Commemoration of the Last Supper of Christ with his apostles and the institution of the Eucharist.
Invitation
May I hereby call 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
Tonight we celebrate the Eucharist in a special way.
We commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles.
In a special way, the Lord Jesus gave Himself to us.
At this supper He was host and servant at the same time.
Even in the face of latent betrayal, He showed God’s love, to the extreme.
He bowed down before His disciples and washed their feet.
He gave Himself: His body as bread, His blood as wine.
Today too He gives Himself to us and bows down before us.
With and to Him we may be present
to be received and served by Him.
Let us be open and receptive,
recognize and acknowledge Him in the gifts of bread and wine.
May we find the strength to continue doing this according to His will to His memory.
FIRST READING Ex. 12, 1-8,11-14
Prescriptions for eating the paschal lamb.
From the Book of Exodus
In those days the Lord addressed the word to Moses and Aaron
in Egypt and spoke:
“This month ye must regard as the beginning month ,
as the first month of the year.
“Make known to all the community of Israel the following:
“On the tenth of this month
every family must choose a lamb,
every house a lamb.
“If a family is too small for a lamb, then they must,
taking into account the number of people,
do together with their nearest neighbor.
“In dividing the lamb
account must be taken of everyone’s appetite.
“The lamb must be unblemished,
of the male sex and one year old.
“You can take a sheep or a goat.
“You must keep the animals
until the fourteenth of the month.
“Then all the assembled community of Israel
should slaughter them at dusk.
“Then you are to take some blood and smear it
over the two doorposts and over the upper beam of the door
of all the houses where the lamb is eaten.
“In the same night the meat is to be eaten,
roasted on the fire.
“It is to be eaten with unleavened bread
and bitter herbs.
“And this is the way in which ye must eat the lamb:
thy loins girded, thy feet shod
and thy rod in thy hand.
“Hastily ye must eat it
for it is Easter to the Lord.
“This night I will go through Egypt
and all the firstborn sons of Egypt, both men and beasts,
I will smite.
“To all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.
“But the blood on the houses will be a sign
that you live there.
“When I see the blood on your houses,
I will pass over thee.
“No destructive plague shall afflict thee when I smite Egypt.
“This day ye must make a day of remembrance,
thou must celebrate it as a feast for the glory of the Lord.
“From generation to generation you must celebrate it
as an everlasting institution.”
RESPONSORIAL Ps. 116(115), 12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18
Refrain
The cup of blessing gives fellowship with the blood of Christ.
How can I give thanks
for all that the Lord has given me?
The cup of salvation I will take,
calling on the name of the Lord.
For precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of his faithful.
O Lord, I am thy servant,
Thou hast cast off my chains.
To Thee will I offer a sacrifice of praise,
calling on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows
where all his people see it.
SECOND READING 1 Cor. 11, 23-26
Every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord.
From the first letter of the holy apostle Paul to the Christians of
Corinth
Brothers and sisters,
I myself have received from the Lord the Tradition
which I in turn have passed on to you:
That the Lord Jesus
in the night in which He was delivered,
took bread,
and after giving thanks he broke it
and said:
“This is my body for you.
“Do this in remembrance of me.”
Similarly, after the meal He took the cup
with the words:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
“Do this
every time ye drink it,
in remembrance of me.”
Every time you eat this bread and drink the cup,
ye proclaim the death of the Lord
until He comes again.
Verse for the gospel John 13, 34
Praise and honor be to you, Lord Jesus.
A new commandment I give to you, says the Lord,
that you love one another as I have loved you.
Praise and honor be to You, Lord Jesus.
GOSPEL John 13, 1-15
He gave proof of His love to the extreme.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
The feast of Easter was at hand.
Jesus,
who knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father,
and who had loved his own in the world,
gave them proof of his love to the extreme.
Under the meal,
when the devil had already given Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, the plan to hand Him over,
Jesus rose from the table.
In the consciousness
that the Father had given Him everything into His hands
and that He had gone out from God
and was returning to God,
He took off his outer garments,
took a linen cloth and girded Himself with it.
Then He poured water into the basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dried them with the cloth with which He was girded.
Thus He came to Simon Peter
who, however, said to Him:
“Lord, will You wash my feet?”
Jesus answered Him:
“What I am doing you do not understand now
but later you will understand.”
Then Peter said to Him:
“Never in all eternity wilt thou wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him:
“If thou wilt not let Me wash thee,
thou canst not be my sharer.”
Thereupon Simon Peter said to Him:
“Lord, then not only my feet
but also my hands and head.”
But Jesus answered:
“He who has taken a bath has no need to wash himself again
except the feet,
for he is completely clean.
“Ye also are clean,
though not all.”
For He knew who would deliver Him up.
Therefore He said:
“Not all are ye clean.”
Then when He had washed their feet,
put on his outer garments
and had returned to the table,
He spoke to them:
“Do ye understand what I have done to you?
“Ye call Me Teacher and Lord ,
and ye do so justly, for I am.
“But if I,
the Lord and Teacher, have washed thy feet,
then ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
“I have given you an example
that ye might do as I have done unto you.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
132. In this framework, any reflection should be placed regarding human intervention in the animal and plant world, which today involves genetic changes caused by biotechnology, with the aim of exploiting the possibilities present in material reality. Faith’s respect for reason requires paying attention to what biological science itself, developed independently with respect to economic interests, can teach about biological structures and their possibilities and changes. In any case, an intervention in nature “to help it develop in accordance with its essence is that of creation, that which is willed by God.”
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical Suggestions for Weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation