From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Deep Reverence with which Christ should be Received  [III]   
      
   What is the meaning of this kindly invitation? Unaware of any good in   
   me on which I may presume, how shall I dare to come? How shall I   
   invite You into my house, who have so often done evil in Your sight?   
   The Angels and Archangels do You reverence; Saints and holy men stand   
   in awe of You ; yet You say, `Come you all to Me'! Unless You Yourself   
   had said it, who would believe it true? And who would dare approach,   
   unless it were Your command?   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 4 Ch 1   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   June 5th - St. Boniface, Martyr, Apostle of Germany   
      
   Born in Crediton, Devonshire, England, 680; died at Dokkum, Friesland,   
   in 755. Boniface, baptized Winfrid or Wynfrith, determined at the age   
   of five that he wanted to be a monk after listening to visitors from   
   the monastery. He began his education when he was seven at the   
   monastery school near Exeter and, at 14, graduated to the abbey at   
   Benedictine Nursling (Hants) in Winchester. There he studied under   
   Winbert, became a monk, and eventually became director of and popular   
   teacher at the school. He wrote the first Latin grammar produced in   
   England.   
      
   Although Christianity had already reached into Germany before him, St.   
   Boniface deserves to be called its apostle because it was he who   
   organized the German church. “Germany,” in his time, included the   
   domains of the Frankish monarchs, the present Belgium and Holland   
   among them.   
      
   Brilliant though he was as a teacher, Winfrid yearned for the mission.   
   In 716, he tried his wings as a missionary to Frisia in the present   
   Holland. Since conditions were adverse there, he returned to Nursling   
   and was elected abbot. But his heart was still in the mission field,   
   so he soon resigned his office, and going to Rome in 718-719, he asked   
   Pope St. Gregory II to commission him formally to preach to the German   
   peoples. The pope gladly complied, giving him a new Latin name,   
   Boniface.   
      
   Boniface first went to Thuringia, in north central Germany, and sought   
   to persuade the leaders to promote and reform the Church. Then he went   
   back to Frisia for two years to work with St. Willibrord, the English   
   missionary at Utrecht, and to study his methods. In 721, he entered   
   Hesse, a deeply pagan district north of Frankfort. His gentle approach   
   to the Hessians won many converts, and he established a monastery   
   among them as a symbol of Christian presence. Then he returned to Rome   
   to report on the religious situation in Germany.   
      
   This time, Pope Gregory consecrated Boniface a bishop (722), with   
   authority to organize the German church. Armed also with the   
   all-important safe-conduct of the Frankish ruler, Charles Martel, he   
   returned to Hesse. There on the advice of the Hessian Christians, he   
   personally chopped down the oak of Geismar. This dramatic destruction,   
   with impunity, of their sacred tree, moved many pagans to embrace the   
   Catholic faith. The bishop then went on to Thuringia.   
      
   Admiring the zeal and loyalty of Boniface, the Holy See raised his   
   rank to archbishop in 732 and named him papal legate in 738, with the   
   duty of setting up dioceses throughout Germany and convoking councils   
   for the enactment of norms and reforms. In 747, the pope assigned him   
   a see, the diocese of Mainz, and designated him primate of Germany.   
      
   Boniface had founded a monastery at Fulda in 744. One of the secrets   
   of his success in Germany was the setting up of many abbeys. Not only   
   were they bulwarks of the Faith; they also housed many Englishmen and   
   Englishwomen whom he invited to people them. This English personnel   
   served to further the missionary work. One fact that favored the whole   
   German enterprise was that the Anglo-Saxon language, then spoken by   
   Englishmen, was not all that different from the Germanic tongues   
   spoken in Frisia and in “upper” Germany.   
      
   Even after he had been assigned a fixed see and the German primacy,   
   Boniface, though now on in years, was still a missionary at heart. In   
   752, indeed, he resigned the diocese of Mainz and set out on one last   
   missionary journey to Frisia. At first his efforts met with success,   
   and he scheduled a ceremony of confirmation for new converts at Dokkum   
   in northern Holland. However, while he and his party were there   
   preparing for the rite, they were beset on June 5, 754, by a crowd of   
   pagan Frieslanders. Archbishop Boniface refused to allow his   
   attendants to defend him. He urged them to trust in God and welcome   
   the grace to die for the faith. When the pagans attacked, they   
   massacred him and his 53 companions.   
      
   The body of this revered leader was brought back in stages to the   
   monastery of Fulda. His tomb there has ever since been regarded as the   
   center and heart of German Catholicism.   
      
   Boniface is considered the apostle of Germany (Bavaria, Franconia,   
   Hesse, Thuringia) and the Netherlands (Freisland), Amanburch,   
   Fritzlar, and Fulda. He is venerated at Exeter, Nutshulling   
   (Winchester), and Ventnor. He is the patron of brewers and tailors   
   (Roeder).   
   –Father Robert F. McNamara   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   [urge] all souls to trust in the unfathomable abyss of My mercy,   
   because I want to save them all. On the cross, the fountain of My   
   mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls--no one have I   
   excluded! (1182)   
   --St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in my Soul   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    "I urge then, first of all that petitions, prayers, intercessions and   
   thanksgiving should be offered for everyone, for kings and others in   
   authority, so that we may be able to live peaceful and quiet lives   
   with all devotion and propriety.  To do this is right, and acceptable   
   to God our Savior: he wants everyone to be saved and reach full   
   knowledge of the truth."  [1 Timothy 2:1-4]   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Lord, Your martyr Boniface   
   spread the faith by his teaching   
   and witnessed to it with his blood.   
   By the help of his prayers   
   keep us loyal to our faith   
   and give us courage to profess it in our lives.   
   Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,   
   who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,   
   one God, for ever and ever. Amen.   
      
   <><><><>   
   MY NOVENA ROSE PRAYER   
      
   O Little Therese of the Child Jesus, please pick for me a   
   "rose from the heavenly gardens and send it to me as a   
   message of love.   
      
   O Little Flower of Jesus, ask God today to grant the   
   favors I now place with confidence in your hands.   
   (Mention specific requests)   
      
   St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did, in   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)