Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

Proper readings for the Memorial of St. Boniface
 
Biographical information about St. Boniface

"Saint Boniface"
by Cornelis Bloemaert, c. 1630

 
Readings for Friday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: 2 Timothy 3:10-17
 
You have followed my teaching, way of life,
purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions,
and sufferings, such as happened to me
in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra,
persecutions that I endured.
Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me.
In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted.
But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse,
deceivers and deceived.
But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed,
because you know from whom you learned it,
and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures,
which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching,
for refutation, for correction,
and for training in righteousness,
so that one who belongs to God may be competent,
equipped for every good work.
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Commentary on 2 Tm 3:10-17
 
St. Paul, in this passage, enjoins St. Timothy to remain steadfast because, like Paul, he will be persecuted: “all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” He warns that others will attempt to challenge the truth, or use it for their own ends.
 
To combat this attempt by false teachers, St. Paul recommends “sacred Scriptures” as giving “wisdom for salvation.” This selection, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work,” is a foundational belief of the Church used as a major support for “Dei Verbum” (The Word) from the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation.
 
CCC: 2 Tm 3:12 2847
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168
 
R. (165a) O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
 
Though my persecutors and my foes are many,
I turn not away from your decrees.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
 
Permanence is your word’s chief trait;
each of your just ordinances is everlasting.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
 
Princes persecute me without cause
but my heart stands in awe of your word.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
 
Those who love your law have great peace,
and for them there is no stumbling block.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
 
I wait for your salvation, O Lord,
and your commands I fulfill.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
 
I keep your precepts and your decrees,
for all my ways are before you.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
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Commentary on Ps 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168
 
Psalm 119, the longest of the psalms, in general is a hymn in praise of the law. It is not legalism, but rather a love of doing what is right in the sight of God. In these strophes, the psalmist proclaims his faithfulness to the law in the face of his adversaries and waits for final salvation.
 
CCC: Ps 119:160 215
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Gospel: Mark 12:35-37
 
As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,
“How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.’
David himself calls him ‘lord’;
so how is he his son?”
The great crowd heard this with delight.
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Commentary on Mk 12:35-37
 
It is now Jesus’ turn to question the Pharisees. He asks them who the Messiah will be. They answer that he will be a son of David (of the lineage of David). Jesus then, while not denying their statement (as he is from the line of David), tells them, quoting Psalm 110:1, that David called the Messiah “Lord” and would he do that to his own offspring? In other words, the Messiah would be more than just true man, he would be true God as well existing before David and with David.
 
CCC: Mk 12:35-37 202
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Reflection:
 
In St. Mark’s Gospel we see Jesus confronting the Pharisees in debate. He breaks open the word of God in Psalm 110:1. He uses the truth of scripture to identify his Messianic identity as more than what was expected. The Pharisees (and scribes) believed that the Messiah would be a man (albeit sent by God) to reestablish the power and grandeur of Israel during the reign of King David. This meant he would throw off the Roman occupation and once more give the Hebrew people autonomy. There were many assumptions about the methods that must be used to accomplish this feat, all of them wrong.
 
Jesus challenges the Pharisees. He does not challenge the prophecy that the Messiah will be of the house of King David. He is of that line. Rather he tries to get them to see God’s power in a much broader way. God does not send the Messiah so Israel can be freed of the Romans. He wants all his creation to come to him. The Pharisees are locked into a notion that, as God’s chosen people, only they will receive the benefits of faith. Jesus tries to make them see the larger plan by showing them how the scripture they understand to be the inspired word of God is telling them something different.
 
The Messiah is not simply man born of woman, although he is born of woman. Rather the Messiah existed before David as well as being from his genealogy. David described the relationship in his own writings. How many Hebrew scholars had pored over the sacred texts and missed the understanding that the Messiah would be eternal, more than simply a holy man with a mission?
 
St. Paul tells St. Timothy that reading and understanding Sacred Scripture is necessary “that one who belongs to God may be competent.” We see the truth of his words in the debate between Jesus and the Pharisees. With the Holy Spirit as guide, we too must constantly be on guard against applying human limitations to the supernatural abilities of our God. We pray that our own study will make us competent to be witnesses of God to the world.
 
Pax
 

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[1] The picture is "Saint Boniface" by Cornelis Bloemaert, c. 1630.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.