Readings

Daily OfficeHoly EucharistHoly Days

June 18: Bernard Mizeki, Martyr, 1896

The Collect of the Day

Bernard Mizeki

Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love in the heart of your holy martyr Bernard Mizeki: Grant unto us your servants a like faith and power of love, that we, who rejoice in his triumph, may profit by his example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Bernard Mizeki

Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of thy love in the heart of thy holy martyr Bernard Mizeki: Grant unto us thy servants a like faith and power of love, that we, who rejoice in his triumph, may profit by his example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Bernard Mizeki was born around the year 1861 in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique). In his early teens, he left his native land and came to Cape Town, South Africa, where he was befriended by Anglican missionaries. He was baptized on March 9th, 1886, and trained as a catechist, becoming a much beloved teacher.

In 1891, Bernard Mizeki volunteered to serve as catechist for the pioneer mission in Mashonaland (a region in what is now northern Zimbabwe) and was stationed at Nhowe. On June 18th, 1896, during an uprising of the native people against the Europeans and their African friends, Bernard was marked out especially. Though warned to flee, he would not desert his converts at the mission station. He was stabbed to death, but his body was never found, and the exact site of his burial is unknown.

A shrine near Bernard’s place of martyrdom attracts many pilgrims today, and the Anglican Churches of Central and of Southern Africa honor him as their primary native martyr and witness.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

1I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, *because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.

2The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; *I came to grief and sorrow.

3Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: *“O Lord, I pray you, save my life.”

4Gracious is the Lord and righteous; *our God is full of compassion.

5The Lord watches over the innocent; *I was brought very low, and he helped me.

6Turn again to your rest, O my soul. *for the Lord has treated you well.

7For you have rescued my life from death, *my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.

8I will walk in the presence of the Lord *in the land of the living.

Gospel

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✕

Revelation 7:13–17

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. 16 They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; 17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Luke 12:1–12

1 Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops. 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7 But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. 8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9 but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”