Gospel: June 5, 2025
June 5, 2025 (Thursday)
7th Week of Easter
Psalter: Week 3 / (Red)
St. Boniface, bishop and martyr
Ps 16:1-2a & 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
1st Reading: Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
The next day, the commander wanted to know for certain, the charges the Jews were making against Paul. So, he released him from prison and called together the High Priest and the whole Council; and they brought Paul down and made him stand before them. Paul knew, that part of the Council were Sadducees and others Pharisees; so he spoke out in the Council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, son of a Pharisee. It is for the hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial here.”
At these words, an argument broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the whole assembly was divided. For the Sadducees claim that, there is neither resurrection, nor angels nor spirits; while the Pharisees acknowledge all these things. Then, the shouting grew louder; and some teachers of the law of the Pharisee party protested, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Maybe a spirit or an angel has spoken to him.” With this, the argument became so violent that the commander feared that Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He, therefore, ordered the soldiers to go down and rescue him from their midst, and take him back to the fortress. That night, the Lord stood by Paul and said, “Courage! As you have borne witness to me here, in Jerusalem, so must you do in Rome.”
Gospel: John 17:20-26
I pray not only for these, but also for those who through their word will believe in me. May they all be one, as you Father are in me and I am in you. May they be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. Thus they shall reach perfection in unity; and the world shall know that you have sent me, and that I have loved them, just as you loved me.
Father, since you have given them to me, I want them to be with me where I am, and see the glory you gave me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. As I revealed your name to them, so will I continue to reveal it, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I also may be in them.”
Reflection:
“May they all be one.”
Saint Boniface is known as the Apostle to the Germans. He was an English Benedictine monk who became a missionary bishop among the Germanic tribes, seeking their unity in faith and peace. He was a unifier in many ways, in that he helped to shape the Church in Europe and many of his proposed dioceses remain to this day. “May they all be one, as you Father are in me and I am in you.” Christ’s Church still suffers from separation and division.
Ecumenical dialogue seeks to explore unity and to find ways to walk together. However, unity does not mean uniformity where all differences cease. The work of ecumenism is a spiritual journey of strengthening the common witness of all Christians to Christ. “May they be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Boniface was also a courageous witness to Christ, eventually being martyred in Frisia by bandits who sought to rob the old bishop of his treasures, but found that his treasure was the Word of God and not riches, since the chests contained books, not gold.
