4 May: Blesseds Angel Maria Prat Hostench, Lucas of St. Joseph Tristany Pujol, Priests, and Companions

May 4
BLESSEDS ANGEL MARIA PRAT HOSTENCH,
LUCAS OF ST. JOSEPH TRISTANY PUJOL, 
PRIESTS, AND COMPANIONS
Martyrs

Optional Memorial

In the provinces of Spain:  Memorial

Carmel desired to bring together in one single memorial its own martyrs who, in different locations in Spain, bore witness during the long and bloody Civil War (1936-1939). Mentioned in this memorial are Father Angel Maria Prat Hostench, O. Carm., killed with his community in Tarrega in 1936, and Father Lucas of St. Joseph O.C.D., killed with his fellow friars in Barcelona, also in 1936. In this memorial, we also remember the groups from Lérida, Tarragona, Toledo, Olot, Terrasa, etc. The entire group of bishops, diocesan priests, religious from various orders, and laity was beatified partly (498 martyrs) by Benedict XVI on October 28, 2007, and partly (522 martyrs) by Francis on October 13, 2013.

From the Common of Several Martyrs

OFFICE OF READINGS

The Second Reading
From a letter by Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr
(Ep. 6, 1–2: CSEL 3, 480–482)

I greet you, dearest brothers, and would like also to enjoy your company face to face, if only the conditions in which I find myself did not prevent my coming to see you. What could be more desirable or more joyful for me than to embrace you now, to be encircled by those pure and sinless hands that have kept the faith of the Lord and refused to offer sacrilegious worship?

What could be more pleasant, more sublime, than to kiss at this moment those lips of yours, which have given such glorious utterance in praise of the Lord; to be seen also by those eyes of yours, which have despised the world and proved themselves worthy of seeing God?

But, because there is no opportunity for my sharing this joy, I send this letter as my representative for your ears and eyes to hear and see. Through it I congratulate you, and at the same time urge you to persevere courageously and steadfastly in your witness to heavenly glory, and to continue with spiritual courage, now that you have entered on the way that the Lord has graciously opened up for you, until you receive the crown of victory. You have the Lord as your protector and guide, for he has said: Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.

How blessed is the prison honored by your presence, how blessed the prison that sends men of god to heaven! Darkness brighter than the sun  itself, more resplendent than this light of the world, for it is here that God’s temples are now established, and your limbs made holy by your praise of God.

Let nothing else be now in your hearts and minds except God’s commandments and the precepts of heaven: by their means the Holy Spirit has always inspired you to bear your sufferings. Let no one think of death, but only of immortality; let no one think of suffering that is for a time, but only of glory that is for eternity. It is written: Precious in the sight of God is the death of his holy ones. And again: A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a broken and humbled heart God does not despise.

Holy Scripture speaks also of the sufferings which consecrate God’s martyrs and sanctify them by the very testing of pain: Though in the eyes of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. They will judge nations, and rule over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them forever.

When, therefore, you recall that you will be judges and rulers with Christ the Lord, you must rejoice, despising present suffering for joy at what is to come. You know that from the beginning of the world it was so; justice is here oppressed in its conflict with the world, for at the very outset Abel the just is killed, and after him the just, and those sent as prophets and apostles.

The Lord himself is an example of all this in his own person. He teaches us that only those who have followed him along his way arrive at his kingdom: He who loves his life in this world, will lose it. And he who hates his life in this world, will save it for eternal life. And again he says: Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; fear rather him who can kill both body and soul and send them to hell.

Paul too admonishes us, that as we desire to gain the Lord’s promises we must imitate the Lord in all things. We are God’s children, he tells us. If children, we are also heirs of God, and coheirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

Responsory

R/. 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 (alleluia).
V/. 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 (alleluia).

Prayer

Almighty God,
you gave your blessed Carmelite martyrs of Spain
the grace to confront death
so to confess your word and bear witness to Jesus;
grant us the power of the Holy Spirit
to remain steadfast in the faith
and strong in the confession of your name.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.