This document contains the text for a liturgy being held on Red Wednesday to pray for persecuted Christians worldwide. It includes an opening prayer, a reading from Luke on persecution, and a litany calling on God to deliver people suffering for their Christian faith from various hardships, including discrimination, imprisonment, violence, and lack of access to religious education or ministry. It asks God to give hope, ease fears, and use the Church's suffering to bring healing to the world.

2. SOLEMN LITURGY FOR
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
RED WEDNESDAY
23 November 2022

3. OPENING
PRAYER

4. In the name of the
Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

5. O God, who in your
inscrutable
providence will that
the Church

6. be united to the
sufferings of your Son,
grant, we pray, to your
faithful

7. who suffer for your
name’s sake a spirit of
patience and charity,

8. that they may be found
true and faithful
witnesses to the
promises you
have made.

9. Through our Lord
Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns
with you

10. in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

12. Gospel Reading
Luke 21, 12-19

13. Leader: A reading from
the Holy Gospel
according to
Luke
ALL: Glory to you,

14. Jesus said to the crowd:
“They will seize and
persecute you, they will
hand you over to the
synagogues and to

15. prisons, and they will
have you led before kings
and governors because of
my name.

16. It will lead you to your
giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to
prepare your defense
beforehand, for I myself

17. shall give you a wisdom
in speaking that all your
adversaries will be
powerless to resist or
refute.

18. You will even be handed
over by parents, brothers,
relatives, and friends, and
they will put some of you
to death.

19. You will be hated by all
because of my name, but not a
hair on your head will be
destroyed. By your
perseverance you will secure
your lives.”

20. Leader: The Gospel of the
Lord.
ALL: Praise to You,
Lord Jesus
Christ.

21. Please be seated.

22. Moment of
Silence

23. Play the AVP on
RED WEDNESDAY

24. Please all stand.

25. LITANY FOR THE
PERSECUTED
CHURCH

26. Leader: Loving God, we come
before you as a Church born
from the Cross of Christ, a
Church that has grown through
two thousand years from the
glorious blood of martyrs.

27. Let our response be:
Deliver your people
Lord!

28. Reader: From discrimination
against believers and against
the whole community of the
Church,
ALL: Deliver your people
Lord!

29. Reader: From the isolation
of prisons camps and the
loneliness of exile due to our
faith in Christ,
ALL: Deliver your people
Lord!

30. Reader: From the anguish of
meeting in hiding places for
worship because Christianity
is not authorized,
ALL: Deliver your people
Lord!

31. Reader: From injustice, war,
terrorism, kidnapping,
torture, murder and all
human suffering because of
Christian faith,
ALL: Deliver your people

32. Reader: From infection of
the corona virus, especially
for the
frontliners risking their lives
to protect everyone,
ALL: Deliver your people

33. Leader: Let us now say
together after every
invocation:
In you Lord we
place our hope!

34. Reader: For bishops and
priests prohibited from
exercising ministry in Church
or in public gatherings,
ALL: In you Lord we
place our hope!

35. Reader: For bishops and
priests prohibited from
exercising ministry in Church
or in public gatherings,
ALL: In you Lord we
place our hope!

36. Reader: For religious and
missionaries dispersed
unable to live their life of
consecration
ALL: In you Lord we
place our hope!

37. Reader: For generous young
men and women prevented
from realizing their religious
or priestly formation
ALL: In you Lord we
place our hope!

38. Reader: For parents denied
from giving their children
education in the faith,
ALL: In you Lord we
place our hope!

39. Reader: For manual workers,
intellectuals and professionals who
run the risk of being deprived of
opportunities because they profess
faith in God
ALL: In you Lord we
place our hope!

40. Reader: For those infected
with the corona virus that
they may be restored to
health soon
ALL: In you Lord we
place our hope!

41. Reader: For the victims of the
pandemic brought about by the
corona virus that God may give
them eternal rest in His Kingdom
ALL: In you Lord we
place our hope!

42. Leader:
Loving God we have seen "life
and death face each other in a
wondrous duel" in the life of
Jesus your Son, our hope of
glory.

43. That duel continues in our
day. Ease our fears, console
us in our pain. May the
sufferings of your Church be
the life giving sap,

44. the balm of healing that our
world needs in Christ our
Lord.
AMEN.

45. Play the Song
“PANANAGUTAN”