Mass Readings for : Tuesday, 26th March, 2024

Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 26th March, 2024

Tuesday in Holy Week

Isaiah speaks to us of our vocation in Christ, our destiny.
Yet sometimes we can fail, reject our calling, or like Peter and/or Judas, betray, deny Jesus or just give way to weakness.
Holy Week is our annual invitation to us to receive the Lord’s love more deeply.

FIRST READING

A reading from the prophet Isaiah 49:1-6
I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

Islands, listen to me, pay attention, remotest peoples.
The Lord called me before I was born,
from my mother’s womb he pronounced my name.
He made my mouth a sharp sword, and hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He made me into a sharpened arrow, and concealed me in his quiver.

He said to me,
‘You are my servant Israel in whom I shall be glorified’;
while I was thinking, ‘I have toiled in vain, I have exhausted myself for nothing’; and all the while my cause was with the Lord, my reward with my God. I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord, my God was my strength.

And now the Lord has spoken, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, to gather Israel to him:
‘It is not enough for you to be my servant,
to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel;
I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.‘

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm Ps 70
Response My lips will tell of your help.

1. In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, free me: pay heed to me and save me. Response

2. Be a rock where I can take refuge, a mighty stronghold to save me;
for you are my rock, my stronghold. Free me from the hand of the wicked. Response

3. It is you, O Lord, who are my hope, my trust, O Lord, since my youth.
On you I have leaned from my birth, from my mother’s womb you have been my help. Response

4. My lips will tell of your justice and day by day of your help (though I can never tell it all).
O God, you have taught me from my youth and I proclaim your wonders still. Response

Gospel Acclamation
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
Hail to you our King! Obedient to the Father,
you were led to your crucifixion as a meek lamb is led to the slaughter.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 13:21-33, 36-38 Glory to you, O Lord
One of you will betray me; before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.

While at supper with his disciples, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared,
‘I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me.’
The disciples looked at one another, wondering which he meant.
The disciple Jesus loved was reclining next to Jesus; Simon Peter signed to him and said,
‘Ask who it is he means‘, so leaning back on Jesus’ breast he said, ‘Who is it, Lord?’
‘It is the one’ replied Jesus ‘to whom I give the piece of bread that I shall dip in the dish.’
He dipped the piece of bread and gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.
At that instant, after Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him.
Jesus then said, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.‘
None of the others at table understood the reason he said this. Since Judas had charge of the common fund, some of them thought Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’, or telling him to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out.

Night had fallen. When he had gone Jesus said:
‘Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and in him God has been glorified.
If God has been glorified in him, God will in turn glorify him in himself, and will glorify him very soon.
My little children, I shall not be with you much longer. You will look for me, and, as I told the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come.’
Simon Peter said, ‘Lord, where are you going?’
Jesus replied,
‘Where I am going you cannot follow me now; you will follow me later’.
Peter said to him, ‘Why can’t I follow you now?I will lay down my life for you.’
‘Lay down your life for me?’ answered Jesus. ‘I tell you most solemnly, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.

The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel Reflection Tuesday in Holy Week John 13:21-33, 36-38

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus dips a piece of bread in the main dish and gives it to Judas. In the culture of the time to take a morsel of food and dip it into sauce and hand it to a guest would have been considered a gesture of honour and affection. Jesus had already washed the feet of the disciples, including the feet of Judas. He now offers Judas a final gesture of affection. As the evangelist stated earlier, Jesus loved his own to the end, including Judas. Yet, even divine love, present in Jesus, is powerless before the human refusal to receive such love.

According to the gospel reading, when Judas received the bread, Satan entered him. He left the company of Jesus, God’s light in the world, and went out into the night. Jesus could not prevent Judas from betraying him, and, yet, Judas’ betrayal came to serve God’s purpose for the world. God worked powerfully through the betrayal and the resulting death of Jesus to reveal his love for the world. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, even when that giving meant the death by crucifixion of his Son. The Lord may be powerless before human resistance to his self-emptying love, but he can work in a life-giving way for all even in and through the human refusal to receive his love. Jesus reveals a God who does not desire death but who can bring new life out of death. There is much death in our world as a consequence of some people’s refusal to receive the Lord’s love into their lives. The events of this holy week allow us to trust that God is at work bringing light into this darkness and bringing forth new life out of this death.