Liturgy of the Hours Vol. III:
Ordinary: 651
Psalter: Wednesday, Week I, 744
Common of Several Martyrs: 1684 (verse)
Proper of Seasons: 301 (first reading)
Proper of Saints: 1453 (second reading, concluding prayer)
Office of Readings for Wednesday in Ordinary Time, the Memorial of Saints Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs
God, come to my assistance.
— Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
HYMN
Lo! round the throne, a glorious band,
The saints in countless myriads stand;
Of every tongue redeemed to God,
Arrayed in garments washed in blood,
Through tribulation great they came;
They bore the cross, despised the shame;
From all their labors now they rest,
In God’s eternal glory blest,
They see their Savior face to face;
And sing the triumphs of His grace;
Him day and night, they ceaseless praise,
To Him their loud thanksgiving raise,
“Worthy the Lamb, for sinners slain,
Through endless years to live and reign;
Thou hast redeemed us by Thy blood,
And made us kings and priests to God.”
O may we tread the sacred road
That saints and holy martyrs trod;
Wage to the end the glorious strife,
And win, like them, a crown of life,
𝄞"Lo! Round The Throne, A Glorious Band" by Rebecca Hincke • Available for Purchase • Musical Score • Title: Lo! Round The Throne, A Glorious Band; Text: Rowland Hill, 1783; Music: • Albums that contain this Hymn: The Hymns and Chants of Divine Office, Vol. 1
Ant. 1 I love you, Lord; you are my strength.
Thanksgiving for salvation and victory
At that time there was a violent earthquake (Revelation 11:13).
I love you, Lord, my strength,
my rock, my fortress, my savior.
My God is the rock where I take refuge;
my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold.
The Lord is worthy of all praise;
when I call I am saved from my foes.
The waves of death rose about me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
the snares of the grave entangled me;
the traps of death confronted me.
In my anguish I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. I love you, Lord; you are my strength.
Ant. 2 The Lord has saved me; he wanted me for his own.
Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the mountains were shaken to their base:
they reeled at his terrible anger.
Smoke came forth from his nostrils
and scorching fire from his mouth:
coals were set ablaze by its heat.
He lowered the heavens and came down,
a black cloud under his feet.
He came enthroned on the cherubim,
he flew on the wings of the wind.
He made the darkness his covering,
the dark waters of the clouds, his tent.
A brightness shone out before him
with hailstones and flashes of fire.
The Lord thundered in the heavens;
the Most High let his voice be heard.
He shot his arrows, scattered the foe,
flashed his lightnings and put them to flight.
The bed of the ocean was revealed;
the foundations of the world were laid bare
at the thunder of your threat, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your anger.
From on high he reached down and seized me;
he drew me forth from the mighty waters.
He snatched me from my powerful foe,
from my enemies whose strength I could not match.
They assailed me in the day of my misfortune,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me forth into freedom,
he saved me because he loved me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. The Lord has saved me; he wanted me for his own.
Ant. 3 Lord, kindle a light for my guidance and scatter my darkness.
He rewarded me because I was just,
repaid me, for my hands were clean,
for I have kept the way of the Lord
and have not fallen away from my God.
For his judgments are all before me:
I have never neglected his commands.
I have always been upright before him;
I have kept myself from guilt.
He repaid me because I was just
and my hands were clean in his eyes.
You are loving with those who love you:
you show yourself perfect with the perfect.
With the sincere you show yourself sincere,
but the cunning you outdo in cunning.
For you save a humble people
but humble the eyes that are proud.
You, O Lord, are my lamp,
my God who lightens my darkness.
With you I can break through any barrier,
with my God I can scale any wall.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Lord God, our strength and salvation, put in us the flame of your love and make our love for you grow to a perfect love which reaches to our neighbor.
Ant. Lord, kindle a light for my guidance and scatter my darkness.
Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) – a moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.
Our spirits yearn for the Lord.
— He is our help and our protector.
From the book of Job
32:1-6; 33:1-22
Elihu speaks of the mystery of God
The three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. But the anger of Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled. He was angry with Job for considering himself rather than God to be in the right. He was angry also with the three friends because they had not found a good answer and had not condemned Job. But since these men were older than he, Elihu bided his time before addressing Job. When, however, Elihu saw that there was no reply in the mouths of the three men, his wrath was inflamed.
So Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, spoke out and said:
I am young and you are very old;
therefore I held back and was afraid
to declare to you my knowledge.
Therefore, O Job, hear my discourse,
and hearken to all my words.
Behold, now I open my mouth;
my tongue and my voice form words.
I will state directly what is in my mind,
my lips shall utter knowledge sincerely;
For the spirit of God has made me,
the breath of the Almighty keeps me alive.
If you are able, refute me;
draw up your arguments and stand forth.
Behold I, like yourself, have been taken
from the same clay by God.
Therefore no fear of me should dismay you,
nor should my presence weigh heavily upon you.
But you have said in my hearing,
as I listened to the sound of your words:
“I am clean and without transgression;
I am innocent; there is no guilt in me.
Yet he invents pretexts against me
and reckons me as his enemy.
He puts my feet in the stocks;
In this you are not just, let me tell you;
for God is greater than man.
Why, then, do you make complaint against him
that he gives no account of his doings?
For God does speak, perhaps once,
or even twice, though one perceive it not.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
[when deep sleep falls upon men]
as they slumber in their beds,
It is then he opens the ears of men
and as a warning to them, terrifies them;
By turning man from evil
and keeping pride away from him,
He withholds his soul from the pit
and his life from passing to the grave.
Or a man is chastened on his bed by pain
and unceasing suffering within his frame,
So that to his appetite food becomes repulsive,
and his senses reject the choicest nourishment.
His flesh is wasted so that it cannot be seen,
and his bones, once invisible, appear;
His soul draws near to the pit,
his life to the place of the dead.
RESPONSORY Romans 11:33-34
How deep are the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
— How unsearchable his judgments!
Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor?
— How unsearchable his judgments!
From the homily at the canonization of the martyrs of Uganda by Pope Paul VI
The glory of the martyrs—a sign of rebirth The African martyrs add another page to the martyrology — the Church’s roll of honor — an occasion both of mourning and of joy. This is a page worthy in every way to be added to the annals of that Africa of earlier which we, living in this era and being men of little faith, never expected to be repeated.
In earlier times there occurred those famous deeds, so moving to the spirit, of the martyrs of Scilli, of Carthage, and of that “white robed army” of Utica commemorated by Saint Augustine and Prudentius; of the martyrs of Egypt so highly praised by Saint John Chrysostom, and of the martyrs of the Vandal persecution. Who would have thought that in our days we should have witnessed events as heroic and glorious?
Who could have predicted to the famous African confessors and martyrs such as Cyprian, Felicity, Perpetua and—the greatest of all—Augustine, that we would one day add names so dear to us as Charles Lwanga and Matthias Mulumba Kalemba and their twenty companions? Nor must we forget those members of the Anglican Church who also died for the name of Christ.
These African martyrs herald the dawn of a new age. If only the mind of man might be directed not toward persecutions and religious conflicts but toward a rebirth of Christianity and civilization!
Africa has been washed by the blood of these latest martyrs, the first of this new age (and, God willing, let them be the last, although such a holocaust is precious indeed). Africa is reborn free and independent.
The infamous crime by which these young men were put to death was so unspeakable and so expressive of the times. It shows us clearly that a new people needs a moral foundation, needs new spiritual customs firmly planted, to be handed down to posterity. Symbolically, this crime also reveals that a simple and rough way of life—enriched by many fine human qualities yet enslaved by its own weakness and corruption—must give way to a more civilized life wherein the higher expressions of the mind and better social conditions prevail.
We are warriors now, fighting on the battlefield of faith,
and God sees all we do; the angels watch and so does Christ.
— What honor and glory and joy, to do battle in the presence of God, and to have Christ approve our victory.
Let us arm ourselves in full strength and prepare ourselves for the ultimate struggle with blameless hearts,
true faith and unyielding courage.
— What honor and glory and joy, to do battle in the presence of God, and to have Christ approve our victory.
who have made the blood of Martyrs
the seed of Christians,
mercifully grant that the field which is your Church,
watered by the blood shed by Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions,
may be fertile and always yield you an abundant harvest.
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.
ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration)
