Responsorial Psalm
Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
In you, O Lord, I take refuge.
Let me never be put to shame.
In your justice; set me free.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
It is you who will redeem me, Lord.
In the face of all my foes
I am a reproach,
an object of scorn to my neighbours
and of fear to my friends. Father, into…
Those who see me in the street
run far away from me.
I am like a dead man, forgotten in men’s hearts,
like a thing thrown away.
But as for me, I trust in you, Lord,
I say: “You are my God.”
My life is in your hands, deliver me
from the hands of those who hate me.
Let your face shine on your servant.
Save me in your love.
Be strong, let your heart take courage,
all who hope in the Lord.
2nd. READING
A reading from the letter to the Hebrews 4:14-16;5:7-9
Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through
to the highest heaven, we must never let go of the faith that we have professed. For it
is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us;
but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without
sin. Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have
mercy from him and find grace when we are in need of help.
During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to
the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that
his prayer was heard. Although he was a Son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but
having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal
salvation.
Gospel
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John 18:1-19:42
C. Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kedron valley. There was a garden
there, and he went into it with his disciples. Judas the traitor knew the place well, since
Jesus had often met his disciples there, and he brought the cohort to this place together
with a detachment of guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees, all with
lanterns and torches and weapons. Knowing everything that was going to happen to
him, Jesus then came forward and said,
+. «Who are you looking for?»
C. They answered,
S. «Jesus the Nazarene,»
C. He said,
+. «I am he.»
C. Now Judas the traitor was standing among them. When Jesus said, "I am he", they
moved back and fell to the ground. He asked them a second time,
+. «Who are you looking for?»
C. They said,
S. «Jesus the Nazarene.»
C. Jesus replied
+. «I have told you that I am he. If I am the one you are looking for, let these others
go.»
C. This was to fulfil the words he had spoken, "Not one of those you gave me have I
lost." Simon Peter, who carried a sword, drew it and wounded the high priest's servant,
cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter,
+. «Put your sword back in its scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the Father has
given me?»
C. The cohort and its captain and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him. They
took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was
high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had suggested to the Jews, "It is better for
one man to die for the people." Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus.
This disciple, who was known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest's
palace, but Peter stayed outside the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the
high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who was keeping the door and brought Peter
in. The maid on duty at the door said to Peter,
S. «Aren't you another of that man's disciples?»
C. He answered,
S. «I am not.»
C. Now it was cold, and the servants and guards had lit a charcoal fire and were
standing there warming themselves; so Peter stood there too, warming himself with the
others. The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus
answered,
+. «I have spoken openly for all the world to hear; I have always taught in the
synagogue and in the Temple where all the Jews meet together: I have said nothing in
secret. But why ask me? Ask my hearers what I taught: they know what I said.»
C. At these words, one of the guards standing by gave Jesus a slap in the face, saying,
S. «Is that the way to answer the high priest?»
C. Jesus replied,
+. «If there is something wrong in what I said, point it out; but if there is no offence in
it, why do you strike me?»
C. Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest. As Simon Peter stood
there warming himself, someone said to him,
S. «Aren't you another of his disciples?»
C. He denied it saying,
S. «I am not.»
C. One of the high priest's servants, a relation of the man
whose ear Peter had cut off, said,
S. «Didn't I see you in the garden with him?»
C. Again Peter denied it; and at once a cock crew.
They then led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the
Praetorium. It was now morning. They did not go into the
Praetorium themselves or they would be defiled and unable
to eat the passover. So Pilate came outside to them and said,
S. «What charge do you bring against this man?»
C. They replied,
S. «If he were not a criminal, we should not be handing him
over to you.»
C. Pilate said,
S. «Take him yourselves, and try him by your own Law.»
C. The Jews answered,
S. «We are not allowed to put a man to death.»
C. This was to fulfil the words Jesus had spoken indicating the
way he was going to die.
So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and called Jesus to
him, and asked
S. «Are you the king of the Jews?»
C. Jesus replied,
+. «Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken
to you about me?»
C. Pilate answered,
S. «Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over
to me: what have you done?»
C. Jesus replied,
+. «Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men
would have fought to prevent me being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is
not of this kind.»
S. «So you are a king then?»
C. Said Pilate. Jesus answered
+. «It is you who say it. Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for
this; to bear witness to the truth, and all who are on the side of truth listen to my
voice.»
C. Pilate said
S. «Truth? What is that?»
C. And with that he went out again to the Jews and said,
S. «I find no case against him. But according to a custom of yours I should release one
prisoner at the Passover; would you like me, then, to release the king of the Jews?»
C. At this they shouted:
S. «Not this man, but Barabbas.»
C. Barabbas was a brigand. Pilate then had Jesus taken away and scourged; and after
this, the soldiers twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on his head, and dressed
him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him and saying,
S. «Hail, king of the Jews!»
C. And they slapped him in the face. Pilate came outside again and said to them,
S. «Look, I am going to bring him out to you to let you see that I find no case.»
C. Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said,
S. «Here is the man.»
C. When they saw him the chief priests and the guards shouted,
S. «Crucify him! Crucify him!»
C. Pilate said,
S. «Take him yourselves and crucify him: I can find no case against him.»
C. The Jews replied
S. «We have a Law, and according to the Law he ought to die, because he has claimed
to be the Son of God.»
C. When Pilate heard them say this his fears increased. Reentering the Praetorium, he
said to Jesus
S. «Where do you come from?»
C. But Jesus made no answer. Pilate then said to him,
S. «Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to release you and
I have power to crucify you?»
C. Jesus replied
+. «You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above, that is
why the one who handed me over to you has the greater guilt.»
C. From that moment Pilate was anxious to set him free, but the Jews shouted
S. «If you set him free you are no friend of Caesar's; anyone who makes himself king
is defying Caesar.»
C. Hearing these words, Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated himself on the chair
of judgement at a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha. It was Passover
Preparation Day, about the sixth hour.
S. «Here is your king»
C. Said Pilate to the Jews.
S. «Take him away, take him away!»
C. They said.
S. «Crucify him!»
C. Pilate said,
S. «Do you want me to crucify your king?»
C. The chief priests answered,
S. «We have no king except Caesar.»
C. So in the end Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
They then took charge of Jesus, and carrying his own cross he went out of the city to
the place of the skull or, as it was called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified
him with two others, one on either side with Jesus in the middle. Pilate wrote out a
notice and had it fixed to the cross, it ran: "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews." This
notice was read by many of the Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was
not far from the city, and the writing was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. So the Jewish
chief priests said to Pilate.
S. «You should not write 'King of the Jews', but 'This man said: I am King of the
Jews'.»
C. Pilate answered,
S. «What I have written, I have written.»
C. When the soldiers had finished crucifying Jesus they took his clothing and divided
it into four shares, one for each soldier. His undergarment was seamless, woven in one
piece from neck to hem; so they said to one another,
S. «Instead of tearing it, let's throw dice to decide who is to have it.»
C. In this way the words of scripture were fulfilled: 'They shared out my clothing
among them. They cast lots for my clothes.' This is exactly what the soldiers did. Near
the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her,
Jesus said to his mother,
+. «Woman, this is your son.»
C. Then to the disciple he said,
+. «This is your mother.»
C. And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home. After this,
Jesus knew that everything had now been completed, and to fulfil the scripture
perfectly he said:
+. «I am thirsty.»
C. A jar full of vinegar stood there, so putting a sponge soaked in vinegar on a hyssop
stick they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had taken the vinegar he said,
+. «It is accomplished»;
C. and bowing his head he gave up the spirit.
all genuflect
C. It was Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the
sabbath -since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity- the Jews asked Pilate to
have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and
broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other.
When they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking
his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came
out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it -trustworthy evidence, and
he knows he speaks the truthand he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because
all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture: 'Not one bone of his will be broken,'
and again, in another place scripture says: 'They will look on the one whom they have
pierced.'
After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus -though a secret one
because he was afraid of the Jews- asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus.
Pilate gave permission, so they came and took it away. Nicodemus came as well -the
same one who had first come to Jesus at night-time- and he brought a mixture of myrrh
and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and
wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, following the Jewish burial custom. At the
place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb
in which no one had yet been buried. Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and
the tomb was near at hand, they laid Jesus there.
