GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Monday - June 05, 2023

  

Monday - June 05, 2023

While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, 

be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.

 

-- St. Francis of Assisi

June 5, 2023

Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

Lectionary: 353

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Tb 1:3; 2:1a-8

 

I, Tobit, have walked all the days of my life

on the paths of truth and righteousness.

I performed many charitable works for my kinsmen and my people

who had been deported with me to Nineveh, in Assyria.

 

On our festival of Pentecost, the feast of Weeks,

a fine dinner was prepared for me, and I reclined to eat.

The table was set for me,

and when many different dishes were placed before me,

I said to my son Tobiah: "My son,

go out and try to find a poor man

from among our kinsmen exiled here in Nineveh.

If he is a sincere worshiper of God, bring him back with you,

so that he can share this meal with me.

Indeed, son, I shall wait for you to come back."

 

Tobiah went out to look for some poor kinsman of ours.

When he returned he exclaimed, "Father!"

I said to him, "What is it, son?"

He answered, "Father, one of our people has been murdered!

His body lies in the market place where he was just strangled!"

I sprang to my feet, leaving the dinner untouched;

and I carried the dead man from the street

and put him in one of the rooms,

so that I might bury him after sunset.

Returning to my own quarters, I washed myself

and ate my food in sorrow.

I was reminded of the oracle

pronounced by the prophet Amos against Bethel:

 

"All your festivals shall be turned into mourning,

and all your songs into lamentation."

 

And I wept.

Then at sunset I went out, dug a grave, and buried him.

 

The neighbors mocked me, saying to one another:

"He is still not afraid!

Once before he was hunted down for execution

because of this very thing;

yet now that he has scarcely escaped,

here he is again burying the dead!"

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              Ps 112:1b-2, 3b-4, 5-6

 

R. (1b) Blessed the man who fears the Lord.

 

Blessed the man who fears the LORD,

who greatly delights in his commands.

His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;

the upright generation shall be blessed.

R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.

His generosity shall endure forever.

Light shines through the darkness for the upright;

he is gracious and merciful and just.

R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.

Well for the man who is gracious and lends,

who conducts his affairs with justice;

He shall never be moved;

the just man shall be in everlasting remembrance.

R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.

 

Alleluia         

 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness,

the firstborn of the dead;

you have loved us and freed us from our sins by your Blood.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                                       Mk 12:1-12

 

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes,

and the elders in parables.

"A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it,

dug a wine press, and built a tower.

Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.

At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants

to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.

But they seized him, beat him,

and sent him away empty-handed.

Again he sent them another servant.

And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.

He sent yet another whom they killed.

So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.

He had one other to send, a beloved son.

He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'

But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'

So they seized him and killed him,

and threw him out of the vineyard.

What then will the owner of the vineyard do?

He will come, put the tenants to death,

and give the vineyard to others.

Have you not read this Scripture passage:

 

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

by the Lord has this been done,

and it is wonderful in our eyes?"

 

They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd,

for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.

So they left him and went away.

 

**********************************

The Vineyard of the Holy Spirit

As you read today’s Gospel story, consider: Who are the tenant farmers today?

 

The vineyard owner is God the Father. The beloved son is Jesus, of course. The farmers, at the time that Jesus first spoke this parable, were the Jews who rejected the Son of God.

 

But today we can say that these ill-mannered farmers include Christians who are lazy or belligerent about doing the service that the Father has called them to do in the continuation of the mission of Christ. They might do some of the work, but they’re not doing it the way Jesus would do it nor for the same reasons that Jesus would do it.

 

Through our baptisms, we are all called to be Christ in the world today. Through our spiritual growth and life experiences, we have tasted the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and God is asking us to tend the vineyard so that these fruits will multiply and make a greater difference in the world.

 

God gives us everything we need to become great farmers. Consider the farming tools that God has given to you. Every talent you have is a gift from the Holy Spirit and is meant to be used in God’s vineyard. So has every bit of education and know-how, and every act of love.

 

Whenever we assess ourselves, we tend to list what’s bad about us more than what’s good in us. Right? But it’s not prideful to take note of the good fruits we produce — as long as we remember that every good gift originated with God and serves the purposes of God.

 

Even our life itself is a gift from the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life, to bear fruit that will nourish the people around us. Every unborn child is a gift of the Holy Spirit, no matter what the circumstances of conception were or how inconvenient or handicapped the life would be. Every diseased or brain-damaged person, who might seem better off dead, is a wonderful gift from the Holy Spirit who can bear good fruit through any circumstances, even though their fruits might be invisible to us.

 

Do you know how precious you are? By acknowledging your gifts, you give glory to God. By using your gifts, his vineyard thrives.

 

For example: If you need more patience in dealing with people who are giving you a hard time, give them the gift of love delivered through a charitable deed. You don’t have to actually enjoy tilling the soil! Farmers sweat in the sun. But this is how the gifts of the Spirit produce the fruits of the Spirit that nourish everyone around us with the sweet taste of joy and peace and unconditional love.

 

You’ve got important work to do in this vineyard. Go do it!

 

Today's Prayer

 

Beloved Jesus: I want to remain close to You and build my life in You. You offer me all the caring I need to bear abundant fruit. Thank you, Lord! Amen.

 

 

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”