Library › St Boniface › English Correspondence

English Correspondence

St Boniface, tr. Kylie, 1911

Letter 36: Boniface Urges Lioba, Tecla, Cynehilda and Their Sisters to Pray for Him.…

To my beloved sisters worthy of all honour and affection, Lioba and Tecla and Cynehilda, and all the dear sisters in Christ who live with you, greetings of undying love.

I beseech, nay all but command you, my dear daughters, to implore God with incessant prayers, as I trust that you do now and have done and will do unceasingly, that we may be delivered, in the words of the apostle, “from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith”¹—be assured that if we praise God the tribulations of our hearts are mitigated—and to pray the Lord God, who is the refuge of the poor and the hope of the humble, to snatch us from our hardships and the temptation of this evil world; “that the word of the Lord may have free course, and the glorious gospel of Christ be glorified,”² “that the grace of God which was bestowed on me may not be in vain,”³ and that, since I am the least and the worst of all the legates, whom the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome has sent to preach the gospel, I may not die barren without some fruit of the gospel, and may not return empty-handed in the ranks of sons and daughters; that I may not be judged guilty, when the Lord comes, of hiding the talent nor because of my sins receive instead of a reward for my labour, punishment for unfruitful toil from Him who sent me. And what is worse, many who I thought would be set on the Judgment Day as sheep at the right hand of Christ, have proved to be, on the contrary, stinking and wanton goats who must be set on the left hand. Entreat the goodness of God that He who willed that I, though unworthy, should be chosen shepherd over the people, may strengthen my heart with the spirit of a ruler, so that when the wolf comes I may not flee like a hireling, but like the good shepherd may seek to defend faithfully and loyally the lambs with their mothers, that is the Church Catholic and its sons and daughters, against heretics and schismatics and hypocrites.

Moreover, “because the days are evil, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”⁴ Wherefore, “be strong, steadfast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong; let all your things be done with charity”⁵; and according to the gospel: “In your patience possess ye your souls.”⁶ Keep in mind the holy apostles and prophets: because they laboured much in the Lord, therefore have they gained eternal rewards. According to the psalmist: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all”⁷; and according to the gospel: “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.”⁸

Previous · Contents · Next