Saturday, April 23, 2011
GOOD FRIDAY – A
GOOD FRIDAY – A
Is 52:13—53:12 / Ps 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25 / Heb 4:14-16;
5:7-9 / Jn 18:1—19:42
ISAIAH 52:13—53:12
Look, my servant will prosper, will grow great, will rise to great
heights. As many people were aghast at him — he was so inhumanly
disfigured that he no longer looked like a man- so many nations will
be astonished and kings will stay tight-lipped before him, seeing what
had never been told them, learning what they had not heard before. Who
has given credence to what we have heard? And who has seen in it a
revelation of Yahweh's arm? Like a sapling he grew up before him, like
a root in arid ground. He had no form or charm to attract us, no
beauty to win our hearts; he was despised, the lowest of men, a man of
sorrows, familiar with suffering, one from whom, as it were, we
averted our gaze, despised, for whom we had no regard. Yet ours were
the sufferings he was bearing, ours the sorrows he was carrying, while
we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction
by God; whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed
because of our guilt; the punishment reconciling us fell on him, and
we have been healed by his bruises. We had all gone astray like sheep,
each taking his own way, and Yahweh brought the acts of rebellion of
all of us to bear on him. Ill-treated and afflicted, he never opened
his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughterhouse, like a sheep dumb
before its shearers he never opened his mouth. Forcibly, after
sentence, he was taken. Which of his contemporaries was concerned at
his having been cut off from the land of the living, at his having
been struck dead for his people's rebellion? He was given a grave with
the wicked, and his tomb is with the rich, although he had done no
violence, had spoken no deceit. It was Yahweh's good pleasure to crush
him with pain; if he gives his life as a sin offering, he will see his
offspring and prolong his life, and through him Yahweh's good pleasure
will be done. After the ordeal he has endured, he will see the light
and be content. By his knowledge, the upright one, my servant will
justify many by taking their guilt on himself. Hence I shall give him
a portion with the many, and he will share the booty with the mighty,
for having exposed himself to death and for being counted as one of
the rebellious, whereas he was bearing the sin of many and interceding
for the rebellious.
HEBREWS 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who
has gone through to the highest heaven, we must hold firm to our
profession of faith. For the high priest we have is not incapable of
feeling our weaknesses with us, but has been put to the test in
exactly the same way as ourselves, apart from sin. Let us, then, have
no fear in approaching the throne of grace to receive mercy and to
find grace when we are in need of help. During his life on earth, he
offered up prayer and entreaty, with loud cries and with tears, to the
one who had the power to save him from death, and, winning a hearing
by his reverence, he learnt obedience, Son though he was, through his
sufferings; when he had been perfected, he became for all who obey him
the source of eternal salvation
JOHN 18:1—19:42
After he had said all this, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed
the Kidron valley where there was a garden into which he went with his
disciples. Judas the traitor knew the place also, since Jesus had
often met his disciples there, so Judas brought the cohort to this
place together with guards sent by the chief priests and the
Pharisees, all with lanterns and torches and weapons. Knowing
everything that was to happen to him, Jesus came forward and said,
`Who are you looking for?' They answered, `Jesus the Nazarene.' He
said, `I am he.' Now Judas the traitor was standing among them. When
Jesus said to them, `I am he,' they moved back and fell on the ground.
He asked them a second time, `Who are you looking for?' They said,
`Jesus the Nazarene.' Jesus replied, `I have told you that I am he. If
I am the one you are looking for, let these others go.' This was to
fulfill the words he had spoken, `Not one of those you gave me have I
lost.' Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high
priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was
Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, `Put your sword back in its scabbard; am
I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?' The cohort and
its tribune and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him. They
took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in- law of
Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had
counseled the Jews, `It is better for one man to die for the people.'
Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus. This disciple, who
was known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest's
palace, but Peter stayed outside the door. So the other disciple, the
one known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the doorkeeper and
brought Peter in. The girl on duty at the door said to Peter, `Aren't
you another of that man's disciples?' He answered, `I am not.' Now it
was cold, and the ser vants and guards had lit a charcoal fire and
were standing there warming themselves; so Peter stood there too,
warming himself with the others. The high priest questioned Jesus
about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered, `I have spoken
openly for all the world to hear; I have always taught in the
synagogue and in the Temple where all the Jews meet together; I have
said nothing in secret. Why ask me? Ask my hearers what I taught; they
know what I said.' At these words, one of the guards standing by gave
Jesus a slap in the face, saying, `Is that the way you answer the high
priest?' Jesus replied, `If there is some offence in what I said,
point it out; but if not, why do you strike me?' Then Annas sent him,
bound, to Caiaphas the high priest. As Simon Peter stood there warming
himself, someone said to him, `Aren't you another of his disciples?'
He denied it saying, `I am not.' One of the high priest's servants, a
relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, `Didn't I see
you in the garden with him?' Again Peter denied it; and at once a cock
crowed. They then led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the
Praetorium. It was now morning. They did not go into the Praetorium
themselves to avoid becoming defiled and unable to eat the Passover.
So Pilate came outside to them and said, `What charge do you bring
against this man?' They replied, `If he were not a criminal, we should
not have handed him over to you.' Pilate said, `Take him yourselves,
and try him by your own Law.' The Jews answered, `We are not allowed
to put anyone to death.' This was to fulfill the words Jesus had
spoken indicating the way he was going to die. So Pilate went back
into the Praetorium and called Jesus to him and asked him, `Are you
the king of the Jews?' Jesus replied, `Do you ask this of your own
accord, or have others said it to you about me?' Pilate answered, `Am
I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed
you over to me: what have you done?' Jesus replied, `Mine is not a
kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would
have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. As it is, my
kingdom does not belong here.' Pilate said, `So, then you are a king?'
Jesus answered, `It is you who say that I am a king. I was born for
this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth;
and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.' `Truth?'
said Pilate. `What is that?' And so saying he went out again to the
Jews and said, `I find no case against him. But according to a custom
of yours I should release one prisoner at the Passover; would you like
me, then, to release for you the king of the Jews?' At this they
shouted, `Not this man,' they said, `but Barabbas.' Barabbas was a
bandit. Pilate then had Jesus taken away and scourged; and after this,
the soldiers twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on his head
and dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him and
saying, `Hail, king of the Jews!' and slapping him in the face. Pilate
came outside again and said to them, `Look, I am going to bring him
out to you to let you see that I find no case against him.' Jesus then
came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said,
`Here is the man.' When they saw him, the chief priests and the guards
shouted, `Crucify him! Crucify him!' Pilate said, `Take him yourselves
and crucify him: I find no case against him.' The Jews replied, `We
have a Law, and according to that Law he ought to be put to death,
because he has claimed to be Son of God.' When Pilate heard them say
this his fears increased. Reentering the Praetorium, he said to Jesus,
`Where do you come from?' But Jesus made no answer. Pilate then said
to him, `Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power
to release you and I have power to crucify you?' Jesus replied, `You
would have no power over me at all if it had not been given you from
above; that is why the man who handed me over to you has the greater
guilt.' From that moment Pilate was anxious to set him free, but the
Jews shouted, `If you set him free you are no friend of Caesar's;
anyone who makes himself king is defying Caesar.' Hearing these words,
Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated him on the chair of judgment
at a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha. It was the Day of
Preparation, about the six th hour. `Here is your king,' said Pilate
to the Jews. But they shouted, `Away with him, away with him, crucify
him.' Pilate said, `Shall I crucify your king?' The chief priests
answered, `We have no king except Caesar.' So at that Pilate handed
him over to them to be crucified. They then took charge of Jesus, and
carrying his own cross he went out to the Place of the Skull or, as it
is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him with two
others, one on either side, Jesus being in the middle. Pilate wrote
out a notice and had it fixed to the cross; it ran: `Jesus the
Nazarene, King of the Jews'. This notice was read by many of the Jews,
because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the cit y, and
the writing was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. So the Jewish chief
priests said to Pilate, `You should not write "King of the Jews", but
that the man said, "I am King of the Jews". Pilate answered, `What I
have written, I have writ ten.' When the soldiers had finished
crucifying Jesus they took his clothing and divided it into four
shares, one for each soldier. His undergarment was seamless, woven in
one piece from neck to hem; so they said to one another, `Instead of
tearing it, let's throw dice to decide who is to have it.' In this way
the words of scripture were fulfilled: They divide my garments among
them and cast lots for my clothes. That is what the soldiers did. Near
the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the
wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the
disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother,
`Woman, this is your son.' Then to the disciple he said, `This is your
mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After
this, Jesus knew that every thing had now been completed and, so that
the scripture should be completely fulfilled, he said: I am thirsty. A
jar full of sour wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the
wine on a hyssop stick, they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had
taken the wine he said, `It is fulfilled'; and bowing his head he gave
up his spirit. It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies'
remaining on the cross during the Sabbath — since that Sabbath was a
day of special solemnity — the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs
broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and
broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and
then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already
dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced
his side wi th a lance; and immediately there came out blood and
water. This is the evidence of one who saw it — true evidence, and he
knows that what he says is true — and he gives it so that you may
believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfill the words of
scripture: Not one bone of his will be broken; and again, in another
place scripture says: They will look to the one whom they have
pierced. Af ter this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of
Jesus — though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews — asked
Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so
they came and took it away. Nicodemus came as well — the same one who
had first come to Jesus at night time — and he brought a mix ture of
myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body
of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, following the
Jewish burial custom. At the place where he had been crucified there
was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet
been buried. Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb
was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
REFLECTION
Let us reflect on St. Teresa of Avila's The Way of Perfection,
26:2-6:
"If you are experiencing trials or are sad, behold Him on the way to
the garden: what great affliction He bore in His soul; for having
become suffering itself. Or behold Him bound to the column, filled
with pain, with all His flesh torn in pieces for the great love He
bears you; so much suffering, persecuted by some, spit on by others,
denied by His friends, abandoned by them, with no one to defend Him,
frozen from the cold, left so alone that you can console each other.
Or behold Him burdened with the cross, for they didn't even let Him
take a breath. He will look at you with those eyes so beautiful and
compassionate, filled with tears; He will forget His sorrows so as to
console you in your, merely because you yourselves go to Him to be
consoled, and you turn your head to look at Him. If it's true, Lord,
that You want to endure everything for me, what is this that I suffer
for you? Of what am I complaining? I am already ashamed, since I have
seen You in such a condition. I desire to suffer, Lord, all the trials
that come to me and esteem them as a great good enabling me to imitate
You in something. Let us walk together, Lord. Where You go, I will go;
whatever you suffer, I will suffer."
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Angeli
- Jo Marcelo
- Jun Lee
- Allen P.
- Leah Magcamit and Ginny Belardo
- Wendy
… for the personal intentions of:
- Josheil Dapo
- Edu and Andrea
… for the eternal repose of the soul of Catalina S. de Leon. Eternal
rest grant unto her and may perpetual light shine upon her. May she
and all the dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Gloria C. Yu
- Birthday: Manuel Gokim Tagle
- Birthday: Geraldine Khutanco
- In Memoriam (+): Antonio Sarthou Jr
… for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers
and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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