March 28, 2013
Holy Thursday – Year of Faith – Lenten Seasons
Holy Week – Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This
month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first
month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month
every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each
household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest
household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the
number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and
without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall
keep it until the fourteenth day of this month,
and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening
twilight. They shall take some of its blood
and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which
they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
“This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.
“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”
“This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.
“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps
116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18
R. (cf. 1 Cor 10:16) Our blessing-cup is a communion with
the Blood of Christ.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
Brothers
and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was
handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This
is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also
the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do
this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat
this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he
comes.
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had
come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and
he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the
Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that
he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off
his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he
poured water into a basin and began to
wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with
the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus
answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you
will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus
answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon
Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as
well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has
bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew
who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”