ST JOSAPHAT - 12 NOVEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN NOVEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 12th November

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST JOSAPHAT, BISHOP AND MARTYR

Saint Josaphat was born in the Ukraine about 1580, ordained about 1604; he became a monk. He was a noted theologian and preacher, and loyal to Rome. He was made bishop of Polotz in 1617, and embarked on a thorough-going pastoral reform, visiting his clergy, seeing that the people were instructed and taking an interest in the liturgy. His reforms aroused hostility, and he was murdered at Vitebsk, during a pastoral visit, in 1623.

PRAYER:

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.

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.