Palm Sunday – Passion of the Lord
Invitation
May I draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wants to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening his heart
to the healing effect of God’s word.
Available every day.
Opening Word
We are at the beginning of Holy Week.
We have made an effort in this Lent
to walk in the footsteps of the Lord
by loving Him and our neighbor wholeheartedly.
Jesus’ loving relationship with people
has met with rejection from many,
yes, brought Him death.
Will that also be our part
if we entrust ourselves to Him in faith?
With Jesus’ resurrection from the dead
God the Father offers a solution on Easter.
FIRST READING Isa. 50,4-7
My face I have not turned away from those who reproach me
But I know that I will not be disgraced.
From the prophet Isaiah
God the Lord has given me the gift of the word:
I understand to encourage the discouraged.
Every morning He speaks His Word,
Every morning he speaks to me
and I listen with full devotion.
The Lord God has spoken to me
and I have not resisted,
I did not flinch.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who snatched my beard,
and I did not turn my face away
from those who slandered me and spit on me.
God the Lord will help me:
Therefore I will not be ashamed
and I will not move a muscle.
Yea, I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Responsorial Ps. 22(21), 8-9, 17-18a, 19-20, 23-24
Refrain
My God, my God, why dost thou forsake me?
They laugh at me, all who see me,
they grin and they shake their heads.
“Surely he relies on the Lord? Let the latter save him
and set him free, if He loves him”.
A mob of dogs chases me,
a band of evildoers surrounds me.
My hands and my feet they have pierced,
my bones I can count.
Now they share my clothes among themselves
and play dice with my robe.
Ah, Lord, do not keep You far from me,
my support, come hastening to my aid.
Your Name will I glorify among my brethren,
proclaim thy praise before all the people.
Thou, servants of the Lord, glorify Him,
all the generation of Jacob, give Him homage.
SECOND READING Phil. 2, 6-11
Christ humbled Himself, therefore God exalted Him on high.
From the letter of the holy apostle Paul to the Christians of
Philippi
Brothers and sisters,
He who existed in divine majesty,
did not wish to cling
to equality with God.
He has emptied himself
and assumed the existence of a slave.
He became equal to men,
and appearing as a human being ,
He humbled Himself,
by becoming obedient to death,
to death on the cross.
Therefore God has exalted Him on high
and granted Him the name
which is above all names.
So that at the mention of his Name
every knee should bow
in heaven, on earth and under the earth;
and every tongue confessed,
to the glory of God the Father:
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Verse for the Gospel Phil. 2, 8-9
Praise and honor be to You, Lord Jesus.
Christ became obedient for us unto death,
to death on a cross.
For this reason God has exalted him on high
and given Him the name that is above all names.
Praise and honor be to You, Lord Jesus.
Gospel Lk 22, 14 – 23,56
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke
When the time had come,
Jesus went and sat down at the table with the apostles.
He spoke to them:
“I have longed with all my heart
to eat this Passover meal with you
before I suffer.
“For I say to you:
I will eat it no more
until it finds its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.”
Thereupon He took a cup,
said a prayer of thanksgiving and said:
“Take that cup and share it together.
“For I say unto you:
From this moment on
I drink no more of that which the vine brings forth,
until the kingdom of God has come.”
Then He took the bread and said a prayer of thanksgiving;
He broke it and gave it to them, saying:
“This is my body which is given for you.
“Do this in remembrance of Me.”
Likewise He gave them the cup, after the meal, speaking:
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood,
which is shed for you.
“But behold, the one by whose hand I will be delivered up,
is at table with Me.
“For the Son of Man goes forth as it is ordained ;
yet woe to that man by whose hand He is delivered up.”
Now they began to ask among themselves
which of them it was anyway, who would do that.
Arguments arose among them as to
who among them might be the chief.
But Jesus spoke to them:
“The kings of the nations exercise dominion over them
and their rulers allow themselves to be called benefactors.
“Thus ye must not do ;
but he that is chief among you
must be like the youngest;
and he who gives orders must be like one who serves.
“For who is the greatest:
He who apprehends or he who serves?
“Is it not he who dons?
“Well then, I am among you as one who serves.
“It is you who have remained faithful in my trials.
“And as my Father hath given me kingship,
so I grant you a place in my kingdom;
thou shalt eat and drink at my table
and you shall sit on thrones
to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel.
“Simon, Simon ,
know that Satan has demanded to sift you all like wheat.
“But I have prayed for you that your faith would not crumble.
“Once you have come to repentance,
strengthen your brothers in turn.”
But he replied:
“Lord,
I am willing to go with You even into prison and death!”
Thereupon Jesus spoke:
“I say to you, Peter:
The cock shall not crow today
until thou hast denied three times to know me.”
He spoke to them:
“When I sent you out without purse, bag or footwear,
did you lack anything?”
They replied:
“Of nothing.”
He resumed:
“But now he who has a purse must take it with him
and likewise a bag;
and whoever does not have one should sell his cloak
and acquire a sword.
“I say to you, in Me this scripture must be fulfilled:
He is counted among the wicked.
“What was decreed concerning Me,
is now about to be fulfilled.”
They said to Him:
“Behold Lord, here are two swords.”
He replied:
“It is enough.”
He now went out
and went to the Mount of Olives according to his custom.
The disciples also went with Him.
Arriving on the spot He spoke to them:
“Pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”
He removed Himself from them
and went on about a stone’s throw;
there He threw Himself on his knees and prayed:
“Father, if Thou wilt, let this cup pass Me by.
“Yet: not my will but Thy will be done.”
Now an angel appeared to Him from heaven to strengthen Him.
Prey to the fear of death, He prayed with even greater insistence.
His sweat turned into thick drops of blood
that fell to the ground.
Then He got up from his prayer
and went to his disciples,
but He found them asleep in sorrow.
He said to them:
“How canst thou sleep?
“Arise
and pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
He had not yet spoken
or there came a troop, preceded by Judas,
one of the twelve.
The latter went up to Jesus to kiss Him.
But Jesus said to him:
“Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
When those who were standing around Him
perceived what was about to happen,
they asked:
“Lord, shall we strike at it with the sword?”
And one of them struck the servant of the high priest
and cut off his right ear.
But Jesus intervened and said:
“Leave it at that.”
And He touched the ear and healed him.
Now Jesus spoke to the high priests,
to the captains of the temple guard and to the elders
who had come up to Him:
“As against a robber you are set out
with swords and clubs.
“Every day I was with you in the temple
and you have not laid a hand on Me.
“But this is your hour
and thy power is that of darkness.”
Now they seized him and carried him off
and they brought Him into the house of the high priest,
while Peter followed at a distance.
In the courtyard they built a fire and sat down together
and they sat down together;
Peter sat between them.
When a servant girl saw him
sitting by the light of the fire
and had taken a sharp look at him,
she said:
“You was also with Him.”
But he denied it, saying:
“Woman, I do not know Him.”
A little later someone else saw him and said:
“You are also one of them.”
But Peter replied:
“Man, that is not true.”
After the lapse of about an hour
another declared with firmness:
“True, that man also belonged to Him:
For he is also a Galilean.”
Peter replied:
“Man, I don’t know what you mean.”
He had not yet said it or immediately a rooster crowed.
Then the Lord turned around and He looked at Peter;
it came to Peter’s mind how the Lord had said to him:
“Before a rooster crows today
you will deny Me three times.”
And he went out and began to weep bitterly.
The men who were guarding Jesus,
mocked and beat Him.
They threw a cloth over his head and asked Him:
“Be a prophet now.
“Who is it that smote thee?”
Many other taunts they added to Him.
When the day had come,
the council of elders of the people gathered together,
high priests and scribes,
and they had Him brought before their court.
They said:
“If Thou art the Christ, tell us.”
But He spoke to them:
“If I tell thee,
you will not believe it;
and if I ask thee questions,
you will not answer.
“But from now on the Son of Man shall
sit at the right hand of the Power of God.”
Then they all asked:
“Thou art therefore the Son of God?
He answered them:
“Thou hast said it: that is I.”
They cried out:
“To what end do we need another testimony?
Surely we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”
Then the whole assembly rose up
and they brought Him before Pilate.
There they began to accuse Him, saying:
“We have established
that this man is inciting our people to rebellion,
that He’s keeping them
from paying taxes to the emperor
and that He is impersonating the Messiah, the King.”
Pilate asked Him:
“Art Thou the King of the Jews?”
He answered Him:
“Thou sayest.”
Pilate now said to the high priests and the crowd of people:
“I cannot discover in this man any guilt.”
But they persisted and cried out:
“By his preaching in all the Jewish land ,
which He began in Galilee
and which He has continued until here ,
He is sowing unrest among the people.”
When Pilate heard this, he asked
if the man was a Galilean.
As soon as he learned
that Jesus was indeed from Herod’s area of power,
he sent Him to Herod.
who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Herod expressed great joy when he got to see Jesus.
The stories about Jesus
had made him long for Jesus for a long time
and he hoped to see Him perform some kind of miracle.
He asked Him all kinds of questions,
but Jesus didn’t answer at all.
The high priests and scribes stood by and made accusations against Him.
Together with his soldiers, Herod jeered and mocked Him.
He put a splendid robe on Him
and sent Him back to Pilate.
On the same day Herod and Pilate became friends;
before this they had been at enmity with one another.
Then Pilate summoned the high priests, the officials and the people.
and the people together
and he said to them:
“You have brought this man before me
as one who is inciting the people to rebellion;
well, I have heard him in your presence.
But I have not been able to discover in this man
of all that you accuse Him of.
“Nor did Herod
for he has sent Him back to us.
“It is clear
that He has done nothing
that would justify the death penalty.
“I will therefore have Him administered a discipline
and then release Him.”
They all began to shout at once:
“Away with Him! Let us release Barabbas!”
This Barabbas had been thrown into prison
because of a riot in the city and for murder.
Again Pilate addressed them
because he wished to release Jesus.
But they cried out against this:
“Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
For the third time Pilate asked them:
“What evil has this man done, then?
“I have found nothing in Him,
that justifies the death penalty.
“I shall therefore have him disciplined
and then release him.”
Shouting loudly
but they continued to demand his crucifixion
and their screaming was decisive.
Pilate decided that what they demanded would happen:
He released the man they demanded,
though he was imprisoned for rioting and murder,
but he delivered Jesus into their hands.
When they carried Him off,
they arrested a man named Simon,
a man from Cyrene who had come from the field;
and they loaded him with the cross
to carry it behind Jesus.
A large crowd of people followed Him,
including women
who were beating their chests and lamenting over Him.
Jesus turned to them and spoke:
“Daughters of Jerusalem ,
do not weep over Me.
but weep over yourselves and over your children.
“Know that a time will come when people will say:
Happy the barren,
whose womb has not given birth
and whose breast has not nourished a child.
“Then it will be said to the mountains, fall on us,
and to the hills, cover us.
“For if one does so with the green wood,
what shall be done with the dry wood?”
Two others were taken away, two criminals,
to be put to death together with Him.
When they came to the place called Skull,
they beat Him there on the cross,
and so did the criminals,
one on the right, the other on the left.
And Jesus said:
“Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do.”
They divided his clothes among themselves, by dicing for them.
The people stood by and watched
but the government officials laughed at Him and said:
“Others He has saved;
let him save himself
if He is the Messiah of God,
the Chosen One!”
The soldiers brought Him sour wine,
and they too added mockingly to Him:
“If Thou art the King of the Jews ,
save thyself.”
Above Him was inscribed
in Greek, Roman and Hebrew letters:
“This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals hanging there also hated Him:
“Art Thou not the Messiah?
“Then save thyself and us.”
But the other punished Him and said:
“Have not even you a fear of God
while yet you are undergoing the same sentence?
“And we rightly undergo that judgment ,
for we receive what we have earned by our deeds;
but He has done nothing wrong.”
To that he said:
“Jesus!
think of me
when thou art come into thy kingdom.”
And Jesus spoke to him:
“Verily, I say unto you:
Even today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
It was now about the sixth hour;
darkness fell over all the region until the ninth hour
because the sun gave no more light.
The veil of the temple was torn in two.
Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice:
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
After He had said this, He gave up the spirit.
(Here all kneel for some time.)
On seeing what had happened,
the centurion praised God and said:
“This man was truly a righteous man.”
All the people who had gathered for that spectacle
returned when they saw what had happened,
and they beat their chests.
All his acquaintances stood at a distance, watching;
even the women who had followed Him from Galilee.
Now there was a certain Joseph,
a member of the High Council,
a benevolent and righteous man,
who had not, therefore, consented
with the plans and course of action of the Council.
He came from the Jewish city of Arimathea
and lived in the expectation of the Kingdom of God.
This one went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
After taking it down from the cross,
he wrapped it in a shroud.
Then he laid Him in a tomb
which had been hewn out of stone
and in which no one had ever been laid.
It was Preparation Day and the Sabbath was breaking.
The women who had come with Him from Galilee,
followed,
and they looked into the tomb
and watched as His body was laid down.
Returning, they prepared fragrant herbs and balsam
but on the Sabbath they observed the prescribed rest.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
Pope Francis
On the care of the common home
128. We are called to labor from our creation. One should not try to replace human labor more and more with technological progress: by doing so humanity would destroy itself. Labor is a necessity, is part of the meaning of life on this earth, a path of maturation, human development and personal realization. In this sense, helping the poor with money should always be a provisional remedy to cope with emergencies. The true goal should always be to allow them a dignified life through labor. However, the orientation of the economy has promoted a kind of technological progress aimed at reducing the cost of production through the reduction of jobs replaced by machines. It is one more way in which the actions of the human being can turn against itself. The reduction of jobs “also has a negative impact at the economic level by continuing the erosion of ‘social capital,’ that is, by undermining the set of relations based on trust, reliability and compliance with the rules, which are indispensable for any living together of citizens.” Ultimately, “the human price is also the economic price, and economic wrongs also demand a human price.” Refraining from investing in people to achieve more immediate gains is a very bad thing for society.
To be continued
The Bible text in this edition is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for the weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation