Festival of St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Posted on June 5, 2023 by under
Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:1-15 (NKJV)
6:1 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
10 “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—12 then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.”
Devotion
On June 5th in the year 754, St. Boniface was martyred in Dokkum by the Frisians, who at the time were still pagans. They hoped that Boniface and his company carried great riches; but instead all they found were sacred books and other materials for teaching and education.
Boniface spent his life as a missionary and evangelist among various Germanic people. He was the one who felled the Donner Oak—the tree sacred to the religion of Thor and Odin, the pagan Norse gods—and then built a chapel to the true God out of the lumber. After years of mission work he had many congregations. In purely human terms he had been very successful. He could have left the work of evangelizing the Frisians to someone else. But his love for the lost and his zeal for the Lord were such that he went himself, at risk to his own life, and was martyred there.
Many of our forebears were Germans; and without a doubt those who led the Reformation were Germans, whose ancestors had been evangelized by St. Boniface. The Christianity that endured after St. Boniface’s witness to them testifies to the truth of Moses’ words even in the New Testament era, and to the effectiveness of God’s Word in teaching and preaching. May God ever keep us faithful to it, as St. Boniface was!
Prayer: O God, who dost guide Thy Church through the faithful ministrations of Thy servants, grant that Thy ministers, like St. Boniface, stand steadfast against those who would work iniquity; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Feast of the Holy Trinity
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hast given unto us, Thy servants, grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech Thee, that Thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities; Who livest and reignest, One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
