Hubert Humphrey once said in a speech: "The moral test for a government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped." The scriptures today encourage us both to give to God what is due to God and to our civil authority what is owed to it while by our actions, prayers and words we help to hasten the coming into our midst of the Kingdom of God in all its fullness.

While we await the new heavens and the new earth, a renewed and re-created blossoming of our home planet rather than something newly created from scratch, the question we must ask ourselves at the close of each day is: "How have we advanced or impeded (even by inaction) the proclamation of the Gospel?" Have we engaged civil authorities, ecclesial authorities and our community's conscience in battling for the creation of the conditions wherein justice and compassion may blossom and flourish?

Today we honour the Apostle of Germany, Boniface, who acted boldly in confronting paganism and preaching the Good News yet was slaughtered as meekly as a lamb, refusing to resist his murderers. By word and deed and prayer and example, he made his preaching compelling and effective.