Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 5, 2026
As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,
“How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.’
David himself calls him ‘lord’;
so how is he his son?”
The great crowd heard this with delight.
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
Yesterday, I saw a father squatting beside a fountain in the park. His daughter—maybe two—kept stepping into the water, then out again, as if testing the world. He didn’t stop her. He remained close, a quiet smile passing across his face. They stood under the shade of an oak tree at the edge of the sun. There were small bursts of splashing and giggling, and birds moving somewhere above them.
I once heard a poet suggest that when someone asks if you believe in God, the best response may be a moment from the previous day. I share this scene in that spirit because I return to that question myself, uncertain whether it is even the right kind of question.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus asks a question that unsettles more than it answers: How can Christ be both the son of King David and yet David’s Lord? The scribes expect a political heir: someone to restore power and defeat enemies. But Jesus stretches that expectation. If David calls the Messiah “Lord,” then the Messiah cannot simply inherit the past; he exceeds it. By doing so, Jesus loosens the grip of familiar categories. He opens a vision of God that is larger, and at times, harder to hold.
I’ve never known what to do with language that tries to settle God into clear definitions: language that explains too quickly, answers too cleanly, closes more than it opens. But yesterday, there was a father watching his child with something like reverence. Not possession. Not control. Just attention. Delight. And the crowd, the Scripture says, “heard this with delight.”
Maybe faith begins there: not in explanations that make God manageable, but in remaining open to moments that exceed them. With questions that don’t close, but keep testing the world. It might look less like having the right answer, and more like staying near to whatever moves between a two-year-old and her father—her laughter, and his delight at hearing it—something shared, then carried forward: wet feet, damp socks drying in the sun.
Prayer
Dear Lord, as we go about our homes and work, let us bring your presence with us. Let us speak your peace, your grace, your mercy, and your perfect order to all we meet. Give us a fresh supply of strength to do our work. May even our smallest accomplishments bring you glory. When we are confused, guide us. When we are burned out, infuse us with the light of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Boniface is known as the “Apostle of Germany” for his tremendous missionary efforts spreading the faith through that region of Europe during the Dark Ages.
He was born in England in 680, and baptized with the name Winfrid. At the age of 5, he had his first encounter with educated monks when several visited his home. When he heard them speak, he knew he wanted an education as well, and his parents let him go to school at a nearby monastery. When he exhausted that place’s resources for learning, he moved to a bigger monastery, and in time, was named director of the school there.
He was a gifted teacher and had an attractive personality, and was ordained a priest at the age of 30. He felt a calling from God to spread the faith as a missionary, and received permission to travel to mainland Europe, which was dominated by pagan religions. He left in the spring of 716 with two others, but immediately discovered that the rulers of the area where he landed were actively persecuting Christians.
He returned to his monastery in England, but still felt called to serve as a missionary--though the monks there tried to elect him abbot so he would stay. He traveled to Rome to have this calling confirmed by the pope, who gave him an official commission and changed his name to Boniface. From there he traveled to Germany, where he journeyed among the people and evangelized them.
In one area, it is said that he decided to strike at the root of the people’s pagan beliefs. He announced that he would cut down an oak tree considered sacred to the gods believed in by the people. Crowds gathered to watch, expecting him to be struck down for this act of blasphemy. He felled the oak, which shattered into four pieces. The people acknowledged that their gods had no power, and many converted.
Boniface went on to systematically evangelize central Germany, founding churches, establishing dioceses, and organizing the hierarchy. He also began a number of monasteries as centers of learning and faith, and encouraged monks and nuns from England to live in them. A number of saints found their way to heaven by joining his work.
The Church in what is now France was in a terrible state at that time—clerical offices were being sold to the highest bidder, the clergy themselves were ignorant and immoral, and the king plundered the Church coffers to pay for his wars. When the king died, Boniface capitalized on the opportunity—he convinced the successors, who were faithful Christians, to help reform the Church, which reinvigorated the faithful there.
He retired at the age of 73 and handed over the leadership of all he had founded. This did not slow him down from evangelizing, however—he returned to the mission fields, finding new people who had not encountered the Gospel. One evening, his encampment was attacked by pagans, and he was the first killed.
St. Boniface is said to have had a deeper influence on the history of Europe than any Englishman ever. Even his contemporaries recognized him as a holy man—he was simple, yet had great insight and power as a missionary and reformer. The relics of St. Boniface rest in the reliquary chapel of the Basilica.
St. Boniface, martyr who planted the Church in Germany—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Bonfiace is in the public domain. Last accessed March 18, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
