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Saturday of the Third week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day
Saint Boniface (675-764), monk, missionary to Germany, martyr
Letter to Cuthbert ; PL 89, 765 (trans. Breviary 05/06)

"Why are you terrified?

The Church is like a great ship sailing the sea of the world and tossed by the waves of temptation in this life. But it is not to be abandoned—it must be brought under control. As an example of this we have the Fathers of the past, Clement and Cornelius and many others in the city of Rome, Cyprian in Carthage and Athanasius in Alexandria. Living under pagan emperors, they steered the ship of Christ, that is the Church, his beloved spouse. And they did this by teaching, defending, working and suffering even to the shedding of their blood.

When I considered the example of these men and of men like them, I was filled with fear. “Dread came upon me and trembling, and the darkness of my sins almost overwhelmed me” (Ps 54[55],6). I should have been only too glad to give up the government of the Church, which I had accepted, if only I could have found some support for this course of action in the example of the Fathers or in sacred scripture.

Therefore, since this is the situation and since the truth may become wearied but cannot be overcome… I take refuge in my weariness in the one who spoke through Solomon: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Pr 3,5-6)… Let us stand firm in doing what is right and prepare to face temptations, so that we may hope for support from the Lord and be able to say to him: “Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next” (Ps 89[90],1). Let us trust in the one who laid this burden upon us. What we cannot bear on our own, let us bear with the help of the one who is all-powerful and who said: “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt 11,30).

One of my favorite quotes from the Fathers, but, to use the phrase of the late Paul Harvey, we need to hear “the rest of the story”, or, in this case, the rest of the letter:

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, as Saint Gregory writes in his book of Pastoral Instruction.