On Good Friday, the crucifixion and death of Jesus is commemorated
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.
FIRST READING Isa 52:13-53.12
He was mistreated for our crimes.
From the prophet Isaiah
Behold, my servant will act successfully,
he will be exalted and exalted and greatly glorified.
As many have stood dismayed over Him ,
so deformed was He, so inhuman in appearance,
and his beauty below that of the children of men.
So shall He strike many nations with astonishment,
kings shall shut their mouths before him,
for what they have not been told, they behold.
And what they have not heard, they see.
Who could believe what we have heard
and over whom the arm of the Lord has become visible?
He is praised as a solitary shoot
and as a root from barren ground;
He had not stature nor lustre
so that we could look at Him,
no appearance so that we could covet Him.
Despised and rejected by men,
man of sorrows and matured through suffering;
as one who hid his face from us,
despised and uncounted by us.
Yet it was our pains that He bore
and our sorrow He took upon himself.
We, on the other hand, regard Him as one afflicted,
as one who has been beaten and humiliated by God.
However, He was pierced for our sins,
mistreated for our crimes,
for on Him is the penalty for our salvation
and through his stripes there is healing for us.
We all wandered like a flock,
each went his own way;
the Lord brought down on Him
the crime of us all.
One mistreated Him and He accepted it,
He did not open his mouth.
Like the lamb led to the slaughter
and as the sheep that hushes before its shearer,
so He did not open his mouth.
By a violent justice He has been snatched away.
Who is there left who thinks of his life?
For He has been taken away from the land of the living,
beaten to death for the sins of my people.
They give Him a grave with the criminals
and a resting place with the rich
though he committed no iniquity
and there was no deceit in His mouth.
It has pleased the Lord to torment Him with blows.
Though He sacrifice himself,
yet shall He see a progeny, his days prolonged
and the Lord’s desire shall be fulfilled by his hand.
For his toil He will see the light and be satiated.
Through his insight, my servant as a righteous person will
justify many
and their crimes shall He bring upon himself.
Therefore I will give him portion among the great,
and with the mighty shall He divide the spoil
because he gave up his soul to death
and is counted among the sinners.
For He bears the sins of many
and is an advocate for sinners.
RESPONSORIAL Ps. 31(30), 2 and 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17 and 25
Refrain
Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
In you, Lord, I seek refuge,
never fail Me
righteous God, deliver Me.
Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit,
Thou art my redeemer, faithful God.
My enemies mock Me,
my neighbors laugh at Me.
My friends are frightened when they see Me,
in the street they avoid Me.
They have forgotten Me as if I were dead,
I am like broken furniture.
Yet I continue to trust in You, Lord,
“I say to you, Thou art my God.
Thou hast my fate in thy hand,
deliver Me from My persecutors.
Overy our servant let your face shine,
save Me by your grace.
Take courage and be fearless,
all ye that hope in the Lord.
Second Reading Hebr. 4,14-16;5,7-9
He taught obedience and became the cause of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.
From the letter to the Hebrews
Brothers and sisters,
Now that we have an exalted high priest,
One who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God,
now we must hold fast to our confession.
For we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.
He himself was tested in many ways, just like us, apart from sin.
Let us therefore boldly approach the throne of God’s grace
to obtain mercy and grace and timely help.
In the days of his mortal life, Christ,
under loud cries and weeping,
dedicated prayers and supplications to God
Who could save Him from death.
For his piety He was heard: though He was the Son of God,
He learned obedience in the school of suffering;
and when He had reached the end,
He became the cause of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
Verse for the Gospel Phil. 2:8-9
Praise and honor be to You, Lord Jesus.
Christ became obedient for us to death, to death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above all names.
Praise and honor be to You, Lord Jesus.
Gospel John 18,1-19,42
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
In those days
Jesus went out with his disciples
to the other side of the brook Kedron.
There was an orchard there that He entered with His disciples.
But even Judas, who was to hand Him over, knew this place
because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.
So Judas came there
with the ward of the soldiers
and with servants of the high priests and Pharisees,
equipped with lanterns, torches and weapons.
Jesus, who knew everything that was going to happen to Him,
stepped forward and said to them:
“Whom seek ye?”
They answered Him:
“Jesus the Nazarene.”
Jesus said to them:
“That is I.”
Judas, his betrayer, was also among them.
Scarcely had Jesus said to them, “This is I,
but they turned back and fell to the ground.
Once more He asked them:
“Whom seek ye?”
They said:
Jesus the Nazarene.”
Jesus answered:
“I have told thee that it is I.
“If it is Me that ye seek, let these people go.”
What He had said was to be fulfilled:
“None of those whom thou hast given me,
I will perish.
But Simon Peter had a sword with him.
He drew it, and with it he wounded the servant of the high priest
by cutting off his right ear.
The servant’s name was Malchus.
Jesus, however, spoke to Peter:
“Put the sword in its sheath;
should I not drink the cup
which my Father has given me?”
The ward with the commanding officer and the servants of the Jews
then seized Jesus, handcuffed him
and took him first to Annas.
Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas
who was high priest that year,
The same Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews:
It is better that one man die for the people.
Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.
Now this disciple was an acquaintance of the high priest
and so he went with
Jesus into the palace of the high priest,
while Peter remained outside the gate.
The other disciple, who was known by the high priest, came out and said: ‘I will not go into the palace of the high priest.
He spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter inside.
The girl standing at the gate asked Peter:
“Are you not also one of that man’s disciples?”
He said:
“No.”
Because it was cold, the servants
had built a charcoal fire and were standing to warm themselves.
Peter also stood with them and warmed himself.
The high priest
questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
Jesus answered him:
“I have spoken openly to the world.
“I have always taught
in a synagogue or in the temple
where all the Jews are gathered
and there is nothing that I have spoken in secret.
“Why do you question Me?
“Question the people
who have heard what I have preached to them.
“They know well what I have said.”
At this word, one of the servants who was standing next to Him,
smote Him in the face and added:
“Dost thou thus answer the high priest?”
Jesus answered him:
“If I have said anything wrong ,
declare then what was wrong in it;
but if it was right,
why do you strike me?”
Thereupon Annas sent Him handcuffed to the high priest Caiaphas.
Simon Peter was warming up when someone asked him:
“Are you not also one of his disciples?”
He denied it and said:
“No.”
But one of the high priest’s servants,
a kinsman of the man
whom Peter had cut off his ear, said;
“Did I not see you in the orchard with Him?”
Peter denied it again
and immediately a rooster began to crow.
Then they brought Jesus
from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium.
It was early in the morning.
They themselves did not enter the Pretorium
for they had to be able to eat the Passover meal
and therefore were not allowed to defile themselves.
Therefore Pilate came out and asked them:
“What charge do you bring against this man?”
They answered him:
“If this were not a criminal ,
we should not have delivered Him up to you.”
Thereupon Pilate said:
“Then take Him yourself and judge Him according to thy law!”
The Jews answered him;
“We lack the right to put anyone to death.”
Thus Jesus’ word would be fulfilled
by which He had indicated the death He would die.
Now Pilate entered the pretorium,
called Jesus to him and said to Him:
“Art Thou the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answered him:
“Do you say this of your own accord
or have the others spoken to you of Me?
Pilate replied:
“Am I a Jew?
“Your own people and the high priests
have delivered Thee up to me.
“What hast Thou done?
Jesus answered:
“My kingship is not of this world.
“If my kingship were of this world,
my servants would have fought to keep me
that I had not been delivered to the Jews.
“But my kingship is not of this world.
Pilate resumed:
“Thou art therefore king after all?”
Jesus answered:
“Yes, I am king.
“For this purpose was I born, and for this purpose have I come into the world,
to bear witness unto the truth.
“All who are of the truth listen to my voice.”
Pilate said to Him:
“What is truth?”
After these words He went out again to the Jews and said:
“I find no guilt in Him at all.
“But there is a custom among you
that at Easter I set one free.
“Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
Then they began to shout again:
“No, not that one
but Barabbas!”
Barabbas was a robber.
Then Pilate had Jesus scourged.
The soldiers wove him a crown of thorns,
put it on his head
and they wrapped him in a purple dressing gown.
They came up to Him and said:
“Hail, King of the Jews!”
And they slapped Him in the face.
Pilate went out again and said to them:
“Behold, I bring Him out to make you know
that I find no fault in Him at all.”
So Jesus came out
He was still wearing the crown of thorns and the purple dressing gown.
Pilate said to them:
“Behold the man.”
But when the high priests and servants saw Him,
they shouted:
“Crucify, crucify!”
Pilate said to them:
“Then take Him and crucify Him
for I find no fault in Him.”
The Jews answered him:
“We have a Law
and according to that law He must die
because he proclaimed himself to be the Son of God.”
When Pilate heard this, he became even more frightened.
He went back into the pretorium and said to Jesus:
“Whence art Thou?”
Jesus, however, did not answer him.
So Pilate said:
“Dost Thou not speak to me?
“Do you not know that I have the power to absolve You, but that I also have the power to destroy You?
but also have the power to crucify Thee?”
Jesus answered:
“You would have no power over Me at all
if it had not been given to you from above.
“Therefore
the sin of him who delivered Me to you is greater.”
From this moment on
Pilate wanted to set Him free.
But the Jews shouted:
“If you release that man, you are no friend of the emperor.
“Whoever pretends to be king
rebels against the emperor.”
When Pilate heard them shouting this
he had Jesus brought out
and sat down on the judgment seat,
in the place called Litostrotos, or Gabbata in Hebrew.
It was the day of preparation for Easter,
about the sixth hour.
He said to the Jews:
“Here is your king.”
But they shouted:
“Away, away with Him! Crucify Him!”
Pilate asked:
“Shall I then crucify your king?”
The high priests replied:
“We have no other king but the emperor!”
Then he handed Him over to them to be crucified,
and they took Him over.
Carrying his cross Himself
Jesus went out of the city to what is called the Place of the Skull,
in Hebrew Golgotha.
There they crucified Him,
and with Him two others,
one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
Pilate also had an inscription made and put on the cross.
It read: Jesus, the Nazarene,
the king of the Jews.
Many Jews read this inscription,
because the place where Jesus was crucified
was close to the city.
It was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
Now the high priests of the Jews said to Pilate:
“You should not write: ‘The King of the Jews’ but:
‘He said, I am the king of the Jews’.
” Pilate replied:
“What I have written, I have written.”
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus,
they took his clothes and divided them into quarters,
one for each soldier.
They also took the garment
but it was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down.
So they said to each other:
“Let us not tear it
but let us draw lots to see who shall have it.
Thus the Scripture was to be fulfilled:
They divided my garments among themselves
and threw dice for my garment.
While the soldiers were doing this,
standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister,
Mary, the wife of Klopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother
and next to her the disciple whom he loved,
He said to His mother:
“Woman, behold your son.”
Then He said to the disciple:
“Behold your mother.”
And from that moment the disciple took her into his home.
After this, knowing that now everything was accomplished,
Jesus said, that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “I thirst.”
There stood a jug full of sour wine.
They dipped a sponge in it,
and put it on a hyssop stalk and brought it to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken of the sour wine, He said:
“It is finished.”
Then He bowed his head and gave up the Ghost.
(Here all kneel for some time).
Since it was Preparation Day
and the Jews did not want
the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath
– Besides, it was a great Sabbath –
they asked Pilate for permission
to break the legs of the crucified and take them away.
So the soldiers came
and they broke
the legs of one and of the other crucified with him.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance;
immediately there came out blood and water.
He who has seen it bears witness of this;
his testimony is true
and he knoweth that he speaketh the truth,
that ye also may believe.
This happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled:
“Of his bones nothing shall be shattered”,
while another scripture says:
“They shall look up to Him whom they have pierced’.
Joseph of Arimatéa,
who was a disciple of Jesus
but secretly for fear of the Jews,
then asked Pilate
to take away the body of Jesus.
When Pilate had granted it,
so he went and took the body away.
Nicodemus, who had visited him before by night.
He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about a hundred pounds.
They took the body of Jesus
and wrapped it with the fragrant herbs in bandages,
as is the custom at a Jewish funeral.
In the place where He was crucified there was a garden
and in that garden a new sepulchre
in which no one had ever been laid.
Because of the preparation day of the Jews
and because the grave was close at hand,
they laid Jesus therein.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
133. It is difficult to make a general judgment about the development of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in plants and animals for medical purposes or in agriculture, since they may differ greatly among themselves and may call for different considerations. On the other hand, the risks may not always be attributed to the technique itself, but to its inadequate or excessive application. In reality, genetic mutations are and have often been caused by nature itself. Nor are human-induced mutations a modern phenomenon. Domestication of animals, interbreeding of species and other ancient and universally accepted practices may fall within these considerations. It is appropriate to recall that the beginning of scientific developments concerning transgenic crops was the observation of bacteria that naturally and spontaneously induced a change in the genome of a plant. Yet these processes in nature have a slow rhythm, which cannot be compared to the speed imposed by current technological progress, even when this progress is based on a scientific development of centuries.
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 the weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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