PRAYER OF THE DAY

Prayer for Veterans Day

We ask for blessings on all those who have served their country in the armed forces.

We ask for healing for the veterans who have been wounded, in body and soul, in conflicts around the globe.

We pray especially for the young men and women,

in the thousands,

who are coming home from Iraq with injured bodies and traumatized spirits.

Bring solace to them,

O Lord;

may we pray for them when they cannot pray.

We ask for,

echoing John Paul II,

an end to wars and the dawning of a new era of peace,

As a way to honor all the veterans of past wars.

Have mercy on all our veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq,

Bring peace to their hearts and peace to the regions they fought in.

Bless all the soldiers who served in non-combative posts;

May their calling to service continue in their lives in many positive ways.

Give us all the creative vision to see a world which, grown weary with fighting,

Moves to affirming the life of every human being and so moves beyond war.

Hear our prayer, 

O Prince of Peace, 

hear our prayer.

Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Memorial of Saint Josaphat,

bishop and martyr

Reading

Ti 1:1-9

Paul, a slave of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ

for the sake of the faith of God's chosen ones

and the recognition of religious truth,

in the hope of eternal life

that God, who does not lie, promised before time began,

who indeed at the proper time revealed his word

in the proclamation with which I was entrusted

by the command of God our savior,

to Titus, my true child in our common faith:

grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.

For this reason I left you in Crete

so that you might set right what remains to be done

and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you,

on condition that a man be blameless,

married only once, with believing children

who are not accused of licentiousness or rebellious.

For a bishop as God's steward must be blameless, not arrogant,

not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive,

not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness,

temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled,

holding fast to the true message as taught

so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine

and to refute opponents.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;

the world and those who dwell in it.

For he founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?

or who may stand in his holy place?

He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,

who desires not what is vain.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,

a reward from God his savior.

Such is the race that seeks for him,

that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Gospel

Lk 17:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples,

"Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,

but woe to the one through whom they occur.

It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck

and he be thrown into the sea

than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

Be on your guard!

If your brother sins, rebuke him;

and if he repents, forgive him.

And if he wrongs you seven times in one day

and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,'

you should forgive him."

And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."

The Lord replied,

"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,

you would say to this mulberry tree,

'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

SAINT OF THE DAY

November 12

St. Josaphat (1580?-1623)

In 1967, newspaper photos of Pope Paul VI embracing Athenagoras I, the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, marked a significant step toward the healing of a division in Christendom that has spanned more than nine centuries.

In 1595, when today’s saint was a boy, the Orthodox bishop of Brest-Litovsk (famous in World War I) in Belarus and five other bishops representing millions of Ruthenians, sought reunion with Rome. John Kunsevich (Josaphat became his name in religious life) was to dedicate his life and die for the same cause. Born in what was then Poland, he went to work in Wilno and was influenced by clergy adhering to the Union of Brest (1596). He became a Basilian monk, then a priest, and soon was well known as a preacher and as an ascetic.

He became bishop of Vitebsk (now in Russia) at a relatively young age, and faced a difficult situation. Most monks, fearing interference in liturgy and customs, did not want union with Rome. By synods, catechetical instruction, reform of the clergy and personal example, however, Josaphat was successful in winning the greater part of the Orthodox in that area to the union.

But the next year a dissident hierarchy was set up, and his opposite number spread the accusation that Josaphat had "gone Latin" and that all his people would have to do the same. He was not enthusiastically supported by the Latin bishops of Poland.

Despite warnings, he went to Vitebsk, still a hotbed of trouble. Attempts were made to foment trouble and drive him from the diocese: A priest was sent to shout insults to him from his own courtyard. When Josaphat had him removed and shut up in his house, the opposition rang the town hall bell, and a mob assembled. The priest was released, but members of the mob broke into the bishop’s home. He was struck with a halberd, then shot and his body thrown into the river. It was later recovered and is now buried in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He was the first saint of the Eastern Church to be canonized by Rome.

His death brought a movement toward Catholicism and unity, but the controversy continued, and the dissidents, too, had their martyr. After the partition of Poland, the Russians forced most Ruthenians to join the Russian Orthodox Church.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips.

And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 66 (67)

Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

O God, take pity on us and bless us,

and let your face shine upon us,

so that your ways may be known across the world,

and all nations learn of your salvation.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

Let the peoples praise you, O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and rejoice,

for you judge the peoples with fairness

and you guide the nations of the earth.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

Let the peoples praise you, O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has produced its harvest:

may God, our God, bless us.

May God bless us,

may the whole world revere him.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

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.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

Hymn

Come, Spirit blest, with God the Son

and God the Father, ever one:

shed forth your grace within our breast

and live in us, a ready guest.

By every power, by heart and tongue,

by act and deed, your praise be sung.

Inflame with perfect love each sense,

that others’ souls may kindle thence.

Psalm 72 (73)

Why should the just suffer?

How good God is to Israel, to those who are pure of heart.

How good God is to the upright,

to those who are pure of heart!

But as for me, my feet nearly stumbled,

my steps were on the point of going astray,

as I envied the boasters and sinners,

envied their comfort and peace.

For them there are no burdens,

their bellies are full and sleek.

They do not labour, like ordinary men;

they do not suffer, like mortals.

They wear their pride like a necklace,

their violence covers them like a robe.

Wickedness oozes from their very being,

the thoughts of their hearts break forth:

they deride, they utter abominations,

and from their heights they proclaim injustice.

They have set their mouth in the heavens,

and their tongue traverses the earth.

Thus they sit in their lofty positions,

and the flood-waters cannot reach them.

They ask, “How can God know?

Does the Most High have any understanding?”

Behold, then, the wicked, always prosperous:

their riches growing for ever.

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.

How good God is to Israel, to those who are pure of heart.

Psalm 72 (73)

Their rejoicing will be turned to weeping, their joy to sorrow.

I said, “It was pointless to purify my heart,

to wash my hands in innocence –

for still I suffered all through the day,

still I was punished every morning.”

If I had said, “I will speak like them,”

I would have betrayed the race of your children.

I pondered and tried to understand:

my eyes laboured to see –

until I entered God’s holy place

and heard how they would end.

For indeed you have put them on a slippery surface

and have thrown them down in ruin.

How they are laid waste!

How suddenly they fall and perish in terror!

You spurn the sight of them, Lord,

as a dream is abandoned when the sleeper awakes.

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.

Their rejoicing will be turned to weeping, their joy to sorrow.

Psalm 72 (73)

All those who abandon you shall perish; 

but to be near God is my happiness.

My heart was sore, my being was troubled –

I was a fool, I knew nothing;

I was like a dumb beast before you.

But still I stay with you:

you hold my right hand.

You lead me according to your counsel,

until you raise me up in glory.

For who else is for me, in heaven?

On earth, I want nothing when I am with you.

My flesh and heart are failing,

but it is God that I love:

God is my portion for ever.

Behold, those who abandon you will perish:

you have condemned all who go whoring away from you.

But for myself, I take joy in clinging to God,

in putting my trust in the Lord, my God,

to proclaim your works at the gates of the daughters of Zion.

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.

All those who abandon you shall perish; 

but to be near God is my happiness.

How sweet is the taste of your sayings, O Lord,

– sweeter than honey in my mouth.

Reading

Daniel 2:26-47

The king said to Daniel (who had been given the name Belteshazzar), ‘Can you tell me what my dream was, and what it means?’ Facing the king, Daniel replied, ‘None of the sages, enchanters, magicians or wizards has been able to tell the king the truth of the mystery which the king propounded; but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and who has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what is to take place in the days to come. These, then, are the dream and the visions that passed through your head as you lay in bed:

‘O king, on your bed your thoughts turned to what would happen in the future, and the Revealer of Mysteries disclosed to you what is to take place. This mystery has been revealed to me, not that I am wiser than any other man, but for this sole purpose: that the king should learn what it means, and that you should understand your inmost thoughts.

‘You have had a vision, O king; this is what you saw: a statue, a great statue of extreme brightness, stood before you, terrible to see. The head of this statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet part iron, part earthenware. While you were gazing, a stone broke away, untouched by any hand, and struck the statue, struck its feet of iron and earthenware and shattered them. And then, iron and earthenware, bronze, silver, gold all broke into small pieces as fine as chaff on the threshing-floor in summer. The wind blew them away, leaving not a trace behind. And the stone that had struck the statue grew into a great mountain, filling the whole earth. This was the dream; now we will explain to the king what it means.

‘You, O king, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength and glory – the sons of men, the beasts of the field, the birds of heaven, wherever they live, he has entrusted to your rule, making you king of them all – you are the golden head. And after you another kingdom will rise, not so great as you, and then a third, of bronze, which will rule the whole world. There will be a fourth kingdom, hard as iron, as iron that shatters and crushes all. Like iron that breaks everything to pieces, it will crush and break all the earlier kingdoms. The feet you saw, part earthenware, part iron, are a kingdom which will be split in two, but which will retain something of the strength of iron, just as you saw the iron and the clay of the earthenware mixed together. The feet were part iron, part earthenware: the kingdom will be partly strong and partly weak. And just as you saw the iron and the clay of the earthenware mixed together, so the two will be mixed together in the seed of man; but they will not hold together any more than iron will blend with earthenware. In the time of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms, and itself last for ever – just as you saw the stone untouched by hand break from the mountain and shatter iron, bronze, earthenware, silver and gold. The great God has shown the king what is to take place. The dream is true, the interpretation exact.’

At this, King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel; he gave orders for Daniel to be offered an oblation and a fragrant sacrifice. The king said to Daniel, ‘Your god must be the God of gods, the master of kings, and the Revealer of Mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.’

Responsory

The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed;

it will shatter and absorb all other kingdoms,

and that kingdom of God will last for ever.

The stone which the builders rejected has become the main cornerstone:

if it falls on a man it will crush him,

and that kingdom of God will last for ever.

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.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.