Commemoration of Christ’s Last Supper with his apostles and the institution of the Eucharist
Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wishes to share with You the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day
Opening word
Forty days have led us to this evening
and a few more days separate us from Easter.
That is why this evening is different.
We are reminded of an ancient story
about God setting people free
from the injustice of oppression.
We remember and celebrate the timeless covenant
that Jesus made with us
and find in his example
an unseen call to service.
This evening makes us grateful
for the life, suffering and death
of the Man in whom God showed us
how much he remains close to us
with a love so much stronger than death.
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, they should,
taking into account the number of people,
do it together with their nearest neighbour.
“When distributing the lamb
everyone’s appetite should be taken into account.
“The lamb must be whole,
of the male sex and annual.
“Ge can take a sheep or a goat for it.
“You must keep the animals
until the fourteenth of the month.
“Then all the gathered community of Israel must
slaughter them at dusk.
“Then thou must take some blood and smear it
over both the 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 must be eaten with unleavened bread
and bitter herbs.
“And this is the manner in which ye must eat the lamb:
Thy loins girded, thy feet shod
And thy rod in thy hand.
“Haste ye must eat it
For it is Easter before the Lord.
“This night I will pass through Egypt
and all the firstborn of Egypt, both men and animals
will I smite.
“To all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.
“But the blood on the houses will be a sign
That ye dwell there.
“When I see the blood on your houses ,
I will pass you by.
“No destructive plague will strike you when I strike Egypt.
“This day ye must make it a day of remembrance,
ye must celebrate it as a feast in honour of the Lord.
“From generation to generation you must make it
as an everlasting institution.”
Responsorial Ps 116(115), 12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18
Refrain
The cup of blessing gives communion with the blood of Christ.
How can I give thanks
for all that the Lord gave me?
The cup of salvation I will take,
invoking the name of the Lord.
For precious is in the eye of the Lord
The dying of his faithful.
O Lord, I am thy servant,
Thou hast slain my fetters.
To Thee will I offer a sacrifice of praise,
invoking the name of the Lord.
I will fulfil 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 Lord’s death.
From the holy apostle Paul’s first letter 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
on the night in which He was delivered up,
took bread,
and after giving thanks broke it
and said:
“This is my body for you.
“Do this to my remembrance.”
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 ,
to my remembrance.”
Every time ye eat this bread and drink the cup,
proclaim the Lord’s death
until He comes again.
Verse for the gospel John 13, 34
Praise and honour be to Thee, Lord Jesus.
A new commandment I give unto you, saith the Lord,
That ye love one another as I have loved you.
Praise and honour be to Thee, 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 celebration of Easter was imminent.
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.
Over the meal,
when the devil was already
to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon,
had initiated the plan to deliver Him over,
Jesus rose from the table.
In the consciousness
that the Father had placed everything in His hands
and that He had gone forth from God
and was returning to God,
He took off His outer garments,
took a linen cloth and girded Himself with it.
Thereupon He poured water into the washbasin
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, wilt Thou wash my feet?”
Jesus answered him:
“What I am doing you do not yet understand now
but later thou shalt understand.”
Then Peter said to Him:
“Never in all eternity will Thou wash My feet!”
Jesus answered him:
“If thou wilt not let Me wash thee ,
thou canst not be My partner.”
Thereupon Simon Peter said to Him:
“Lord, then not only my feet
but also my hands and head.”
But Jesus replied:
“Whoever has taken a bath need not wash again
except the feet,
for he is completely clean.
“You too are clean ,
though not all.”
After all, He knew who would deliver Him up.
Therefore He said:
“Not all of you are 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 unto you?
“Ye address Me as Teacher and Lord ,
and that ye do rightly, 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 may do as I have done unto you.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
240. The divine Persons are subsistent relations and the world, created on the divine model, is a fabric of relations. The creatures tend towards God and, in turn, it is peculiar for every living being to tend towards something else, and so much so that within the universe we can encounter countless constant relationships that are hiddenly intertwined. This not only invites us to admire the many ties that exist between creatures, but also leads us to discover a key to our own realisation. Indeed, the more the human person grows, matures and sanctifies himself, the more he enters into relationship, when he steps outside himself, to live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures. Thus he incorporates into his own existence the trinitarian dynamic that God has put in it from his creation. Everything is interconnected and this invites us to mature a spirituality of solidarity, arising from the mystery of the Trinity.
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Translation of the Bible,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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