June is the month of the Sacred Heart
Vol 9 Issue 23 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
June 4, 2016 ~ Saint Francis Caracciolo, opn!

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (71)
2. Third Sunday after Pentecost
3. St Boniface
4. Christ in the Home (45)
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

June is the month of the Sacred Heart. In its devotional aspect, making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds the faithful Catholic that Christ has a human heart that palpitated in its love for humanity—a humanity that His Father created to participate in the eternal happiness the Holy Trinity possessed. Christ has a heart that ached when it saw humanity rebel and refuse to submit to the will of the eternal Father, knowing that these humans, departing this life in that state, would suffer the loss of that eternal bliss and instead would hate His Father along with the fallen angels. Christ has a heart that rejoiced to see the good that humans could perform, in loving their neighbor and creating with their minds and hands the beautiful and useful items they needed in their daily lives. Christ has a heart that hurt to see suffering, but was consoled in the patient bearing that then was joined with His own suffering. Christ has a heart that grieved with those who lost a loved one, but that delighted when knowing that one was united with Him in the love of the Father. Christ has a heart that gave its last drop of blood because He wanted so much that humanity be saved but knew so much of humanity would not understand that love and, like those who were crucifying Him—even though He forgave them—, would rather reject His pleas to return to His Father’s house then humble themselves in acknowledging that love. Even today His Mystical Body expresses His love in the devotions offered by possessing sentiments of gratitude for that love, joy in receiving that love, sadness in seeing others thrust aside that love, hurt in seeing that love abused. It is in making this act of reparation to the Sacred Heart that one unites with Christ and is capable of having some participation in the love of the Sacred Heart. In the theological aspect, the Feast of the Sacred Heart gives evidence of the Catholic Faith that the Second Person, the Eternal Word, took a human body of the Virgin Mary that was in all characteristics the same human body each human person receives and, united to mankind and He lived the same life with its limitations, shared in the same feelings and emotions, joys and sufferings that are experienced within human life in order to Redeem mankind—and, with His glorious Resurrection, still unites Himself to humanity.—O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! (Rom. 11:33)

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor

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Baptism

Means of Salvation

Sacrament of Baptism

Post Trent

The Nineteenth Century saw the Church defending herself against anti-Catholic forces bent on her destruction. Pope Gregory XVI (1831-46) had to oppose the concept of freedom of conscience advanced by Felicite Lamennais since it led to indifferentism (and would deny the necessity of baptism) in Mirari vos arbitramur on August 1832. Then, under Pius IX (1846-78), the Church dealt with the baptism of Edgardo Mortara as was mentioned above. Pius IX, rather than compromise and give into the Jews, lost the Papal States to defend the character of baptism and not to betray the baptized child; just as Clement VII earlier was forced to lose England rather than betray the sacrament of matrimony at the demand of Henry VIII. The long reign of Pius IX was pockmarked by the inroads of secularism, pluralism, indifferentism, rationalism, atheism and communism that began to scar even the clerical seminaries.

As the Church struggled against the liberals so also she had to reiterate solid Catholic teaching against those who would distort or change her teachings. So-called freedom of conscience was the basis of indifferentism and Pope Pius IX again addressed this in his Allocution Singulari quadam on December 9, 1854, in which he teaches:

But, as is Our Apostolic duty, we wish your episcopal solicitude and vigilance to be aroused, so that you will strive as much as you can to drive from the mind of men that impious and equally fatal opinion, namely, that the way of eternal salvation can be found in any religion whatsoever. May you demonstrate with that skill and learning in which you excel, to the people entrusted to your care that the dogmas of the Catholic faith are in no wise opposed to divine mercy and justice.

For, it must be held by faith that outside the Apostolic Roman Church, no one can be saved; that this is the only ark of salvation; that he who shall not have entered therein will perish in the flood; but, on the other hand, it is necessary to hold for certain that they who labor in ignorance of the true religion, if this ignorance is invincible, are not stained by any guilt in this matter in the eyes of God. Now, in truth, who would arrogate so much to himself as to mark the limits of such an ignorance, because of the nature and variety of peoples, regions, innate dispositions, and of so many other things? For, in truth, when released from these corporeal chains “we shall see God as He is” [ 1 John 3:2], we shall understand perfectly by how close and beautiful a bond divine mercy and justice are united; but, as long as we are on earth, weighed down by this mortal mass which blunts the soul, let us hold most firmly that, in accordance with Catholic teaching, there is “one God, one faith, one baptism” [Eph. 4:5]; it is unlawful to proceed further in inquiry. (Cf. DB 1645-46)

Again, from his Encyclical, Quanto conficiamur moerore, he addresses the bishops of Italy on August 10, 1863:

And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. It is known to Us and to you that they who labor in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace, attain eternal life, since God who clearly beholds, searches, and knows the minds, souls, thoughts, and habits of all men, because of His great goodness and mercy, will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin. But, the Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church is well-known; and also that those who are obstinate toward the authority and definitions of the same Church, and who persistently separate themselves from the unity of the Church, and from the Roman Pontiff, the successor of PETER, to whom “the guardianship of the vine has been entrusted by the Savior,” [Cf. Council of Chalcedon.] cannot obtain eternal salvation.

But, God forbid that the sons of the Catholic Church ever in any way be hostile to those who are not joined with us in the same bonds of faith and love; but rather they should always be zealous to seek them out and aid them, whether poor, or sick, or afflicted with any other burdens, with all the offices of Christian charity; and they should especially endeavor to snatch them from the darkness of error in which they unhappily lie, and lead them back to Catholic truth and to the most loving Mother the Church, who never ceases to stretch out her maternal hands lovingly to them, and to call them back to her bosom so that, established and firm in faith, hope, and charity, and “being fruitful in every good work” [Col. 1:10], they may attain eternal salvation.(Cf. DB 1677-78)

Finally, Pius IX enumerates again these errors in his Syllabus of Errors on December 8, 1864:

15 Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which he, led by the light of reason, thinks to be the true religion. (Cf. DB 1715)

16. In the worship of any religion whatever, men can find the way to eternal salvation, and can attain eternal salvation. (Cf. DB 1716)
17. We must have at least good hope concerning the eternal salvation of all those who in no wise are in the true Church of Christ. (Cf. DB 1717)

Because of the various errors being spread the Vatican Council was convoked by Pius IX in the papal bull, Aeternae Patris, on the 29 June 1868, to offer a remedy to the ills of the present century in the Church and in society and:

[W]hat must be done in such calamitous times for the greater glory of God, for the integrity of the faith, for the splendor of the Catholic religion, for the eternal salvation of men, for the discipline and solid instruction of the regular and secular clergy, for the observation of ecclesiastical laws, for the reform of customs, for the Christian education of youth, for general peace and for universal concord. (Cf. Mattei, 131)

Pius IX had attempted to open the Council earlier and even established commissions, but turmoil in Italy caused by the Freemasonic revolutionary forces of Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel fighting against the papacy prevented the possibility. The first Session of the Council opened on December 8, 1869 and the Council closed on October 20, 1870 due to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), adjusting to the de-Christianization of Europe, looked at addressing once more the missionary role of the Church. The answering of questions pertaining to the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism to converts from heretical sects was given in a Decree of the Holy Office on November 20, 1878, provided as follows:

To the question: “Whether baptism should be conferred conditionally on heretics who are converted to the Catholic religion, from whatever locality they come, and to whatever sect they pertain?” The reply is: “In the negative. But in the conversion of heretics, from whatever place or from whatever sect they come, inquiry should be made regarding the validity of the baptism in the heresy which was adopted. Then after the examination has been established in individual cases, if it is found either that none was conferred, or it was conferred without effect, they shall have to be baptized absolutely. But if according to circumstances and by reason of the localities, after the investigation has been completed, nothing is discovered in favor either of validity or invalidity, or, probable doubt still exists regarding the validity of the baptism, then let them be baptized conditionally, in secret. Finally, if it shall be established that it was valid, they will have to be received only for the profession of faith.”

The balance between not denying Baptism as ex opera operato (by the work worked) in opposition to ex opera operantis (by the work of the one working), that is one is baptized by baptism itself not because of the one baptizing, the Church does want to make sure one is baptized if there is doubt that the baptism lacked proper matter and form. But if there is no doubt that proper form and matter were present, the person cannot for any reason be re-baptized. This places a burden on the (missionary) priest who must examine each case whether the heretic used proper matter and form.

The matter of Antonius de Rosmini-Serbati may be one of interest, in as much as his errors dealt not so much with indifferentism and agnosticism or strict phenomenalism as it was erroneous in theological concepts. Therefore, as two of Rosmini-Serbati’s books were placed on the Index and then removed, he did submit to the Church and Pius IX seemed to have great respect for him. As Leo XIII took office, the issue of his writings being approved or not brought an examination that showed his departure from the purity of faith. Thus a Decree of the Holy Office, 14th of December, 1887 [and re-confirmed by Leo XIII in a letter to Luigi Nazari di Calabiana, Archbishop of Milan, on June 1, 1889] condemned the following two propositions that reflect on baptism and the baptized:

28. In Christian doctrine, the Word, the sign and configuration of God, is impressed on the souls of those who receive the baptism of Christ with faith.—The Word, that is the sign, impressed on the soul in Christian doctrine, is real Being (infinite) manifest by itself, which we thereupon recognize to be the second person of the Most Blessed Trinity. (Cf. DB 1918)

32. Since he who does not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink of His blood, does not have life in him [cf. John 6:54], and nevertheless those who die with the baptism of water, of blood, or of desire, certainly attain eternal life, it must be said that these who have not eaten of the body and blood of Christ, are administered this heavenly food in the future life, at the very moment of death.—Hence, also to the saints of the Old Testament Christ was able by descending into hell to communicate Himself under the appearances of bread and wine, in order to make them ready for the vision of God. (Cf. DB 1922)

Both of these may be somewhat incomprehensible to understand but the first claims that Christian Doctrine equates to the Eternal Word who is given to the baptized believer; and the second basically says one must absolutely receive the Body and Blood of Christ to go to heaven, which Antonius de Rosmini teaches if one were baptized and died in grace but had not received the Body and Blood of Christ, they would first be met by someone to give them Holy Communion such as Our Lord supposedly did it to the souls in Limbo. This is akin to those who, insisting on a false understanding of baptism would also say all those in Limbo were also baptized with water. These concepts of Rosmini contradict the Sacramental theology of the universal Church.

The Holy Office, under Leo XIII, also answered questions regarding the faith and intention required for Baptism on March 30th, 1898:

Whether a missionary can confer baptism on an adult Mohammedan at the point of death, who in his errors is supposed to be in good faith:

1. If he still has his full faculties, only by exhorting him to sorrow and confidence, not by speaking about our mysteries, for fear that he will not believe them.
2. Whatever of his faculties he has, by saying nothing to him, since on the one hand, he is not supposed to be wanting in contrition, and on the other, it is supposed to be imprudent to speak with him about our mysteries.
3. If now he has lost his faculties, by saying nothing further to him. 

Reply to 1 and 2: in the negative, i.e., it is not permitted to administer baptism absolutely or conditionally to such Mohammedans; and these decrees of the Holy Office were given to the Bishop of Quebec on the 25th of January, and the 10th of May, 1703. [see n. 1349 a f.].

To 3: regarding Mohammedans who are dying and already deprived of their senses, we must rely as in the decree of the Holy Office, Sept. 18, 1850, to the Bishop of Pertois, that is: “If they have formerly given indications that they wish to be baptized, or in their present state either by a nod or any other manner have shown the same disposition, they can be baptized conditionally; but where the missionary after examining all collateral circumstances so judges it wise,” . . . His Holiness has approved. (Cf. DB 1966a)

(To be continued)

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Third Sunday after Pentecost

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

“The unfathomable riches of Christ”

1. “To me, the least of all the saints, is given this grace, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Epistle). With these words the Apostle addresses us. These unsearchable riches of Christ the liturgy finds buried in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which contains all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and in which dwells the fullness of divinity. In the Sacred Heart of Jesus, God bestows upon us, through His infinite mercy, the inexhaustible treasures of His love (Collect).
2. The unsearchable riches of Christ are hidden in His Sacred Heart, which is the symbol and summation of God’s inexhaustible sanctity and loving mercy. It contains the inexhaustible fullness of His life: His thoughts, His intentions, His desires, His feelings. It contains the entire prayer life of Jesus, and His holy, divinely perfect, and unbroken adoration of the Divinity; it contains His praise, His thanksgiving, His subjection to the Father in heaven and in our tabernacles on earth. It contains the inexhaustible plenitude of His graces, virtues, and holiness. There, too, is concentrated the perfection of His life of obedience, His voluntary emptying of Himself, His sublime humility, His love of poverty and of suffering. In this heart He lives His life of love for the Father and for us sinners; here the fire of His zeal for our eternal salvation burns most brightly. The Sacred Heart contains all the merits which Christ earned from the moment of His first entrance into the world to His last breath of life on the cross. In the Sacred Heart is concentrated all the wealth of atonement and satisfaction which the Son offered to the eternal Father during His life on earth. The Sacred Heart wields irresistible power over Satan and the elements, and over the spirits and hearts of men; He Himself has declared: “All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28: 18). In Christ, in His Sacred Heart, “we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1: 7). All these riches belong to us. The Sacred Heart of Jesus belongs to us, for God has given it to us, as we are assured in the Collect of the feast: “O God, who in the heart of Thy son, dost mercifully vouchsafe to bestow upon us the infinite wealth of Thy love.” With the Sacred Heart of Jesus the wealth of His prayers, His merits, and His satisfactions also belongs to us.

It is our privilege to take in our hands this Sacred Heart and offer it to the Father in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Thus we can adore the Holy Trinity in a worthy manner and make a worthy offering of praise; thus we can offer a perfect act of thanksgiving and make full reparation and atonement for our sins. We can make these offerings of praise, thanksgiving, and reparation even apart from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for there is not a single moment of our lives in which we cannot make use of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and offer it up to the Father. Every moment of the day and night Jesus loves us, prays for us, thanks the Father for us, and offers up satisfaction for us. Thus we can always pray in union with the prayers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and unite our prayers to His. So, too, when we have been guilty of faults, we can offer up to the Father the merits of Jesus in satisfaction for our sins. Whenever we stand in need of grace, we can offer to the Father the Sacred Heart of Jesus with its power of intercession. If we should have to undergo some suffering, we can unite it to the suffering of Jesus, who at that very moment is offering up His sufferings and death to the Father on some altar somewhere in the world. Through Christ we can work, pray, and suffer; through Him we can love God with the love of the Sacred Heart. The Sacred Heart belongs entirely to us. Through the Sacred Heart we can pray for those who do not worship Him themselves. Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus we can love the Father in the name of those who do not love Him, but rather hate Him and revile Him. Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus we can offer satisfaction for the sinners of the whole world. How rich and powerful we have become through our possession of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! “O God, who in the heart of Thy Son dost mercifully vouchsafe to bestow on us the infinite wealth of Thy love.”

3. We who by nature are so poor, may become rich at the moment we cease to depend on ourselves and attach ourselves completely to Jesus and make use of His Sacred Heart. “I no longer pray for anything, nor even offer anything. I simply unite myself to the Savior and say: ‘O God, I offer Thee, in thanksgiving for all the benefits Thou has bestowed upon me, Thy beloved Son as my gift, as my adoration, instead of all my own works. I offer Him to Thee in place of all my love and everything else I have. Take Him, heavenly Father, in place of all the things Thou couldst have from me. For I have nothing that would be worthy of Thee, but Him whom out of such great love for me Thou hast given me’ ” (St. Margaret Mary Alacoque).

“If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). Do we not thirst to love God and honor Him as He deserves to be loved and honored and adored? If we exerted ourselves to the utmost, by ourselves we could not worthily love and honor Him. Therefore we must entirely forget our own inefficacious efforts and offer Jesus to the Father, together with His heart, His love, and His adoration; we can make this offering every moment of the day through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. That is the best method of honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

PRAYER

Teach us, O Lord, who have tasted the sweetness of Thy most dear heart, to despise what is temporal and to love what is eternal. Thou who livest and reignest for all eternity. Amen.

Pride and humility

1. At Pentecost we receive the Holy Ghost. Through the reception of the Holy Ghost we become mature Christians fortified for Christian life, for struggle and suffering. In order to fortify us and strengthen us for suffering, the Epistle today admonishes us: “Be ye humbled under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the time of visitation . . . . But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto the eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will Himself perfect you, and confirm you, and establish you” (Epistle). The way of all perfection is this: “Be ye humbled under the mighty hand of God,” for “God resisteth the proud, but to the humble He giveth grace” (I Pet. 5:5).
2. “God resisteth the proud.” He is proud who lives by his own spirit and who will not subject his own will to the commands, ordinances, and plans of God, and who sets up his own plans and his own will against the will of God. He is proud who wishes to be his own master, and who wishes to be in no way responsible to God. Pride is the source of all sin and the root of all evil in men. Pride is at the bottom of man’s every departure from God, and it is the most formidable obstacle in his return to God. It is the real cause that prevents man from being united to God and from subjecting himself to God. And pride thrives, not only in the world, but in the hearts of the baptized, and even in the hearts of many good Christians. Pride is the cockle in the wheat. Like all weeds, pride needs no cultivation. Every gust of wind spreads its seeds abroad, and the better the ground, the deeper the roots sink into it. It may be torn up a thousand times, but it will always spring to life again if the slightest root is left behind. This fact is especially true for those who wish to live an intensive religious life. The more they live the life of the spirit, the more they are tempted to imagine that because of their spirituality they are superior to others. They take pleasure in their severe asceticism, and they are flattered if they are looked upon with a reverential fear by others. They are tempted to look down upon “the others” and consider them inferior to themselves. They are always ready with a false zeal to criticize others, to correct them, to condemn them, and to speak uncharitably of them. They are often impatient with the leisurely way in which God works. They linger with great pleasure on the good they have accomplished, which all too often they exaggerate. Such a pride is an obstacle to grace and to union with God. Does Christ the true vine then really live in us? Should we wonder that we do not make greater progress in holiness? “God resisteth the proud.”

“But to the humble He giveth grace.” This is the law of the dominion of grace: “He that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23: 12). According to all the rules of justice, this autocratic resistance to God, this pride, this source of all evil in man, can be subdued only through subjection to God through humility. “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, . . . for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Mark 10: 14). The spirit of Christ is a spirit of humility. “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart” (Matt. 11 :29). We are to learn from Christ, not to work wonders, not to be glorious in the eyes of the world, not to accomplish great deeds, but to be meek and humble of heart. Humility is the essence of all that Christ taught by word and example. Humility is the summation of His whole life, the virtue most characteristic of Christ. It is the foundation of the spiritual structure, the base upon which all other virtues must rest. Humility is the root and the beginning of all good, the door to the kingdom of heaven. Our progess in union with God and in union with Christ depends in large measure on our progress in humility. The higher the structure of our holiness rises, the deeper must be the foundation of humility on which it rests. Without humility there can be no life of faith, no truth and sincerity, no nobility of soul, no spirit of sacrifice, no self-sacrificing love. If we are truly humble, we give little thought to ourselves. The opinion of men, one’s own honor, one’s own advantage, one’s own satisfaction, one’s own wishes and desires, are spurned by the man who is truly humble. He is concerned only with God’s will and God’s honor. Whatever is not in some way concerned with God leaves him cold. What comes from God and leads to God interests him, elevates him, inspires him, even though in itself it has no particular attraction. There is no greater courage than in humility. Threats, mockery, slander, do not disturb the humble man. All flattery is lost on him. And when for the sake of God or His work he must sacrifice all things, he does so gladly. Humility seeks God and His will alone. It shrinks from no task, or sacrifice, or suffering. The humble man knows that he will find the source of all strength in being humble, in completely subjecting himself to God and His will, in observing minutely the regulations of the Church or of the religious community, in fulfilling the duties of his state in life. He takes to heart that saying of the Apostle: “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4: 13).

3. “Be you humbled under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in the time of visitation.” This is the most earnest admonition of the liturgy during the fourth week after Pentecost. The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, will establish His rule in us and extend it. But He can do so only if our souls are humble, submissive, and conformed to His will. In the measure in which we know and acknowledge our nothingness and unworthiness, and come to Him in humility and confidence, in the same measure will He exalt us “in the time of visitation”; that is, in the time of prayer, at Mass, and at Holy Communion. To live for Christ is to love humility, to be despised by the world, to be subject to the will of the Father, to love the cross, suffering, reverses, and difficulties of all sorts. We are but branches of Christ, who is the vine. We must live just as Christ lives. Our life cannot be other than a life of humility and of joyful dependence on God and His will and His providence. “He that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23: 12).

PRAYER

O God, the protector of all who hope in Thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; multiply Thy mercies upon us, that having Thee for our ruler and Thee for our guide, we may so make use of temporal goods that we lose not those which are everlasting. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

JUNE 5

St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

1. Born in 642 of noble Anglo-Saxon parents, Winfred was educated in the monastery at Exeter. He later became a monk in Nursling Abbey and was made head of its famous and flourishing school while still in the early years of his monastic career. Winfred was filled with apostolic zeal, and after his ordination to the priesthood in 710 he obtained the permission of his abbot to preach to the heathen in Germany. With two of his fellow-monks he landed in Frisia in 716, but at that time the Frisians were at war with the Christian Franks and the monks could accomplish nothing. They returned to the monastery and Winfred was in time elected abbot.

Still desiring mission work, Winfred went in 718 to visit Pope Gregory II in Rome, and the Pope assigned him to evangelize the country of Thuringia. Winfred next visited the great Bishop Willibrord of Utrecht and then set out for his mission field, where his success was so remarkable that Pope Gregory recalled him to Rome, changed his name to Boniface, and consecrated him bishop. After that Bishop Boniface converted many in Hesse, Thuringia, and Saxony, in spite of great difficulties. Pope Gregory III gave him the title of Archbishop and Apostolic Vicar of the German countries, with the task of organizing the Church there. Defining the dioceses, Boniface installed competent bishops, fostered ecclesiastical life among the clergy and people, and held national synods. In 744 he founded the famous monastery of Fulda, and in the following year established his episcopal See of Mainz, having thirteen suffragan bishops under him. With the German hierarchy “thus organized, Boniface in 754 again turned his steps to Frisia, where many converts had fallen away from Christianity. There, at the River Bordna, as he was preparing to administer confirmation to some of the newly-baptized, he and fifty-two companions were attacked and murdered by heathens on June 5. Buried first at Utrecht, he now rests in Fulda. Rightly is he called the apostle and ecclesiastical organizer of Germany.

2. “Now let us call the roll of famous men that were our fathers long ago. What high achievements the Lord has made known in them ever since time began! Here were men that had power and bore rule, who excelled in strength or in wisdom that dowered them . . . uttering . . . a sacred charge to the nations . . . these were men of tender heart; their deeds of charity will never be forgotten. . . . Their bodies lie in peace, their renown lasts on, age after age. Their wisdom is yet a legend among the people; wherever men assemble their story is told” (Lesson).

St. Boniface is one of those famous men; he not only brought the heathen to faith in Christ but he also solidified whatever Christianity he found, tightening the bonds between existing dioceses and Rome. Thus, he brought monks and nuns from England and created a powerful upsurge and growth of Christian civilization in Germany. Today the priest approaching the altar represents the great archbishop and martyr, Boniface. We hear him pray: “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, take pride in my people: and the sound of weeping and lament shall be heard among them no more. These, my chosen, will not toil in vain or beget children to see them overwhelmed by calamity; theirs is a race the Lord blesses, and their children shall be spared to them” (Introit ). Long ago St. Boniface entered Germany with this prayerful wish in his heart, and he went about dispensing blessings everywhere. Surely, he still prays for his people at the throne of God, gaining for them the grace of conversion and pardon for their sins.

“Blessed be the Lord who schools me. Always I can keep the Lord within sight; always He is at my right hand, to make me stand firm” (Offertory). This was the secret of St. Boniface’s tireless and fruitful activity. Amid all his apostolic labors he was ever the monk, the man of prayerful familiarity with God, of eagerness for every task that God might will to impose on him. “Always I can keep the Lord within sight; always he is at my right hand, to make me stand firm” (Ps. 15: 8). St. Boniface was always conscious of the fact that Another, a Stronger, was working through him; leading and giving strength to make the daily sacrifices required-even the final sacrifice of life. He relied on our Lord’s promises: “Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . . Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness. . . . Blessed are the peacemakers…. Blessed are those who suffer persecution in the cause of right. . . . Be glad and light-hearted, for a rich reward awaits you in heaven” (Gospel). Having walked the road of sacrifice with his Master, St. Boniface has been admitted to everlasting communion with Christ; he now belongs to that number of whom the Communion of the Mass sings: “Who wins the victory? I will let him share my throne with me: I too have won a victory, and now I sit sharing my Father’s throne” (Apoc. 3:21).

3. We are grateful to St. Boniface for his remarkable services to the Church and to the Faith. We appreciate his example of generosity in making sacrifices for the cause of Christ. May he obtain for us an increase in the spirit of Christian fortitude that urges souls to suffer and even to die rather than deny the faith. Today the Church needs apostles like St. Boniface.

Collect: God, who wast pleased to call many people to the knowledge of Thy name through the zeal of Thy martyr bishop, blessed Boniface, grant us this boon, that we who are keeping his feast may also feel the power of his advocacy. Amen.

 

CHRIST IN THE HOME

BY RAOUL PLUS, S.J.

(1951)

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