JANUARY 19
Prayer for the Reunion of the East and West
GOSPEL John 10:11-16
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Let us pray.
O Lord, who united all nations in the confession of Your Name, we pray for the dissident Christian peoples of the East. Mindful of the place they have held in Your Church, we beg of You to inspire them to occupy it again, so as to form with us one single fold, under the guidance of one and the same Shepherd. Grant that they, together with ourselves, may be penetrated with the teaching of their holy doctors, who are also our Fathers in the Faith. Grant us that the spirit of peace and charity, the mark of Your presence among the faithful, may hasten the day in which their prayers may be united with ours, so that every people and every tongue may acknowledge and glorify Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prayer to the Fathers of the Eastern Church
O glorious martyrs, St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Polycarp of Smyrna; O illustrious doctors of the Church, St. Athanasius, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Basil, who worked and suffered so much for the purity of faith and the salvation of the souls entrusted to your paternal care, look down from heaven upon your beloved Eastern lands, which, forgetful of your teaching and example, live now separated from the body of the true Church. By your powerful intercession, O ye holy Eastern Fathers, obtain for all separated Oriental Christians the grace to return to the centre of unity, and to form with us one and the same family, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
V. Pray for us, O holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church.
R. That we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.
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