June 28: Blessed Nicholas Charnetskyj and Companions

The Redemptorist Martyrs of the Ukraine

Memorial

The four Redemptorist Martyrs of the Ukraine are Bishop Nicholas Charnetskyj (1884-1959), Bishop Basil Velychovskyj (1903-1973), Fr Zenon Kovalyk (1903-1941) and Fr. Ivan Ziatyk (1899-1952).Bishop Nicholas visited Ireland for the Eucharistic Congress of 1932.  Having spent some years after ordination as a diocesan priest, he entered the Congregation and was professed  in 1919. From 1940-1950, he was imprisoned in about thirty Soviet labour camps and prisons. Following his release in 1950, he returned to Lviv and acted as bishop of the suppressed Greek Catholic Church of the Ukraine where he died in 1959. Bishop Basil entered the Redemptorists as a deacon and for the twenty years following his ordination worked as a missioner in rural Ukraine. Like most of his confreres, he was arrested in 1945, was condemned to death but the death sentence was commuted to ten years imprisonment. He was consecrated bishop by Metroplitan Slipiji in a hotel room in Moscow in 1963. Arrested once more in 1969, he was released for health reasons. He died in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1973.

Entrance Antiphon:       The holy martyrs rejoice in the kingdom of heaven  because they followed in the footsteps of Christ.         They shed their blood for his name                                and they rejoice forever in the Lord.

OPENING PRAYER

Glorious and ever living God,

you brought salvation to humanity through the Cross of Christ.

By the merits of Blessed Nicholas and his companions,

Basil, Zenon and Ivan,

grant that we may be steadfast in the faith in difficult times

and enjoy eternal happiness in their company.

We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

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

One God for ever and ever. Amen. 

FIRST READING                                                                     (2 Tim 2:8-13;3:10-12)

All who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

A Reading from the Second Letter of Paul to Timothy  

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David‑‑that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.   The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;  if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us;  if we are faithless, he remains faithful‑‑ for he cannot deny himself.

Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,  my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

The Word of the Lord. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM                                                    (Ps 123)

R.   Those who lay down their life for the Lord's sake, will rise with the Lord.

"If the Lord had not been on our side,"

this is Israel's song.

"If the Lord had not been on our side

when men rose against us,

then would they have swallowed us alive

when their anger was kindled.    R. 

Then would the waters have engulfed us,

the torrent gone over us;

over our head would have swept

the raging waters."   R.

Blessed be the Lord who did not give us

 as prey to their teeth!

Our life, like a bird, has escaped

from the snare of the fowler.   R.

Indeed the snare has been broken,

and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.   R.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION                              

Alleluia, Alleluia.

We praise you O Lord and we bless your name.

The mighty army of martyrs praises you.

Alleluia.  Alleluia. 

GOSPEL                                                                                 (Mt 10:17-22)

They will hand you over to councils as a testimony to them

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.      

Jesus said to his disciples: "Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;

and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.".

The Gospel of the Lord.

PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS

Receive the gifts of your people Lord

in memory of Blessed Nicholas and his companions.

May the Eucharist which sustained them in their martyrdom

obtain for us dignity and patience when our faith is tested.

Through Christ Our Lord.

PREFACE

Priest: The Lord be with you.

People:        And also with you.

Priest: Lift up your hearts.

People:        We lift them up to the Lord

Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

People:        It is right to give him thanks and praise.

Father, all powerful and ever-living God,

we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.

Your holy martyrs, Nicholas, Basil, Zenon and Ivan,

followed the example of Christ,

and gave their lives for the glory of your name.

Their death reveals your power

shining through our human weakness.

You choose the weak to make them strong

in bearing witness to you

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In our unending joy we echo on earth

the song of the angels in heaven

as they praise your glory for ever:

Communion Antiphon            Those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it, says the Lord.       (Mk 8:35)

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Lord you have welcomed us at your table on this memorial day of your martyrs  Nicholas, Basil, Zenon and Ivan.

Grant us the manifold riches of your grace

so that from their glorious witness

we may learn to be strong in the hour of testing 

and to rejoice in the hope of victory.

We make this prayer through Christ Our Lord.