+ St Boniface was born in Devonshire, England around 637. He was
educated at the Benedictine monastery at Exeter. He chose to stay in Exeter to
become a priest and to join the Benedictine order as a monk. He became a
missionary to Germany in 719 assisted by Sts. Albinus, Abel and Agatha. They
destroyed idols and pagan temples, and then built churches on the sites.
Boniface became Bishop, and then Archbishop of Mainz – reforming the churches
in his sees, and building religious houses there. He founded or restored the
dioceses of Bavaria, Thuringia and Franconia. He evangelized in Holland, but
was opposed there by a troop of pagans and died a martyr’s death with 52 of his
new flock in 754. St. Boniface is
considered the “apostle to Germany” and its primary patron!
The readings today fit the
feast: Boniface, like St. Paul, enjoyed
the help of God in all of his apostolic work – testifying to the great and small alike – saying nothing other than
what was handed down by the Scriptures
of old, and the living testament of the fulfillment of it all: JESUS CHRIST who suffered, died and rose from the dead to
be a light to all the nations: Jewish and Gentile as well – Germans too!
And of course, just as Jesus
was the ultimate and supreme Good
Shepherd, who, as God-Man, laid down
his life for his sheep: so did St. Boniface of Germany: thinking never of
himself but always of the task at hand: to bring the faith to the sheep that do not yet belong to the fold
– Boniface was empowered by the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead to see
his ministry through to the end that God had in mind for it!
God has a ministry in mind for
each member of his flock (whether as shepherd or sheep): may we be dedicated to
it, with heroic faithfulness – for with the assignment comes the power to
perform it!
Go out to all the world and tell the Good
News.
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