worries you? Does that which is unknown to you cause much anxiety? Know that the Lord desires to free you of these heavy burdens by inviting you to take refuge in His Sacred Heart. By turning to Him, as a child, you will be freed of the fears that are quite burdensome. Ponder your fears this day and then turn to the Lord in perfect abandon. As you do, He will lift them from you, replacing them with His perfect peace.
Lord, I turn to You in my anxiety and fear. I trust You in all things and pray that You increase my capacity for faith and hope in You. Please become my refuge and give me the confidence of a child, to turn to You in my time of need. Jesus, I trust in You.
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