Paschal Triduum – Good Friday – Passion of the Lord
Proper
Texts taken from the “On Your Word” Missal, March-April 2021
In the liturgy of Good Friday, we meditate on the mystery of Christ’s death and adore the Cross. The Good Friday celebration takes place in three parts: Liturgy of the Word, Adoration of the Cross, and Eucharistic Communion. By a most ancient tradition, the Church solemnly proclaims the Gospel according to John. Through his sacrifice, Jesus transformed the greatest iniquity into the greatest love.
As we adore the cross, looking at Jesus and turning our gaze toward his transfigured face, we think of the love he has had for us all.
Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, during the adoration of the cross we will not be able to kiss the Crucifix as a sign of affection and adherence to him, but nothing prevents us from taking some time to lift our gaze to Him: let us speak to him about our sorrows and joys, our hopes and disappointments, our mistakes and achievements. This is precisely the message of Good Friday: we cannot despair… after every death there is always resurrection. Death does not win. After the storm there is always a rainbow.
FIRST READING
From the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is 52:13 – 53:12)
Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. As many were amazed at him – so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of man –, so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for they shall see what has not been told them, and they shall understand what they have not heard. Who would have believed our announcement? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with suffering; like one from whom men hide their faces; he was despised, and we held him of no account. Yet he himself bore our sufferings, he himself carried our sorrows; and we considered him stricken, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our faults, crushed for our iniquities. Upon him fell the punishment that brings us salvation; by his wounds we have been healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each of us following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter, like a sheep silent before its shearers, he did not open his mouth. By oppression and unjust judgment he was taken away; who could grieve over his descendants? Yes, he was cut off from the land of the living, struck to death for the sin of my people. They made his grave with the wicked, and his tomb with the rich, although he had committed no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to crush him with suffering. When he offers himself as an atoning sacrifice, he shall see his descendants, he shall live long, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him. After his inner anguish he shall see the light and be satisfied with its knowledge; my righteous servant shall justify many, he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him the multitudes as his reward, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered among the wicked, while he bore the sin of many and interceded for transgressors. – The Word of the Lord.
Commentary on the first reading
“After his inner anguish he shall see the light and be satisfied with its knowledge; my righteous servant shall justify many, he shall bear their iniquities”: the word of the prophet Isaiah is fully fulfilled in Christ, in his passion, death, descent into the underworld, and resurrection. But the Christian too, the faithful disciple, benefits from it; indeed, even the unrighteous disciple (like all of us) can find in him not only hope, but true trust in salvation. From now on, every sin is no longer in the power of the devil, but its perverse nature as sin has been restored by the only one who had not sinned. An intimate, profound, overwhelming, stripping anguish is being described: this is precisely what our Lord Jesus Christ lived through and took upon himself for our salvation. Salvation, therefore, like justification and glorification, does not come from us, but from God. For us human beings immersed in sin, the situation is truly paradoxical: we try to save ourselves with all our strength, which we regard as personal, deserved, and achieved, when everything would be much “simpler” if we accepted being saved by God.
SECOND READING
From the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9)
Brothers and sisters, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession of faith. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses: he himself was tested in every way as we are, except for sin. Let us therefore draw near with complete confidence to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace, so that we may be helped at the opportune moment. [Christ, indeed,] in the days of his earthly life, offered prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to God, who was able to save him from death, and because of his complete submission to him, he was heard. Although he was Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, having been made perfect, became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. – The Word of the Lord.
Commentary on the second reading
“Although he was Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, having been made perfect, became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” The best spiritual teachers affirm that, among the three vows made to God by consecrated people (poverty, chastity, and obedience), the most demanding, both spiritually and humanly, is precisely obedience; poverty and chastity would be a consequence of it. Thus, referring in both a poetic and concrete way to marriage, some have written wonderful pages about the aspect of obedience in this sacrament. Obedience is divine. Settling for compromise and half-hearted choices, insisting on always being right and only right, and refusing to place oneself at the service of others are all human. The Letter to the Hebrews explicitly states that Jesus Christ too, true man and true God, learned obedience: it thus seems that it was also a journey for him. Not an achievement obtained once and for all, but the fruit of an attitude of listening and patience (from the verb “to suffer”). Christ Jesus became perfect in obedience; and are we directing our lives toward obedience to the Father?
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
(Guidelines for dialogued reading: ✠ = Jesus; C = Narrator; D = Disciples and friends; F = Crowd; A = Other characters).
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
They arrested Jesus and bound him
C At that time, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley, where there was a garden, which he entered with his disciples. Judas, his betrayer, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas went there, after taking a cohort of soldiers and some guards supplied by the chief priests and Pharisees, with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing everything that was to happen to him, stepped forward and said to them: ✠ “Whom are you looking for?” C They answered him: F“Jesus the Nazarene.” C Jesus said to them: ✠ “I am he.” C Judas, his betrayer, was with them. When he said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again: ✠ “Whom are you looking for?” C They said: F “Jesus the Nazarene.” C Jesus answered:✠ “I told you, I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go,” C so that the word he had spoken might be fulfilled: “I have not lost any of those you gave me.” Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. Jesus then said to Peter: ✠ “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
They led him first to Annas
C Then the soldiers, with the commander and the guards of the Jews, arrested Jesus, bound him, and led him first to Annas. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews: “It is better that one man should die for the people.” Meanwhile Simon Peter followed Jesus together with another disciple. This disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard. Peter, however, stood outside near the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the gatekeeper, and brought Peter in. And the young gatekeeper said to Peter: A “Are you not also one of this man’s disciples?” C He answered: D “I am not.” CMeanwhile the servants and guards had lit a fire because it was cold, and they were warming themselves; Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself. The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him: ✠ “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews gather, and I have said nothing in secret. Why do you question me? Question those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said.” C When he had said this, one of the guards standing nearby struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying: A “Is that how you answer the high priest?” C Jesus answered him: ✠ “If I have spoken wrongly, show where the wrong is. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” C Then Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.
Are you not also one of his disciples? I am not!
C Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said to him: A “Are you not also one of his disciples?” C He denied it and said: D “I am not.” C But one of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said: A “Did I not see you with him in the garden?” C Peter denied it again, and immediately the cock crowed.
My kingdom is not of this world
C Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas’s house to the praetorium. It was morning, and they did not enter the praetorium, so that they would not be defiled and might eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and asked: A “What accusation do you bring against this man?” C They answered him: F “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” C Pilate then said to them: A “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” C The Jews answered him: F “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” C This was to fulfill the word Jesus had spoken, indicating by what kind of death he was going to die. Pilate then went back into the praetorium, summoned Jesus, and said to him: A “Are you the king of the Jews?” C Jesus answered: ✠ “Do you say this on your own, or have others told you about me?” C Pilate answered: A “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” C Jesus answered: ✠ “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingdom is not from here.” C Pilate then said to him: A “Then you are a king?” C Jesus answered: ✠ “You say I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” C Pilate said to him: A “What is truth?” C And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them: A “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that at Passover I release one prisoner for you. Do you want me, then, to release for you the king of the Jews?” C Then they shouted again: F “Not this man, but Barabbas!” C Barabbas was a bandit.
Hail, King of the Jews!
C Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple cloak. Then they came up to him and said: F “Hail, King of the Jews!” C And they struck him repeatedly. Pilate went out again and said to them: A “Look, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” C Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And Pilate said to them: A “Behold, the man!” C When they saw him, the chief priests and the guards cried out: F “Crucify him! Crucify him!” C Pilate said to them: A “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him.” C The Jews answered him: F “We have a law, and according to that law he must die because he has made himself the Son of God.” C When Pilate heard these words, he was even more afraid. He went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus: A “Where are you from?” C But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to him: A “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you?” C Jesus answered him: ✠ “You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!
C From that moment Pilate tried to release him. But the Jews cried out: F “If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar! Everyone who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar.” C When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s bench at a place called the Stone Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha. It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, around noon. Pilate said to the Jews: A “Behold, your king!” C But they cried out: F “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” C Pilate said to them: A “Shall I crucify your king?”C The chief priests answered: F “We have no king but Caesar.” C Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
They crucified him, and with him two others
C So they took Jesus, and he went out, carrying his cross, to the place called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had an inscription written and placed on the cross; it read: “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: F “Do not write: ‘The King of the Jews,’ but: ‘This man said, I am the King of the Jews.’” C Pilate answered: A “What I have written, I have written.”
They divided my garments among them
C After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier, and also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another: “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be.” Thus the Scripture was fulfilled that says: “They divided my garments among them, and for my tunic they cast lots.” And this is what the soldiers did.
Behold, your son! Behold, your mother!
C Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother: ✠ “Woman, behold, your son!” C Then he said to the disciple: ✠ “Behold, your mother!” C And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, knowing that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said: ✠ “I thirst.” C A jar full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge soaked in vinegar on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said: ✠ “It is finished.” C Then he bowed his head and handed over his spirit.
(Here all genuflect and pause briefly)
Immediately blood and water flowed out
C It was the day of Preparation, and the Jews, because it was a solemn day and they did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, asked Pilate to have their legs broken and the bodies taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, and immediately blood and water flowed out. The one who saw this has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he speaks the truth, so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And another passage of Scripture says: “They will look upon the one whom they have pierced.”
They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with spices
C After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take the body of Jesus. Pilate granted permission. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus also came – the one who had first come to him at night – and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about thirty kilograms. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried. So, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. – The Gospel of the Lord.
Commentary on the Gospel of the day
“You say I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Governor Pilate has the opportunity for a face-to-face dialogue with the Lord Jesus, the King of kings, and emerges from it in a despicable manner: he washes his hands of the innocent blood that is put to death. Yet he had been given numerous clues to finally take a courageous stand in defense of the One who is without any guilt. Before him, Jesus proclaims himself king, but not in opposition to the power that Pilate must defend: the might of the empire and the fleeting glory of Caesar. Jesus is not the sovereign of court intrigues, favoritism based on sympathy, or careers achieved by pushing others aside and bringing them down; Jesus is the king of truth and reigns from the cross. Better still, the Lord does not summon troops of armed angelic choirs to defend himself; when Peter draws his sword to cut off Malchus’s ear, Jesus responds with his final miracle of physical healing. Jesus is not like those commanders who send the battalion into danger while remaining safe themselves. Jesus is a witness (= martyr) for his “army.”
