05 June 2024 - St Boniface Bishop and Martyr - homily for Wednesday of the 9th week of Ordinary Time - 2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12

I lived in Winnipeg for two years as a lay missionary.  This city of about 700,000 inhabitants has two different Roman Catholic Cathedrals.  The Cathedral of St Mary is the Cathedral of the English speaking Archdiocese of Winnipeg. The Cathedral of St Boniface serves a French speaking population in the Archdiocese of St Boniface.  When I would travel to the soup kitchen and food bank where I worked, when I mostly traveled by bicycle, I would pass by the Cathedral of St Boniface, a very interesting architectural marvel. It was built in 1906, but in 1968, there was a terrible fire that destroyed the Cathedral, all except the front facade. A new smaller cathedral was built behind the facade, making a very interesting new building that has won many architectural awards. 

I thought of the St Boniface Cathedral today on the feast day of St Boniface. Born in the 7th century in England, Boniface spent many years as a monk in his native land. At the age of 40, he received a command from the Pope to be a missionary to the Saxon people of present day Germany, who still had not converted to the faith. He had great success in bringing them to the faith and later became the Bishop of Mainz in Germany. At the age of 80, while in Frisia in Germany bringing the Gospel to the people there, he was attacked and killed, becoming a martyr for the faith.

I think of St Boniface in the context of our first reading today from St Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Paul calls himself a prisoner for Christ, having been imprisoned many time for the Gospel message he preached.  He tells Timothy to have courage in preaching the Gospel message, to do so out of love and self-control, to take pride in the Gospel that we proclaim.  St Boniface did the same in bringing the Gospel to Saxon people.  We are to do the same in the reality of our lives as well.