Office of Readings

If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.

Introduction

O God, come to my aid.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen. Alleluia.

Hymn

O Three in One, and One in Three,

Who rulest all things mightily,

Bow down to hear the songs of praise

Which, freed from bonds of sleep, we raise.

While lingers yet the peace of night,

We rouse us from our slumbers light;

That might of instant prayer may win

The healing balm for wounds of sin.

If, by the wiles of Satan caught,

This night-time we have sinned in aught,

That sin thy glorious power today,

From heaven descending, cleanse away.

Let naught impure our bodies stain,

No laggard sloth our souls detain,

No taint of sin our spirits know,

To chill the fervour of their glow.

Wherefore, Redeemer, grant that we

Fulfilled with thine own light may be:

That, in our course, from day to day,

By no misdeed we fall away.

Grant this, O Father ever One

With Christ, thy sole-begotten Son,

And Holy Ghost, whom all adore,

Reigning and blest for evermore.

Psalm 54 (55) Against a faithless friend

My God, do not despise my prayer against the oppression of the wicked.

Open your ears, O God, to my prayer,

and do not hide when I call on you:

turn to me and answer me.

My thoughts are distracted and I am disturbed

by the voice of my enemy and the oppression of the wicked.

They let loose their wickedness on me,

they persecute me in their anger.

My heart is tied in a knot

and the terrors of death lie upon me;

fear and trembling cover me;

terror holds me tight.

I said, “Will no-one give me wings like a dove?

I shall fly away and rest.

I shall flee far away

and remain all alone.

I shall wait for him who will save me

from the stormy wind and the tempest.”

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

My God, do not despise my prayer against the oppression of the wicked.

Psalm 54 (55)

The Lord will free us from the power of the enemies who lie in wait for us.

Scatter them, Lord, and separate their tongues,

for I see violence and conflict in the city.

By day and by night they circle it

high on its battlements.

Within it are oppression and trouble;

scheming and fraud fill its squares.

For if my enemy had slandered me,

I think I could have borne it.

And if the one who hated me had trampled me,

perhaps I could have hidden.

But you – a man just like me,

my companion and my friend!

We had happy times together,

we walked together in the house of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

The Lord will free us from the power of the enemies who lie in wait for us.

Psalm 54 (55)

Throw all your cares on the Lord and he will give you sustenance.

Let death break in upon them!

Let them go down alive to the underworld,

for wickedness shares their home.

As for me, I will call upon God,

and the Lord will rescue me.

Evening, morning, noon – I shall watch and groan,

and he will hear my voice.

He will redeem my soul

and give it peace from those who attack me –

for very many are my enemies.

God will hear and will bring them low,

God, the eternal.

They will never reform:

they do not fear God.

That man – he stretched out his hand against his allies:

he corrupted his own covenant.

His face was smoother than butter,

but his heart was at war;

his words were softer than oil,

but they were sharp as drawn swords.

Throw all your cares on the Lord

and he will give you sustenance.

He will not let the just be buffeted for ever.

No – but you, Lord, will lead the wicked

to the gaping mouth of destruction.

The men of blood and guile

will not live half their days.

But I, Lord, will put my trust in you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Throw all your cares on the Lord and he will give you sustenance.

My son, attend to my wisdom,

– and turn your ears to my words of prudence.

Reading	Daniel 10:1-21 ©

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a revelation was made to Daniel known as Belteshazzar, a true revelation of a great conflict. He grasped the meaning of the revelation; what it meant was disclosed to him in a vision.

At that time, I, Daniel, was doing a three-week penance; I ate no rich food, touched no meat or wine, and did not anoint myself, until these three weeks were over. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I stood on the bank of that great river, the Tigris, I raised my eyes to look about me, and this is what I saw:

A man dressed in linen, with a girdle of pure gold round his waist;

his body was like beryl,

his face shone like lightning,

his eyes were like fiery torches,

his arms and his legs had the gleam of burnished bronze,

the sound of his voice was like the noise of a crowd.

I, Daniel, alone saw the apparition; the men who were with me did not see the apparition, but so great a trembling overtook them that they fled to hide. I was left alone, gazing on this great apparition; I was powerless, my appearance altered out of all recognition, what strength I had deserted me.

I heard him speak, and at the sound of his voice I fell unconscious to the ground. I felt a hand touching me, setting my knees and my hands trembling. He said, ‘Daniel, you are a man specially chosen; listen carefully to the words that I am going to say; stand up; I have been sent to you and here I am.’ He said this, and I stood up trembling. He said then, ‘Daniel, do not be afraid: from that first day when you resolved to humble yourself before God, the better to understand, your words have been heard; and your words are the reason why I have come. The prince of the kingdom of Persia has been resisting me for twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the leading princes, came to my assistance. I have left him confronting the kings of Persia and have come to tell you what will happen to your people in the days to come. For here is a new vision about those days.’

When he had said these things to me I prostrated myself on the ground, without saying a word; then someone looking like a son of man came and touched my lips. I opened my mouth to speak, and I said to the person standing in front of me, ‘My lord, anguish overcomes me at this vision, and what strength I had deserts me. How can my lord’s servant speak to my lord now that I have no strength left and my breath fails me?’ Once again the person like a man touched me; he gave me strength. ‘Do not be afraid,’ he said ‘you are a man specially chosen; peace be with you; play the man, be strong!’ And as he spoke to me I felt strong again and said, ‘Let my lord speak, you have given me strength.’

He said then, ‘Do you know why I have come to you? It is to tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. I must go back to fight against the prince of Persia: when I have done with him, the prince of Javan will come next. And now I will tell you the truth about these things. In all this there is no one to lend me support except Michael your prince, on whom I rely to give me support and reinforce me.’

Responsory

From that first day when you resolved to humble yourself before God, the better to understand, your words have been heard: this is why I have come.

Do not be afraid, Daniel, I have come to tell you what is written in the Book of Truth: this is why I have come.

Reading	Pope Pius XI's encyclical "Ecclesiam Dei"

He gave his life for the unity of the Church

In designing his Church God worked with such skill that in the fullness of time it would resemble a single great family embracing all men. It can be identified, as we know, by certain distinctive characteristics, notably its universality and unity.

Christ the Lord passed on to his apostles the task he had received from the Father: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. He wanted the apostles as a body to be intimately bound together, first by the inner tie of the same faith and love which flows into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and, second, by the external tie of authority exercised by one apostle over the others. For this he assigned the primacy to Peter, the source and visible basis of their unity for all time. So that the unity and agreement among them would endure, God wisely stamped them, one might say, with the mark of holiness and martyrdom.

Both these distinctions fell to Josaphat, archbishop of Polock of the Slavonic rite of the Eastern Church. He is rightly looked upon as the great glory and strength of the Eastern Rite Slavs. Few have brought them greater honour or contributed more to their spiritual welfare than Josaphat, their pastor and apostle, especially when he gave his life as a martyr for the unity of the Church. He felt, in fact, that God had inspired him to restore world-wide unity to the Church and he realised that his greatest chance of success lay in preserving the Slavonic rite and Saint Basil’s rule of monastic life within the one universal Church.

Concerned mainly with seeing his own people reunited to the See of Peter, he sought out every available argument which would foster and maintain Church unity. His best arguments were drawn from liturgical books, sanctioned by the Fathers of the Church, which were in common use among Eastern Christians, including the dissidents. Thus thoroughly prepared, he set out to restore the unity of the Church. A forceful man of fine sensibilities, he met with such success that his opponents dubbed him “the thief of souls.”

Responsory

Jesus prayed: Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me.

I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me.

Let us pray.

Lord, filled with your Holy Spirit Saint Josaphat laid down his life for his flock.

Renew that Spirit in your Church, strengthen our hearts with your grace, so that, with the help of his prayers, we may be ready to lay down our lives for our brethren.

[We make our prayer] through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Saint Josaphat, Bishop & Martyr

Saint Josaphat
Bishop & Martyr
Memorial
November 12th

Collect:
Lord,
fill your Church with the Spirit
that gave Saint Josaphat courage
to lay down his life for his people.
By his prayers
may your Spirit make us strong
and willing to offer our lives
for our brothers and sisters.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.
First Reading: Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. And His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Gospel: John 17:20-26
"I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee; and these know that thou hast sent me. 26 I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

The following is taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia
Josaphat Kuncevyv
Born in the little town of Volodymyr in Luthiania in the year 1580, young Josaphat proved himself to have zeal for God at a young age. As a boy he shunned the usual games of childhood, prayed much, and lost no opportunity for assisting at the divine services. Children especially regarded him with the greatest affection, and found him a worthy model. Both parents contributed to implant the seeds of piety in the heart of their child.
Owing to the straitened circumstances of his parents, he was apprenticed to the merchant Popovyc at Vilna. In this town, remarkable for the corruption of its morals, and the contentions of the various religious sects, Josaphat seemed specially guarded by Providence and became aquainted with certain excellent men under whose direction he advanced in learning and virtue.
As an apprentice, he devoted every leisure hour to prayer and study. At first Popovyc viewed this behavior with displeasure, but Josaphat gradually won such a postion in his esteem, that Popovyc offered him his entire fortune and his daughter's hand.
But Josaphat's love for the religious life never wavered. At the age of twenty-four he entered the Basilian monastery of the Trinity at Vilna, and brought with him the same piety and zeal for God. His favorite pious exercise was to make a poktony (i.e., a reverence in which the head touches the ground) with the ejaculation: "Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a poor sinner". Never eating meat he fasted much, wore a hair shirt and an angular chain, slept on the bare floor, and chastised his body until the blood flowed. The Jesuits frequently urged him to set boundaries to his austerities.
In 1609 after private study under the Jesuit Fabricius, Josaphat was ordained priest. He subsequently became superior in several monasteries, and on November 12, 1617, was reluctantly consecrated bishop of Vitebsk, with right of succession to the Archbishopric of Polotsk. He became archbishop in 1618.
Josaphat had lived most of his life during a time of great schism and while each succeeding year saw fresh evidence of his fruitful labors, it also witnessed the steady growth of the schismatic party. Finally on November 12, 1623, an axe stroke and a bullet brought Josaphat his martyr's crown.
After numerous miracles had occurred, a commission was appointed by Urban VIII in 1628 to inquire into the cause of Josaphat, and examined on oath 116 witnesses. Although five years had elapsed since Josaphat's death, his body was still incorrupt. In 1637 a second commission investigated the martyr's life and in 1867, twenty years after his martyrdom, Josaphat was canonnized.
As deacon, priest, and Bishop he was distinguished by his extraordinary zeal in the service of souls. Not alone in the church did he preach and hear confessions, but likewise in the fields, hospitals, prisons, and even on his journeys. Even where his words of instruction might by themselves have failed, his entreaties and tears ensured him success.
This zeal united with his kindness and extraordinary love for the poor, won numbers to the Catholic faith. Among his converts were included many important personages such as Ignatius, Patriarch of Moscow, and Emmanuel Cantacuzenus who belonged to the family of the Greek Emperor Palaeologus. As archbishop he restored the churches; issued a catechism to the clergy with instructions that it should be learned by heart; composed rules for the priestly life, entrusting to the deacons the task of superintending their observance; assembled synods in various dioceses, and firmly opposed the Chancellor when he wished to make concessions in favor of schismatics.
Throughout all his strivings and all his occupations, he continued his exemplary life as a religious, and never abated his zeal for self-mortification and prayer. He awaited death with a certain yearning, refusing to avail himself of the opportunity of flight afforded him. After his death his influence was still greater: conversions were numerous, and veneration for him continued to extend.