The Feast of St Boniface, Bishop and Martyr.

Feast of St Boniface, Bishop and Martyr. 

"Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. 

"Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.

"At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.

"But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.

"He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.

"He had one other to send, a beloved son. 

"He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’

"But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 

"What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture passage:

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?”

"They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away."  (Mark 12: 1 - 12). 

Monday 5th June 2023 in the 9th Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Boniface (680 - 754), Bishop and Martyr. 

The well educated English Benedictine priest was sent by Pope Gregory II to evangelize the German tribes. Boniface was consecrated the first Bishop of Germany. He organized the Church in Germany and was martyred in Friesland (present day Netherlands) when he went to preach there. St Boniface is the patron saint of Germany.

This is one of the saddest parables in the Gospel.  Read the whole story in Mark 12: 1 - 12.

The ungrateful and grasping tenants had killed and thoroughly abused other messengers before the landlord sent his own Son.

What is the point of the whole story? 

The incredible and longsuffering nature of God. No human king or landlord could tolerate a fraction of what these malevolent tenants did. While we are thankful for God's patience with our sins, it will be a mistake to think that this time of grace and mercy will last forever. Repent and seek the face of the Lord today. 

The Church honors the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June. 

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