PRAYER OF THE DAY
Litany to Christ the King
Lord, have mercy on us,
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us,
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
God,
our Heavenly Father,
Who has made firm for all ages your Son's Throne,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Jesus,
our Victim-High Priest,
True Prophet, a
nd Sovereign King,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
poured out upon us with abundant newness,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity,
Three Persons yet One God in the Beauty of Your Eternal Unity,
Have mercy on us.
O Jesus, our Eternal King,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, Most Merciful King,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, extending to us the Golden Scepter of Your Mercy,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, in Whose Great Mercy we have been given the Sacrament of Confession,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, Loving King Who offers us Your Healing Grace,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, our Eucharistic King,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, the King foretold by the prophets,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King of Heaven and earth,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King and Ruler of All Nations,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, Delight of the Heavenly Court,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Most Compassionate toward Your subjects,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King from Whom proceeds all authority,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, in whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, we are One,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Whose Kingdom is not of this world,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Whose Sacred Heart burns with Love for all mankind,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Who is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Who has given us Mary, the Queen, to be our dear Mother,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Who will come upon the clouds of Heaven with Power and Great Glory,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Whose Throne we are to approach with confidence,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Who made Mary the Mediatrix of All Graces,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Who made Mary Co-Redemptrix, Your partner in the Plan of Salvation,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Who desires to heal us of all division and disunity,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King wounded by mankind's indifference,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Who gives the balm of Your Love with which to console Your Wounded Heart,
Reign in our hearts.
O Jesus, King Who is the Great I AM within us, our Wellspring of Pure Delight,
Reign in our hearts.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
True Sovereign of all earthly powers,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
subjecting under Your feet forever the powers of hell ,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
the Light beyond all light, enlightening us in the darkness that surrounds us,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Whose Mercy is so Great as to mitigate the punishments our sins deserve,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
recognized by the Magi as the True King,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
the Only Remedy for a world so ill,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Who blesses with Peace those souls and nations that acknowledge You as True King,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Who Mercifully sends us your Holy Angels to protect us,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Whose Chief Prince is Saint Michael the Archangel,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Who teaches us that to reign is to serve,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Just Judge Who will separate the wicked from the good,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
before Whom every knee shall bend,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Whose Dominion is an everlasting Dominion,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Lamb who will Shepherd us,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Who after having destroyed every sovereignty,
May we serve You.
authority and power,
will hand over the Kingdom to Your God and Father,
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Whose Reign is without end,
May we serve You.
Jesus, King of All Nations,
Whose kindness toward us is steadfast,
and whose fidelity endures forever,
May we serve You.
Eternal Father,
Who has given us Your Only Begotten Son,
to be our Redeemer,
One True Mediator,
and Sovereign King,
We praise and thank You.
Loving Jesus,
Sovereign King,
Who humbled Yourself for Love of us and took the form of a servant,
We praise and thank You.
Holy Spirit,
Third Person of the Trinity,
Love of the Father and the Son,
Who sanctifies us and gives us Life,
We praise and thank You.
Mary,
our Queen and Mother,
who mediates to Jesus on our behalf,
Pray for us.
Mary,
our Queen and Mother,
through whom all Grace come to us,
Pray for us.
Mary,
our Queen and Mother,
Singular Jewel of the Holy Trinity,
We love You.
Holy Angels and Saints of our Divine King,
Pray for us and Protect us.
Amen.
DAILY MASS READINGS
Our Lord Jesus Christ
King of the Universe
Reading 1
2 SM 5:1-3
In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:
"Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king,
it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back.
And the LORD said to you,
'You shall shepherd my people Israel
and shall be commander of Israel.'"
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron,
King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD,
and they anointed him king of Israel.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
"We will go up to the house of the LORD."
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Reading 2
COL 1:12-20
Brothers and sisters:
Let us give thanks to the Father,
who has made you fit to share
in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
He delivered us from the power of darkness
and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.
Gospel
LK 23:35-43
The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
"He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God."
Even the soldiers jeered at him.
As they approached to offer him wine they called out,
"If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."
Above him there was an inscription that read,
"This is the King of the Jews."
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
"Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us."
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply,
"Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal."
Then he said,
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
He replied to him,
"Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise."
SAINT OF THE DAY
November 24
St. Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions
St. Andrew was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862.
Members of this group were beatified on four different occasions between 1900 and 1951.
Now all have been canonized by Blessed John Paul II.
Christianity came to Vietnam (then three separate kingdoms) through the Portuguese. Jesuits opened the first permanent mission at Da Nang in 1615. They ministered to Japanese Catholics who had been driven from Japan.
The king of one of the kingdoms banned all foreign missionaries and tried to make all Vietnamese deny their faith by trampling on a crucifix. Like the priest-holes in Ireland during English persecution,
many hiding places were offered in homes of the faithful.
Severe persecutions were again launched three times in the 19th century.
During the six decades after 1820, between 100,000 and 300,000 Catholics were killed or subjected to great hardship.
Foreign missionaries martyred in the first wave included priests of the Paris Mission Society,
and Spanish Dominican priests and tertiaries.
Persecution broke out again in 1847 when the emperor suspected foreign missionaries and Vietnamese Christians of sympathizing with a rebellion led by of one of his sons.
The last of the martyrs were 17 laypersons, one of them a 9-year-old, executed in 1862.
That year a treaty with France guaranteed religious freedom to Catholics, but it did not stop all persecution.
By 1954 there were over a million and a half Catholics—about seven percent of the population—in the north. Buddhists represented about 60 percent. Persistent persecution forced some 670,000 Catholics to abandon lands, homes and possessions and flee to the south. In 1964, there were still 833,000 Catholics in the north, but many were in prison. In the south, Catholics were enjoying the first decade of religious freedom in centuries, their numbers swelled by refugees.
During the Vietnamese war, Catholics again suffered in the north, and again moved to the south in great numbers.
Now the whole country is under Communist rule.
OFFICE OF READINGS
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim Your Praise!
Invitatory Psalm
Psalm 94 (95)
Jesus Christ is the King of kings:
come, let us adore him.
Come, let us rejoice in the Lord,
let us acclaim God our salvation.
Let us come before him proclaiming our thanks,
let us acclaim him with songs.
Jesus Christ is the King of kings:
come, let us adore him.
For the Lord is a great God,
a king above all gods.
For he holds the depths of the earth in his hands,
and the peaks of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his: he made it;
and his hands formed the dry land.
Jesus Christ is the King of kings:
come, let us adore him.
Come, let us worship and bow down,
bend the knee before the Lord who made us;
for he himself is our God and we are his flock,
the sheep that follow his hand.
Jesus Christ is the King of kings:
come, let us adore him.
If only, today, you would listen to his voice:
“Do not harden your hearts
as you did at Meribah,
on the day of Massah in the desert,
when your fathers tested me –
they put me to the test,
although they had seen my works.”
Jesus Christ is the King of kings:
come, let us adore him.
“For forty years they wearied me,
that generation.
I said: their hearts are wandering,
they do not know my paths.
I swore in my anger:
they will never enter my place of rest.”
Jesus Christ is the King of kings:
come, let us adore him.
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.
Jesus Christ is the King of kings:
come, let us adore him.
Hymn
This day at thy creating Word
First o’er the earth the light was poured:
O Lord, this day upon us shine
And fill our souls with light divine.
This day the Lord for sinners slain
In might victorious rose again:
O Jesus, may we raised be
From death of sin to life in thee!
This day the Holy Spirit came
With fiery tongues of cloven flame:
O Spirit, fill our hearts this day
With grace to hear and grace to pray.
O day of light and life and grace,
From earthly toil a resting-place,
The hallowed hours, blest gift of love,
Give we again to God above.
All praise to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
Whom, with the Spirit, we adore
For ever and for evermore.
Psalm 2
The Messiah, king and victor
Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory,
wrapped in light as in a robe.
Alleluia.
Why are the nations in a ferment?
Why do the people make their vain plans?
The kings of the earth have risen up;
the leaders have united against the Lord,
against his anointed.
“Let us break their chains, that bind us;
let us throw off their yoke from our shoulders!”
The Lord laughs at them,
he who lives in the heavens derides them.
Then he speaks to them in his anger;
in his fury he throws them into confusion:
“But I – I have set up my king on Zion,
my holy mountain.”
I will proclaim the Lord’s decrees.
The Lord has said to me: “You are my son: today I have begotten you.
Ask me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance,
the ends of the earth for you to possess.
You will rule them with a rod of iron,
break them in pieces like an earthen pot.”
So now, kings, listen: understand, you who rule the land.
Serve the Lord in fear, tremble even as you praise him.
Learn his teaching, lest he take anger,
lest you perish when his anger bursts into flame.
Blessed are all who put their trust in the Lord.
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.
Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory,
wrapped in light as in a robe.
Alleluia.
Psalm 71 (72)
The Messiah's royal power
The Lord brought forth bread from the earth and wine,
to cheer man’s heart. Alleluia.
Give the king your judgement, O God,
give the king’s son your righteousness.
Let him judge your people with justice
and your poor ones with wisdom.
Let the mountains bring peace to your people,
let the hills bring righteousness.
He will give his judgement to the poor among the people,
he will rescue the children of the destitute,
he will lay low the false accuser.
He will endure with the sun, beneath the moon,
from generation to generation.
He will come down like rain on the pasture,
like a shower that waters the earth.
In his time, righteousness will flourish
and abundance of peace,
until the moon itself is no more.
He will rule from coast to coast,
from the world’s centre to its farthest edge.
The desert-dwellers will cast themselves down before him;
his enemies will eat dust at his feet.
The kings of Tharsis and the islands will bring tribute,
the kings of Arabia and Sheba will bring gifts.
All the kings will worship him,
all nations will serve him.
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 brought forth bread from the earth and wine,
to cheer man’s heart. Alleluia.
Psalm 71 (72)
God saw all he had made,
and indeed it was very good. Alleluia.
Because he has given freedom to the destitute who called to him,
to the poor, whom no-one will hear.
He will spare the poor and the needy,
he will keep their lives safe.
He will rescue their lives from oppression and violence,
their blood will be precious in his sight.
He will live long, and receive gifts of gold from Arabia;
they will pray for him always,
bless him all through the day.
There will be abundance of grain in the land,
it will wave even from the tops of the mountains;
its fruit will be richer than Lebanon.
The people will flourish as easily as grass.
Let his name be blessed for ever,
let his name endure beneath the sun.
All the nations of the earth will be blessed in him,
all nations will acclaim his greatness.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone works wonders.
Let his majesty be blessed for ever;
let it fill all the earth. Amen, amen.
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.
God saw all he had made,
and indeed it was very good. Alleluia.
I have made you a light for the nations,
– to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.
First Reading
Apocalypse 1:4-6,10,12-18,2:26,28,3:5,12,20-21
Grace and peace to you from him who is, who was, and who is to come, from the seven spirits in his presence before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
It was the Lord’s day and the Spirit possessed me, and I heard a voice behind me, shouting like a trumpet, I turned round to see who had spoken to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands and, surrounded by them, a figure like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white as white wool or as snow, his eyes like a burning flame, his feet like burnished bronze when it has been refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of the ocean. In his right hand he was holding seven stars,
out of his mouth came a sharp sword, double-edged, and his face was like the sun shining with all its force.
When I saw him, I fell in a dead faint at his feet, but he touched me with his right hand and said, ‘Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of the underworld. To those who prove victorious, and keep working for me until the end, which I myself have been given by my Father, to rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like earthenware. And I will give him the Morning Star. I shall not blot their names out of the book of life, but acknowledge their names in the presence of my Father and his angels. Those who prove victorious I will make into pillars in the sanctuary of my God, and they will stay there for ever; I will inscribe on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God in heaven, and my own new name as well. Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share his meal, side by side with him.
Those who prove victorious I will allow to share my throne,
just as I was victorious myself and took my place with my Father on his throne.
Responsory
They will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds with great power and glory;
he will send out his angels and gather his chosen from the four winds,
from the ends of the earth to the farthest bounds of heaven.
He will judge the world with justice,
and the peoples with equity;
he will send out his angels and gather his chosen from the four winds,
from the ends of the earth to the farthest bounds of heaven.
Second Reading
From a discourse of Origen on prayer
Thy kingdom come
The coming of the kingdom of God, says our Lord and Savior, does not admit of observation, and there will be no-one to say “Look here! Look there!” For the kingdom of God is within us and in our hearts. And so it is beyond doubt that whoever prays for the coming of the kingdom of God within himself is praying rightly, praying for the kingdom to dawn in him, bear fruit and reach perfection. For God reigns in every saint, and every saint obeys God’s spiritual laws
— God, who dwells in him just as he dwells in any well-ordered city.
The Father is present in him and in his soul Christ reigns alongside the Father, as it is said:
We will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Therefore, as we continue to move forward without ceasing, the kingdom of God within us will reach its perfection in us at that moment when the saying in the Apostle is fulfilled, that Christ, His enemies all made subject to Him,
shall deliver the kingdom to God the Father that God may be All in All.
For this reason let us pray without ceasing, our souls filled by a desire made divine by the Word Himself. Let us pray to our Father in heaven: hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come.
There is something important that we need to understand about the kingdom of God:
just as righteousness has no partnership with lawlessness,
just as light has nothing in common with darkness and Christ has no agreement with Belial,
so the kingdom of God and a kingdom of sin cannot co-exist.
So if we want God to reign within us, on no account may sin rule in our mortal body but let us mortify our earthly bodies and let us be made fruitful by the Spirit. Then we will be a spiritual garden of Eden for God to walk in. God will rule in us with Christ who will be seated in us on the right hand of God — God, the spiritual power that we pray to receive — until he makes his enemies (who are within us) into his footstool and pours out on us all authority, all power, all strength.
This can happen to any one of us and death, the last enemy may be destroyed, so that in us Christ says Death, where is your sting? Death, where is your victory? So let our corruptibility be clothed today with holiness and incorruption. With Death dead, let our mortality be cloaked in the Father’s immortality. With God ruling in us,
let us be immersed in the blessings of regeneration and resurrection.
Responsory
The dominion of the world has passed to the Lord of us all,
and to Christ, his anointed:
he shall reign for ever and ever.
All races will worship the Lord to whom all sovereignty belongs;
he shall reign for ever and ever.
Canticle
Te Deum
God, we praise you; Lord, we proclaim you!
You, the Father, the eternal –
all the earth venerates you.
All the angels, all the heavens, every power –
The cherubim, the seraphim –
unceasingly, they cry:
“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts:
heaven and earth are full of the majesty of your glory!”
The glorious choir of Apostles –
The noble ranks of prophets –
The shining army of martyrs –
all praise you.
Throughout the world your holy Church proclaims you.
– Father of immeasurable majesty,
– True Son, only-begotten, worthy of worship,
– Holy Spirit, our Advocate.
You, Christ:
– You are the king of glory.
– You are the Father’s eternal Son.
– You, to free mankind, did not disdain a Virgin’s womb.
– You defeated the sharp spear of Death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to those who believe in you.
– You sit at God’s right hand, in the glory of the Father.
– You will come, so we believe, as our Judge.
And so we ask of you: give help to your servants,
whom you set free at the price of your precious blood.
Number them among your chosen ones in eternal glory.
Bring your people to safety, Lord,
and bless those who are your inheritance.
Rule them and lift them high for ever.
Day by day we bless you, Lord: we praise you for ever and for ever.
Of your goodness, Lord, keep us without sin for today.
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us.
Let your pity, Lord, be upon us, as much as we trust in you.
In you, Lord, I trust: let me never be put to shame.
Let us pray.
Almighty, ever-living God,
it is your will to unite the entire universe under your beloved Son,
Jesus Christ, the King of heaven and earth.
Grant freedom to the whole of creation,
and let it praise and serve your majesty for ever.
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 praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
