Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Intention: That each of us may examine our lives to see how we are living the Gospel’s call to be peacemakers and to stand in solidarity and resolve with all who are victims of ignorance and injustice in our world.
Today’s 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.
From the Eighth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
It will not, then, be enough for you to have instructed your disciples about the mysteries and the truths of our holy religion if you have not helped them learn the chief Christian virtues and if you have not taken an altogether special care to help them put these virtues into practice, as well as all the good of which they are capable at their age. For no matter how much faith they may have or how lively it may be, if they do not commit themselves to practice good works, their faith will be of no use to them.
You must especially teach this maxim to those whom you instruct if you want to put them on the road to heaven, so that you can say to them that you have acted in a way that is beyond reproach, and this has given consolation to us.
Inspire them also with piety and self-control in church and in the exercises of piety that you have them perform in the schools. Instill in them the innocence and humility that our Lord recommends so strongly in the Gospel. Do not forget to help them acquire gentleness, patience, love and respect for their parents, and all the conduct that is proper to a Christian child, in a word, all that our religion demands of them.
Prayer
Eternal Father, we thank you for sustaining us today, for your steadfast love and mercy, especially when we have wandered far from your ways. You understand our weakness and restore us to fullness with your grace. Teach us to show this same patience and compassion to one another. May we lift ourselves together into the light of your wisdom and the wholeness of your peace. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.