Tuesday - March 27, 2018
“To experience Holy Week is to enter more and more into God’s logic of love and self-giving.”
--Pope Francis
March 27, 2018
Tuesday of Holy Week
Lectionary: 258
Reading 1IS 49:1-6
Hear me, O islands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
That Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
That Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial PsalmPS 71:1-2, 3-4A, 5AB-6AB, 15 AND 17
R. (see 15ab) I will sing of your salvation.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;
incline your ear to me, and save me.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
For you are my hope, O Lord;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother's womb you are my strength.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
My mouth shall declare your justice,
day by day your salvation.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
you were led to your crucifixion like a gentle lamb to the slaughter.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;
incline your ear to me, and save me.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
For you are my hope, O Lord;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother's womb you are my strength.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
My mouth shall declare your justice,
day by day your salvation.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
Verse Before The Gospel
Hail to you, our King, obedient to the Father;you were led to your crucifixion like a gentle lamb to the slaughter.
GospelJN 13:21-33, 36-38
Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
"Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus' side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus' chest and said to him,
"Master, who is it?"
Jesus answered,
"It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it."
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
"Buy what we need for the feast,"
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.
When he had left, Jesus said,
"Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you."
Simon Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?"
Jesus answered him,
"Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later."
Peter said to him,
"Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you."
Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times."
"Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus' side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus' chest and said to him,
"Master, who is it?"
Jesus answered,
"It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it."
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
"Buy what we need for the feast,"
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.
When he had left, Jesus said,
"Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you."
Simon Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?"
Jesus answered him,
"Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later."
Peter said to him,
"Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you."
Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times."
******************************
Betrayed by a Friend -- Part 1
In today's Gospel story, when Jesus announced that one of his closest disciples would betray him, Peter and the others looked at each other, bewildered and alarmed. Did anyone feel guilty? Did they quickly examine their consciences and remember the times when they had disagreed with Jesus or had wished that he'd do things differently? Probably.
Peter, hoping he wasn't the betrayer, timidly asked John to ask Jesus, "Who is it?"
He did not want to be the betrayer. He really believed, "I will lay down my life for you!" Yet he did betray Jesus, despite all of his good intentions. We are like Peter whenever we back down from sharing our faith because we fear rejection or when we make unethical compromises to avoid conflicts. We love Jesus yet we betray him. And like Peter, we feel horrified about our sin and we gratefully receive his forgiveness.
Judas was different. In yesterday's Gospel reading, we saw Judas react to Mary's loving gift of costly perfume. Was he jealous? The powerful love between Jesus and Mary was obvious. He could have learned from the love they shared, but instead he verbally attacked them.
Apparently, Judas did not believe that Jesus loved him just as much as he loved Mary. With his perception clouded by his neediness, he judged the intimacy between Mary and Jesus as inappropriate. It's a psychological bandage for low self-esteem that we've probably used ourselves: He tried to shame them into feeling guilty as an attempt to feel better about himself.
People who belittle others in order to manipulate them are usually feeling unloved or insufficiently loved.
No wonder Judas turned Jesus over to the authorities when Jesus failed to cooperate with his expectations. He could not understand the unconditional, sacrificial love of Christ. In modern psychological terms, we might say that Judas was "codependent". His needy, hurting heart failed to recognize the healthy, true love that Jesus tried to give him. No wonder he chose suicide to cure his pain instead of turning to Jesus for forgiveness.
Think of the people in your life who are needy for love. Many of us have codependent friends who want us to be a god for them; they insist that we give them everything they think they need. Instead of developing a more intimate, healing relationship with Jesus, they become demanding of us, angry and manipulative.
And then, when we turn to Jesus for the fullness of the unconditional love that they cannot give to us, they become jealous. And like Judas, they betray us.
Some betrayals are easy to forgive, because we know the betrayer really does care about us. But when the betrayal comes from an unrelenting Judas, we can still love them, even if only from afar. Jesus never stopped loving anyone.
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God Bless You.....
Rosary Family
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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