NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 5, 2024

NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART: Novena dates: May 29 – June 6, 2024. June 7, 2024: Solemnity of the Sacred Heart (Novena link below)

Greetings beloved family. Happy Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time!

We continue to pray for the safety and well-being of our children, youths, students and children all over the world. With special intention for all students graduating this school. year. May God continue to grant them all wisdom, knowledge and understanding and may He empower them as they walk into the future with faith, hope, and love guided by the Holy Spirit through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary. Amen🙏

Watch ” Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN on YouTube | June 5, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 5, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” |June 5, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 5, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | June 5, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteriels VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

Today’s Bible Readings: Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Reading 1, Second Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 123:1-2, 2
Gospel, Mark 12:18-27

NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART: Novena dates: May 29 – June 6, 2024. June 7, 2024: Solemnity of the Sacred Heart | https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-prayer-to-the-sacred-heart-311

SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT BONIFACE, BISHOP AND MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 5TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Boniface and all the Saints, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, particularly pray for those who are terminally ill and those suffering from pathologies of the hands and the feet, we pray for God’s divine healing and intervention. We pray for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. We also pray for tailors and brewers. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏

SAINT BONIFACE, BISHOP AND MARTYR: The English monk St. Boniface  (672-754) is known as the Apostle of Germany because he organized twe ⁴he Church there in the 8th century. St. Boniface was born in 672 to a noble Christian family in Devonshire, England, near Exeter, Devon. He was named Winfrith by his well-to-do English parents. As a boy, he studied in Benedictine monastery schools and became a monk himself in the process. For 30 years he lived in relative peace, studying, teaching, and praying. In his early 40s he left the seclusion of the monastery to do missionary work on the Continent. Because his first efforts in Frisia (now the Netherlands) were unsuccessful, Winfrith went to Rome in search of direction. Pope Gregory II renamed him Boniface, “doer of good,” and delegated him to spread the gospel message in Germany. As a Benedictine monk, he devoted his life to the evangelization of the pagan Germanic tribes in what is now Germany at the request of Pope Gregory II in 719 A.D. and systematically opened up the vast tracks of wilderness to the Gospel, building on the work of the earlier Irish missionaries. St. Boniface organized the Catholic Church in Germany, instructed the faithful, and converted the pagans. He evangelized Hesse, Saxony and Thuringia and became Archbishop of Mainz and founded or restored many dioceses. Working alongside him as evangelists were his nephews and niece, St. Willibald, St. Winebald, and St. Walburga, who all came from England to Germany to assist him.

Legend has it that at Christmastime he chopped down a large tree which was worshiped as a god and used in child sacrifice, and the local pagans converted to Christianity as a result. Instead of worshiping the tree, St. Boniface gave them a smaller evergreen tree as a symbol of eternal life in Christ, the origin of the Christmas tree tradition. He was put to death by the Frisians at Dokkum in 754 during the last of his missionary journeys. He was martyred for his faith along with 52 others as he read the Scriptures on Pentecost Sunday. St. Boniface profoundly influenced the course of German history in the Middle Ages and helped to make it a Christian nation. For his missionary work he is known as the “Apostle of Germany.” He well earned the title of Apostle of Germany, and Catholic Germany in our own times still venerates him as its father in the faith. The famous abbey of Fulda, where his body lies, has remained the national shrine of Catholic Germany. He is Patron Saint of Brewers; Tailors; Germany; Prussia. His feast day is June 5th.

An excerpt from a letter by St Boniface (672-754) “The Apostle of Germany”, Bishop and Martyr:

“Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial. Let us wait upon God’s strengthening aid and say to Him:“O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations.” Let us trust in Him, who has placed this burden upon us. What we ourselves cannot bear, let us bear with the help of Christ. For He is all-powerful and He tells us: “My yoke is easy and my burden light.” Let us continue the fight, on the day of the Lord. The days of anguish and of tribulation have overtaken us. If God so wills, “let us die for the holy laws of our fathers,” so that we may deserve, to obtain an eternal inheritance with them. Let us be neither dogs that do not bark, nor silent onlookers, nor paid servants, who run away before the wolf. Instead, let us be careful shepherds, watching over Christ’s flock. Let us preach the whole of God’s plan, to the powerful and to the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season.” 

PRAYER: May the Martyr Saint Boniface be our advocate, O Lord, that we may firmly hold the faith he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood and confidently profess it by our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever… Amen. St Boniface, Pray for us!🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS

Bible Readings for today, Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060524.cfm

Gospel Reading ~ Mark 12:18-27

“He is not God of the dead but of the living”

“Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is approached by the members of a Jewish group, the Sadducees, who did not believe in life after death. They approach Jesus as someone whom they know has a different view on this issue to themselves. The question the Sadducees put to Jesus about the woman with seven husbands suggests that they understood life beyond death as simply an extension of this earthly life. However, Jesus’ reply suggests otherwise. ‘When they rise from the dead, men and women … are like the angels in heaven’. Life in heaven is not a mirror image of life on earth; it is qualitatively different. St Paul speaks about this life beyond death in terms of transformation. ‘We shall all be changed’, he says. For one thing, it will be a life with no trace of death in it. Today’s first reading declares that Christ has ‘abolished death and has proclaimed life and immortality through the Good News’. We would, of course, like to know more about this transformed life. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus refers to heaven as the place where God’s will is done to the fullest possible extent. We are invited to pray, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. The transformation that awaits us is all that God wills for us, our being fully conformed to the image of Christ himself.

In our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to St. Timothy, the Apostle spoke of the reminder for all the faithful through St. Timothy, that all Christians, all of God’s faithful and holy people ought to do their best to stand up for their faith in the Lord, to be ever more committed to walk in the path of God’s righteousness and love. Saint Paul declares that Jesus ‘abolished death, and proclaimed life and immortality through the Good News’. This was one of the ways St. Paul understood the ministry of Jesus, as the proclamation of eternal life and immortality through the Good News or Gospel. Each and every one of us have been given the various gifts and talents, the opportunities and chances by the Lord for us to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters, to all those whom we encounter in our every day moments, so that by our interactions with them, and through our commitment to the Lord, our pious and faithful lives, we may inspire many others to believe in God as well and to embrace Him as their Lord and Master.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures we are all reminded that we are God’s holy and beloved people, and we often may have to endure sufferings and hardships, one after another in the midst of our journey of faith as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own people. All of us must always remain firm in our faith in the Lord and we must strive to focus our lives and existences on Him, He Who is the Lord and Master of all of our lives, the Lord and Master of all the living and the dead, the Master of all the Universe. We are all called as Christians to be the bearers of God’s truth and love, and to live lives that are truly good, righteous and worthy of the Lord at all times. As Christians, we are called to emulate the Saints and Holy men and women, especially Saint Boniface, who we celebrate today. All of us should strive to do what we can so that our lives may truly be holy and worthy of God, and that everyone who witnesses our works and actions may truly recognise the Lord being present in all of us. Let us all thus continue to glorify the Lord by our lives. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and may the Lord continue to bless us all and our every good efforts, works and endeavours, now and always, forevermore. Amen🙏

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JUNE: The month of June is set apart for devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “From among all the proofs of the infinite goodness of our Savior none stands out more prominently than the fact that, as the love of the faithful grew cold, He, Divine Love Itself, gave Himself to us to be honored by a very special devotion and that the rich treasury of the Church was thrown wide open in the interests of that devotion.” These words of Pope Pius XI refer to the Sacred Heart Devotion, which in its present form dates from the revelations given to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673-75.

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE – FOR MIGRANTS FLEEING THEIR HOMES: We pray that migrants fleeing from war or hunger, forced to undertake journeys full of danger and violence, find welcome and new opportunities in the countries that receive them.

https://www.usccb.org/prayers/popes-monthly-intentions-2024

PRAYER FOR PEACE ~ POPE FRANCIS:

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have beķķen in vain. Now, Lord, come to our ajnid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness. Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen🙏

During this Ordinary Time, please let us all continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, for an end to the current war in Israel-Palestine, and the Ukraine-Russia conflicts and for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Amen 🙏

On this special feast day, as we continue to celebrate our risen Lord, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we pray for the Clergy and religious as they serve in the Lord’s Vineyard. We also pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to remember our beloved, we pray for the repose of their gentle souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May their gentle souls through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯

Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/

PRAYER INTENTIONS: As we begin this season of the Ordinary Time, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for our children and children all over the world, we pray for their health, safety and well-being, we particularly pray for those who have no one to care for them and those who are terminally ill, we pray for God’s Divine healing upon them. Every life is a gift. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the gentle soul of our beloved family members who recently passed away and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. For all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy and all those who preach the Gospel. We pray for Vocation to the Priesthood and Religious life. We particularly pray for all Youths and all Seminarians, with special intention for those Seminarians who will be ordained into Priesthood. For the Church, for persecuted Christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners and Christians all over the world. Amen🙏

Let us pray:

My Lord of infinite wisdom, You are Truth Itself, and You continually reveal Yourself to us. Give me the humility I need to always be open to all divine Truth in my life so that I will come to know You and Your holy will as You desire. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen🙏

Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Most Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Boniface ~ Pray for us🙏

Thanking God for the gift of the Holy Spirit and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all. Have a blessed, safe, and grace-filled and fruitful week🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena 💖