ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
Propter testamentum Domini et leges paternas sancti dei perstiterunt in amore fraternitatis: Quia unus fuit semper spiritus in eis et una fides.
Because of the Lord's covenant and the ancestral laws,
the Saints of God persevered in loving brotherhood,
for there was always one spirit in them, and one faith.
COLLECT
Excita, quaesumus, Domine, in Ecclesia tua Spiritum, quo repletus beatus Iosaphat animam suam pro ovibus posuit, ut, eo intercedente, nos quoque eodem Spiritu roborati, animam nostram pro fratribus ponere non vereamur.
Stir up in your Church, we pray, O Lord,
the Spirit that filled Saint Josaphat
as he laid down his life for the sheep,
so that through his intercession
we, too, may be strengthened by the same Spirit
and not be afraid to lay down our life for others.
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.
FIRST READINGEphesians 4:1-7,11-13
Brothers and sisters:
I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit
through the bond of peace:
one Body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
But grace was given to each of us
according to the measure of Christ's gift.
And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets,
others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,
for building up the Body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of faith
and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,
to the extent of the full stature of Christ.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Vincenti dabo edere de ligno vitae.
R. (Rev. 2:17) Those who are victorious I will feed from the tree of life.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Those who are victorious I will feed from the tree of life.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Those who are victorious I will feed from the tree of life.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Those who are victorious I will feed from the tree of life.
ALLELUIAJohn 15:9b,5b
Remain in my love, says the Lord;
whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.
GOSPELJohn 17:20-26
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:
"Holy Father,
I pray not only for these,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
so that they may all be one,
as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
that they also may be in us,
that the world may believe that you sent me.
And I have given them the glory you gave me,
so that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one,
that the world may know that you sent me,
and that you loved them even as you loved me.
Father, they are your gift to me.
I wish that where I am they also may be with me,
that they may see my glory that you gave me,
because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, the world also does not know you,
but I know you, and they know that you sent me.
I made known to them your name and I will make it known,
that the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them."
PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Clementissime Deus, munera haec tua benedictione perfunde, et nos in tua fide confirma, quam sanctus Iosaphat effuso sanguine asseruit.
Most merciful God,
pour out your blessing upon these offerings
and confirm us in the faith
that Saint Josaphat professed by the shedding of his blood.
Through Christ our Lord.
COMMUNION ANTIPHONPsalm 67:4
Qui perdiderit animam suam propter me, dicit Dominus, inveniet eam in aeternum.
Whoever loses his life for my sake,
will find it in eternity, say the Lord.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Spiritum, Domine, fortitudinis et pacis haec nobis tribuat mensa caelestis, ut, sancti Iosaphat exemplo, vitam nostram ad honorem et unitatem Ecclesiae libenter impendamus.
Father, our comfort and peace,
we have gathered as your family
to praise your name and honor your saints.
Let the sacrament we have received
be the sign and pledge of our salvation
we ask this through Christ the Lord.
From The Encyclical Letter “Ecclesiam Dei” by Pope Pius XI
(AAS 15 (1923), 573-582)
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.”
RESPONSORYJohn 17:11, 23, 22
Jesus said: Holy Father, protect those you have given me
with the power of your name,
- that they may be perfectly one;
then the world will know that it was you who sent me.
The glory which you gave me,
I have given to them.
- That they may be perfectly one;
then the world will know that it was you who sent me.
COLLECT
Stir up in your Church, we pray, O Lord,
the Spirit that filled Saint Josaphat
as he laid down his life for the sheep,
so that through his intercession
we, too, may be strengthened by the same Spirit
and not be afraid to lay down our life for others.
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.