Wednesday June 5, 2024
ST BONIFACE, B.M. (MEMORIAL)
Office: Memorial, Psalter Week 1
Mass and Preface of the Memorial
Vestment: Red
Today’s Rosary: The Glorious Mysteries
FIRST READING
“Rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands.”
The beginning of the second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy (2 Timothy 1: 1-3.6-12)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, as did my fathers, when I remember you constantly in my prayers. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but take yours share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 123: 1-2ab.2cdef (R. 1a)
R/. To you, O Lord, have I lifted up my eyes.
To you have I lifted up my eyes,
you who dwell in the heavens.
Behold, like the eyes of slaves
on the hand of their lords. R/.
Like the eyes of a servant
on the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes are on the Lord our God,
till he show us his mercy. R/.
ALLELUIAL John 11:25a.26
Alleluia. I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; he who believes in me shall never die. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
“He is not God of the dead, but of the living. ”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mark 12: 18-27)
At that time: Sadducees came to Jesus, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” Jesus said to them, “Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
TODAY’S REFLECTION
The servant who buried the talent given him lost everything while those servants who invested what was given to them, had double. The gifts of God to us and in us have to be rekindled if we are to be true soldiers of Christ who are ready to die at their duty post. In our baptism and confirmation, we received the Holy Spirit of God in our lives; the spirit of power and love and self-control. We ought not to be afraid but to confidently testify to the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ using the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us through our words, thoughts and deeds. Since our God is God of the living and not of the dead, we are not children of the dead but of the living. We should be alive and active in our love of God and neighbour, using the gifts of the Spirit we received from God.
SAINT OF THE DAY AND QUOTE: St Dorotheus – June 5th
A great means to preserve continual peace and tranquillity of soul is to receive everything from the hands of God, both great and small, and in whatever way it comes.
PERSONAL DEVOTIONAL
“I Have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me” Philippians 4:13
– I adore you Lord and I worship you. I give you praise for it is your desire that I should not perish.
– Be merciful to me O Lord, for the number of times I have not operated in your standards.
– O Lord, help me to accept decisions in favour of your standard.
– Lord, do not make me use my position to work against your standards.
Let Us Pray
I come before thy throne of grace, seeking your divine guidance and direction concerning my life this day. Give me the courage to trust you and to follow the path of faith and righteousness as you take the lead as my shepherd. Lord Jesus my shepherd, as I walk in this journey of life, be my rock and fortress, show me favour and guide me in my entire affairs, even in the midst of storm let your hand hold me firm to yourself preserve me in my going out and my coming in, O Angels and Saints of God grant me your fraternal assistance that I may persevere in following the footsteps of Jesus our Lord and Shepherd both now and forever in Jesus name I pray – Amen
Memory verse: 2 Chronicles 7:14
