St. Boniface, bishop  & martyr 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

2 Timothy 3:10-17

You, instead, have close­ly followed my teaching,

my way of life, my projects, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions and sufferings. You know what hap­pened to me at Antioch, Ico­nium and Lystra. How many trials I had to bear! Yet the Lord res­cued me from them all. 

All who want to serve God in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil persons and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  As for you, continue with what you have learned and what has been entrusted to you, knowing from whom you received it.

 Besides, you have known the Scriptures from child­hood; they will give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, refuting error, for correcting and training in Christian life. Through Scripture the man of God is made expert and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

Ps 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168

O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Mark 12:35-37

As Jesus was teaching in the Tem­ple, he said, “The teachers of the Law say that the Messiah is the son of David. How can that be?   For David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit declared: The Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right until I put your enemies under your feet.  If David himself calls him Lord, in what way can he be his son?”

Many people came to Jesus and listened to him gladly.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Paul encourages his readers in the Letter to Timothy to remain steadfast in the teachings they have received, and he encourages them to steep themselves in the Scriptures which have been handed down to them and which contain what they need for every good work that they wish to do.

In the Gospel, the teachings of Jesus continue to guide us in our day to day living through the Scriptures that we have and which the Church encourages us to read.

We have the Eucharist whereby Jesus comes to us and is truly present to us. we have the Church, the community which he has left behind and which he continues to guide through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But all of these aids to our faith and the spiritual life will mean precious little if we do not make use of them and do not allow them to lead us towards a true deepening of our relationship with Jesus. In the end, it is up to us to make the decision, like the people in today’s Gospel, to come to Jesus and “listen to him gladly”.