Posted on 03/23/2013 9:17:50 PM PDT by Salvation
Jesus proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.
As he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany
at the place called the Mount of Olives,
he sent two of his disciples.
He said, Go into the village opposite you,
and as you enter it you will find a colt tethered
on which no one has ever sat.
Untie it and bring it here.
And if anyone should ask you,
Why are you untying it?
you will answer,
The Master has need of it.
So those who had been sent went off
and found everything just as he had told them.
And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them,
Why are you untying this colt?
They answered,
The Master has need of it.
So they brought it to Jesus,
threw their cloaks over the colt,
and helped Jesus to mount.
As he rode along,
the people were spreading their cloaks on the road;
and now as he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives,
the whole multitude of his disciples
began to praise God aloud with joy
for all the mighty deeds they had seen.
They proclaimed:
Blessed is the king who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest.
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him,
Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
He said in reply,
I tell you, if they keep silent,
the stones will cry out!
When the hour came,
Jesus took his place at table with the apostles.
He said to them,
I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,
for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again
until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said,
Take this and share it among yourselves;
for I tell you that from this time on
I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God comes.
Then he took the bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them, saying,
This is my body, which will be given for you;
do this in memory of me.
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which will be shed for you.
And yet behold, the hand of the one who is to betray me
is with me on the table;
for the Son of Man indeed goes as it has been determined;
but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.
And they began to debate among themselves
who among them would do such a deed.
Then an argument broke out among them
about which of them should be regarded as the greatest.
He said to them,
The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them
and those in authority over them are addressed as Benefactors;
but among you it shall not be so.
Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest,
and the leader as the servant.
For who is greater:
the one seated at table or the one who serves?
Is it not the one seated at table?
I am among you as the one who serves.
It is you who have stood by me in my trials;
and I confer a kingdom on you,
just as my Father has conferred one on me,
that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom;
and you will sit on thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded
to sift all of you like wheat,
but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail;
and once you have turned back,
you must strengthen your brothers.
He said to him,
Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.
But he replied,
I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day,
you will deny three times that you know me.
He said to them,
When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals,
were you in need of anything?
No, nothing, they replied.
He said to them,
But now one who has a money bag should take it,
and likewise a sack,
and one who does not have a sword
should sell his cloak and buy one.
For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me,
namely, He was counted among the wicked;
and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.
Then they said,
Lord, look, there are two swords here.
But he replied, It is enough!
Then going out, he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives,
and the disciples followed him.
When he arrived at the place he said to them,
Pray that you may not undergo the test.
After withdrawing about a stones throw from them and kneeling,
he prayed, saying, Father, if you are willing,
take this cup away from me;
still, not my will but yours be done.
And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him.
He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently
that his sweat became like drops of blood
falling on the ground.
When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples,
he found them sleeping from grief.
He said to them, Why are you sleeping?
Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.
While he was still speaking, a crowd approached
and in front was one of the Twelve, a man named Judas.
He went up to Jesus to kiss him.
Jesus said to him,
Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?
His disciples realized what was about to happen, and they asked,
Lord, shall we strike with a sword?
And one of them struck the high priests servant
and cut off his right ear.
But Jesus said in reply,
Stop, no more of this!
Then he touched the servants ear and healed him.
And Jesus said to the chief priests and temple guards
and elders who had come for him,
Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?
Day after day I was with you in the temple area,
and you did not seize me;
but this is your hour, the time for the power of darkness.
After arresting him they led him away
and took him into the house of the high priest;
Peter was following at a distance.
They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it,
and Peter sat down with them.
When a maid saw him seated in the light,
she looked intently at him and said,
This man too was with him.
But he denied it saying,
Woman, I do not know him.
A short while later someone else saw him and said,
You too are one of them;
but Peter answered, My friend, I am not.
About an hour later, still another insisted,
Assuredly, this man too was with him,
for he also is a Galilean.
But Peter said,
My friend, I do not know what you are talking about.
Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed,
and the Lord turned and looked at Peter;
and Peter remembered the word of the Lord,
how he had said to him,
Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.
He went out and began to weep bitterly.
The men who held Jesus in custody were ridiculing and beating him.
They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying,
Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?
And they reviled him in saying many other things against him.
When day came the council of elders of the people met,
both chief priests and scribes,
and they brought him before their Sanhedrin.
They said, If you are the Christ, tell us,
but he replied to them, If I tell you, you will not believe,
and if I question, you will not respond.
But from this time on the Son of Man will be seated
at the right hand of the power of God.
They all asked, Are you then the Son of God?
He replied to them, You say that I am.
Then they said, What further need have we for testimony?
We have heard it from his own mouth.
Then the whole assembly of them arose and brought him before Pilate.
They brought charges against him, saying,
We found this man misleading our people;
he opposes the payment of taxes to Caesar
and maintains that he is the Christ, a king.
Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews?
He said to him in reply, You say so.
Pilate then addressed the chief priests and the crowds,
I find this man not guilty.
But they were adamant and said,
He is inciting the people with his teaching throughout all Judea,
from Galilee where he began even to here.
On hearing this Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean;
and upon learning that he was under Herods jurisdiction,
he sent him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at that time.
Herod was very glad to see Jesus;
he had been wanting to see him for a long time,
for he had heard about him
and had been hoping to see him perform some sign.
He questioned him at length,
but he gave him no answer.
The chief priests and scribes, meanwhile,
stood by accusing him harshly.
Herod and his soldiers treated him contemptuously and mocked him,
and after clothing him in resplendent garb,
he sent him back to Pilate.
Herod and Pilate became friends that very day,
even though they had been enemies formerly.
Pilate then summoned the chief priests, the rulers, and the people
and said to them, You brought this man to me
and accused him of inciting the people to revolt.
I have conducted my investigation in your presence
and have not found this man guilty
of the charges you have brought against him,
nor did Herod, for he sent him back to us.
So no capital crime has been committed by him.
Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.
But all together they shouted out,
Away with this man!
Release Barabbas to us.
Now Barabbas had been imprisoned for a rebellion
that had taken place in the city and for murder.
Again Pilate addressed them, still wishing to release Jesus,
but they continued their shouting,
Crucify him! Crucify him!
Pilate addressed them a third time,
What evil has this man done?
I found him guilty of no capital crime.
Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.
With loud shouts, however,
they persisted in calling for his crucifixion,
and their voices prevailed.
The verdict of Pilate was that their demand should be granted.
So he released the man who had been imprisoned
for rebellion and murder, for whom they asked,
and he handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they wished.
As they led him away
they took hold of a certain Simon, a Cyrenian,
who was coming in from the country;
and after laying the cross on him,
they made him carry it behind Jesus.
A large crowd of people followed Jesus,
including many women who mourned and lamented him.
Jesus turned to them and said,
Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me;
weep instead for yourselves and for your children
for indeed, the days are coming when people will say,
Blessed are the barren,
the wombs that never bore
and the breasts that never nursed.
At that time people will say to the mountains,
Fall upon us!
and to the hills, Cover us!
for if these things are done when the wood is green
what will happen when it is dry?
Now two others, both criminals,
were led away with him to be executed.
When they came to the place called the Skull,
they crucified him and the criminals there,
one on his right, the other on his left.
Then Jesus said,
Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.
They divided his garments by casting lots.
The people stood by and watched;
the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said,
He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.
Even the soldiers jeered at him.
As they approached to offer him wine they called out,
If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.
Above him there was an inscription that read,
This is the King of the Jews.
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us.
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply,
Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal.
Then he said,
Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
He replied to him,
Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise.
It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon
because of an eclipse of the sun.
Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.
Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
Father, into your hands I commend my spirit;
and when he had said this he breathed his last.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said,
This man was innocent beyond doubt.
When all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened,
they returned home beating their breasts;
but all his acquaintances stood at a distance,
including the women who had followed him from Galilee
and saw these events.
Now there was a virtuous and righteous man named Joseph who,
though he was a member of the council,
had not consented to their plan of action.
He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea
and was awaiting the kingdom of God.
He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
After he had taken the body down,
he wrapped it in a linen cloth
and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb
in which no one had yet been buried.
It was the day of preparation,
and the sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come from Galilee with him followed behind,
and when they had seen the tomb
and the way in which his body was laid in it,
they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils.
Then they rested on the sabbath according to the commandment.
For the past month the world has focused on the papacy perhaps more than ever before. Unfortunately, most of the commentary and reporting has tried to make sense of the papacy through the lens of worldly thinking as a mere political or power position. Of course, for a proper understanding of the office we should listen not to the world, but to Our Lord. Consider Our Lords words to St. Peter at the Last Supper: Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers (Lk 22:31-32). We have here a nice shorthand description of the papacy and its purpose.
First, Our Lord addresses Peter personally, using his given name: Simon, Simon . But He speaks about a threat to all of the apostles collectively (all of you). The fact that Jesus speaks these words to Peter individually indicates a special responsibility that Peter has for all the apostles, all disciples the entire church. Peter must be personally attentive to the threat coming against them all.
Second, Our Lord makes clear the urgency of the situation: Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat. It is a terrifying image, speaking of the evil ones power (to treat us as casually as one treats wheat) and of the disunity and division he desires. To sift means to separate and divide, even to scatter. The devil seeks to do this to the apostles to scatter them, each one from the other. And he accomplishes this in the Garden of Gethsemane: They all left him and fled (Mk 14:50).
After this dire prophecy, Jesus then gives Peter a promise and a commission. First, the promise: I have prayed that your own faith may not fail. We know that Peters love failed, that he denied Jesus three times. But his faith enjoyed the promised protection of Our Lords prayers for which reason he was able to repent and ask forgiveness. Again, Our Lord singles out Peter for this privilege. But because every gift also brings a task, Our Lord immediately gives the commission: Once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers. Peters privileged faith is not for his own benefit but to be placed at the service of the apostles, indeed of the entire church.
This, then, is the lens through which we should view the office of the pope. First, we take stock of the threats around us. The church faces tremendous trials martyrdom in Africa and Asia, political pressure in the United States, secularization throughout the world. Satan has indeed demanded to sift all of us like wheat. He wants to bring disunity and disintegration to the body of believers and likewise to sift us individually, introducing division and dissolution into each of us.
The papacy is established for just such times because faith must endure and the brethren must be strengthened. The pope is granted tremendous privilege and authority in the church. He is the visible sign of unity, the head of the church on earth. But his privileges are at the service of the brothers, of all the faithful. So let the world spin its wheels trying to get the real angle on supposed power politics. We will pray for the fulfillment of Our Lords words: that our Holy Fathers faith not fail, and that he strengthen the brethren.
Fr. Scalia is Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverdes delegate for clergy.
Year C- Palm Sunday
Blessed be the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory on high! Hossana in the highest.Luke 19:28-4028 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary |
The Passion which we read in todays liturgy is too long to comment on in detail. We are only able to take a portion and examine it.
The usual villains such as the Temple leaders, Judas, and the recruited crowd, which shouted Crucify him! are fairly obvious in displaying their sinfulness and are unambiguously wicked.
But there are others who participate in the Passion accounts whose sinfulness, struggles and neglect are more subtle, but still real and contribute significantly to the Lords sufferings on Good Friday. It is, perhaps, in these figures that we can learn a great deal about ourselves. For while we may not overtly shout crucify, we are often not as holy and heroic as the persecutors were wicked and bold.
As these behaviors are noted, we must understand that WE do these things. For the Passion accounts are not merely portraits of people long gone, they are portraits of you and me. We do these things.
So, lets look at sins and weaknesses of Jesus followers (us) in three stages.
I. The Perception that is Partial In the middle of the Last Supper, in todays Gospel the disciples of Jesus are reminded of what the next days will hold. Jesus says,
I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the Kingdom of God
for the Son of Man indeed goes as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed
..It is you who have stood by me in my trials;
and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
But note that the apostles are reminded of these facts of Jesus coming sufferings in the context of future glory. Yes, He will suffer, but so as to usher in a Kingdom. Jesus does not merely preach the Cross, he preaches the glory that comes from this cross. He does it here, and he has said this to them before on a few occasions. For example:
Thus we see that the Lord has consistently tried to teach and prepare them for the difficulties ahead. He has told them exactly what is going to happen, AND, how it will end: NOT in death, but rising to new life, not in defeat but the ushering in of a new Kingdom, of light over and against the kingdom of darkness.
But though he has told them over and over, they still do not understand or see. They will be overwhelmed by the cross and all of the (except John) will flee.
Why? For their perception is partial and they will see only the negative, and forget that he has promised to rise. Since they cannot see beyond the apparent defeat of the moment they will retreat into fear and not boldly and confidently accompany him to his passion and glorification (for his passion IS is lifting up, his glorification). Instead they will flee. He has shown the what the end shall be. But they cannot see or accept it. Thus fear overwhelms them and draw back into a sinful fear and disassociation from Jesus.
Only a few, Mary his Mother, John, Magdalene, and a few other women would see him through to the end.
We too can easily suffer from a perception that is partial. For the Lord has often told us, that if we trust, our struggles will end in glory and new life. But, blind and forgetful, we give way to our fears and fail to boldly walk the way of Christs passion. We draw back and disassociate ourselves from Jesus and exhibit some of the same tendencies and problems we will now observe in the people of that day.
So lets examine some of the problems that emerge from the partial perception and forgetful fear of many of the disciples and others.
II. The Problems Presented - The problems that emerge are at least five. They are unhealthy and sinful patterns that emerge from the fear generated in not trusting Jesus vision and refusing to see it. We can consider them one by one. Please understand that the word we used here is shorthand and does not mean that every single person does this. Rather, it means that, collectively, we have these tendencies. But no need to take everything here personally.
A. DEBATES and DISTRACTIONS The scene of the Last Supper is as disgraceful as it is sad. Jesus has just announced that he will be betrayed. And rather than focus on the common enemy and threat, the apostles get into a debate among themselves about who is the greatest. In the midst of this debate Judas is able to slip away.
We too often permit our common enemy, Satan, to go untouched, while we debate and posture and among ourselves. We dont even lay a glove on him since we are too busy fighting each other. We squabble over power, prestige and possessions.
Within the Church we argue over liturgy, vestments and styles of music, who has power or prominence, who is in what wing of the Church etc. We spend endless energy arguing over the significance of the Pope wearing red shoes and ermine or not, and Judas (Satan) goes about unhindered. Meanwhile we have lost the culture. Satan has shredded our families, schools, and other key institutions. He slips away unharmed. And we argue over polyester vestments.
Our distractions and debates gravely harm our capacity to focus on pushing back the kingdom of darkness. In Johns account as Judas slips away, John writes simply, It was night.
And so it is night in our culture. And it has become so very dark on our watch, as we are distracted by endless debates about things that are secondary. Satan s lips away into the darkening night of our culture and great harm has come while we debate on. We are endlessly distracted while our enemy goes forth unhindered.
B. DROWSY - One of the common human techniques for dealing with stress and the hardships of life is to just go numb and drowsy. We can just doze off into a moral sleep.
Being vigilant to threats posed to our souls by sin, or the harm caused by injustice, (whether to ourselves or others) is just too stressful. So we just tune out. We stop noting or really even caring about critically important matters.
We anesthetize ourselves with things like creature comforts, meaningless distractions, alcohol or drugs. We go into a kind of moral sleep and we begin to lack a prayerful vigilance. Prayer and spirituality pose too many uncomfortable questions.
So we just tune out and daydream about meaningless things like what a certain Hollywood star is doing, or what the latest sports stats are.
In the passion accounts, Peter, James and John are personally asked by the Lord to pray with him. But they doze. Perhaps it is the wine. Surely it is the flesh (for the Lord speaks of it). But unwilling or unable to deal with the stress the Lord is clearly under, they just tune out, go numb, and doze off.
Grave evil is at the very door. But they sleep on. The Lord warns them to stay awake, lest they give way to temptation. But still they sleep. Someone they know and love is in grave danger, but it is too much, so they just tune out, much as we tune out at the overwhelming suffering of Christ in the poor and needy. We just stop noticing. Its too painful, so we tune out.
The Lord had often warned them to be vigilant, sober and alert (Mk 13:34, Matt 25:13, Mk 13:37; Matt 24:42; Luke 21:36, inter al). Other scriptures would later pick up the theme (Romans 13:11; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Thess 5:6, inter al). For drowsiness is a significant and serious spiritual problem.
Sadly God described us well when he remarked to Isaiah: Israels watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. (Is 56:10)
But, despite the sleepiness of the disciples, the wicked are still awake, and the threat does not go away by a drowsy inattentiveness to it. Thus we ought to be confident and sober. Lifes challenges are nothing to fear, for the Lord has told us we have already won, if we trust him. But the disciples have forgotten Jesus promise to rise after three days. And so, often, have we. So they, and we just give way to stress and tune out.
C. DISASSOCIATING - Peter, confronted with the fearful prospect of being condemned with Jesus denies that he knows him or is one of his followers. He disassociates himself from Christ.
We too, confronted with the possibility of far lesser things like ridicule, will often deny a connection with the Lord or with the Church. Someone might say of one of the more controversial passages of scripture (such as prohibitions on divorce, fornication, homosexual activity, commands to tithe, etc), Oh, you dont really believe that, do you? And its too easy to give way to fear and either say no or to qualify our belief. Why suffer ridicule, endure further questioning, or experience the unpleasantry of debate?
So we just disassociate, compromise, or qualify our faith to avoid the stress. We even congratulate ourselves for being tolerant, etc. when we do it.
Jesus says, If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Fathers glory with the holy angels. (Mat 16:21).
But too easily we ARE ashamed. And so, like Peter, we engage in some form of denial. Peter was afraid because he has forgotten to see what the end shall be. He has forgotten that Jesus will rise after three days. So too do we often forget that. So we lack confidence and give way to fear, and we deny, so as to avoid suffering with Jesus.
D. DODGING Simply put, when Jesus is arrested, all the disciples except John split. They get the heck out of Dodge. They are nowhere to be found. One of them, (could it be Mark himself?) ran off naked.
After Jesus arrest, it is said that Peter, prior to his own denials had followed the Lord, at a distance (Mk 14:54) but as soon as trouble rose, he too scrammed.
And we too can run. Sometimes its persecutions from the world. But sometimes its just our own self-generated fear that following the Lord is too hard, and involves too many sacrifices we are just not willing to make. Maybe it will endanger our money since the Lord insists that we tithe and be generous to the poor. Maybe it will endanger our playboy lifestyle since the Lord insists on chastity and respect. Maybe we are doing something we have no business doing, that is unjust, excessive or sinful. But, rather than face our fears, whether from within or without, we just high-tail it out.
The disciples forgot that Jesus has shown them what the end shall be. In three days he would win the victory. But, this forgotten, their fears emerged and they ran. We too, must see what the end shall be to resist and confront our many fears.
E. DEFLECTING Now in this case our example is Pontius Pilate, not one of the disciples. But the fact is that Pilate was summoned to faith, just like anyone else. Are you a King? he asked Jesus. And Jesus responds by putting Pilate on trial: You say so. In other words, It is you who have said these words. Do you think they are true?
The fact is, Pilate has a choice to make. Either he will accept what Jesus is saying as true, or he will give way to fear and commit a terrible sin of injustice.
In order to avoid making a stance Pilate sends Jesus to Herod. But Herod deflects as well. Now the texts all make it clear that Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. But, because he feared the crowds he handed Jesus over.
Now, note PILATE did this. The crowds tempted him through fear, but HE did the condemning. The text says, The verdict of Pilate was that the demand of the crowd should be granted. Matthews account has him say, I am innocent of this mans blood, he said. It is your responsibility! (Mat 16:21).
Well, actually Pilate, it is also YOUR responsibility. You had a choice and you made. Your own career and hide were more important that justice. And, though you wanted to do what was right and were sympathetic with Jesus, merely wanting to do what is right is not enough.
So too for us. We also will favor our career or hide over what is right. And in so doing we will often blame others for what we freely choose. I am not responsible, my mother dropped me on my head when I was two .etc.
In effect we are often willing to say, Look Jesus, I love you. You get my Sundays, and my tithe and, generally I obey you. But you have to understand, I have a career, I need to make money for my family. If I really stand up for what is right, I might not make it in this world. You understand, dont you? I know the company is doing some things that are unjust, I know the world needs a clearer witness from me .and Ill do all that, after I retire. But for now ..well, you know. Its really may boss whose to blame. Its this old hell bound sin soaked world thats to blame. Not me! And we wash our hands and excuse our silence and inaction in the face of injustice and sin.
And all this is done in fear. We placate the crowd and give them what they want.
We forget what the end shall be and get focused on the fearful present. We lack the vision Jesus is trying to give us that in three days we will rise with him. But we stay blind to that and only see the threat of now.
III. The Path that is Prescribed OK, by now you ought to know the path that is prescribed: See what the end shall be! In three days we rise! Why are we afraid? Jesus has already won the victory. It is true, we get there through the cross. But, never forget what the end shall be! Today we read the Gospel of Friday, but wait till Sunday morning! Ill rise!
We end where we began with this gospel: and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Yes, after he has been raised, Jesus will go before us into Galilee. And for us, Galilee is heaven. Whatever our sorrows, if we are faithful we will see Jesus in the Galilee of heaven. Never forget this vision. After three days we will rise with him and be reunited in Galilee. One day we will reign with him, if we hold out and journey to Galilee.
So take courage, see what the end shall be! The end for those who are faithful is total victory. We dont need to drowse, destroy, deny, dodge and deflect. Weve already won. All we need to do is hold out.
An old Gospel songs says, I promised the Lord that I would hold out! He said hes meet me in Galilee! So hold out, Galilee is not far, in three days we rise with him.
14 And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him.
15 And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer;
16 for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."
17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves;
18 for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
20 And likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
21 But behold the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.
22 For the Son of man goes as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!"
23 And they began to question one another, which of them it was that would do this.
24 A dispute also arose among them, which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.
25 And he said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors.
26 But not so with you; rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.
27 For which is the greater, one who sits at table, or one who serves? Is it not the one who sits at table? But I am among you as one who serves.
28 "You are those who have continued with me in my trials;
29 and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom,
30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren."
33 And he said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."
34 He said, "I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you three times deny that you know me."
35 And he said to them, "When I sent you out with no purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing."
36 He said to them, "But now, let him who has a purse take it, and likewise a bag. And let him who has no sword sell his mantle and buy one.
37 For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, 'And he was reckoned with transgressors'; for what is written about me has its fulfilment."
38 And they said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." And he said to them, "It is enough."
39 And he came out, and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him.
40 And when he came to the place he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."
41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed,
42 "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,
46 and he said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."
47 While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him;
48 but Jesus said to him, "Judas, would you betray the Son of man with a kiss?"
49 And when those who were about him saw what would follow, they said, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?"
50 And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
51 But Jesus said, "No more of this!" And he touched his ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?
53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house. Peter followed at a distance;
55 and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.
56 Then a maid, seeing him as he sat in the light and gazing at him, said, "This man also was with him."
57 But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him."
58 And a little later some one else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not."
59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, "Certainly this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean."
60 But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are saying." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed.
61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times."
62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
63 Now the men who were holding Jesus mocked him and beat him;
64 they also blindfolded him and asked him, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?"
65 And they spoke many other words against him, reviling him.
66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and they led him away to their council, and they said,
67 "If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe;
68 and if I ask you, you will not answer.
69 But from now on the Son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God."
70 And they all said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" And he said to them, "You say that I am."
71 And they said, "What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips."
23:1 Then the whole company of them arose, and brought him before Pilate.
2 And they began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king."
3 And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so."
4 And Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, "I find no crime in this man."
5 But they were urgent, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place."
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.
7 And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.
8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.
9 So he questioned him at some length; but he made no answer.
10 The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.
11 And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then, arraying him in gorgeous apparel, he sent him back to Pilate.
12 And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.
13 Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
14 and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him;
15 neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him;
16 I will therefore chastise him and release him."
18 But they all cried out together, "Away with this man, and release to us Barab'bas" --
19 a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city, and for murder.
20 Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus;
21 but they shouted out, "Crucify, crucify him!"
22 A third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no crime deserving death; I will therefore chastise him and release him."
23 But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed.
24 So Pilate gave sentence that their demand should be granted.
25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, whom they asked for; but Jesus he delivered up to their will.
26 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.
27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him.
28 But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!'
30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.'
31 For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.
33 And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments.
35 And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!"
36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar,
37 and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"
38 There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41 And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."
42 And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,
45 while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.
47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, and said, "Certainly this man was innocent!"
48 And all the multitudes who assembled to see the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.
49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance and saw these things.
50 Now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathe'a. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man,
51 who had not consented to their purpose and deed, and he was looking for the kingdom of God.
52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud, and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid.
54 It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.
55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid;
56 then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
The passion that Jesus has gone through demonstrates how the power on earth will reign and have its victory over our earthly life, but strong and prepared spirits will make their way through and have the true victory of getting to the Kingdom of God.
« Hosanna ! Blessed is the Kingdom that is to come ! » (Mk 11,9-10)
Brethren, let us celebrate today the coming of our King, let us go before him since he is also our God... Let us lift up our hearts to God and not quench our spirits, let us light our lamps with joy and change the clothing of our souls. Let us take palms in our hands like victors and, like the common people, acclaim him with the crowd. With the children let us sing with a childlike heart: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!... On this very day he enters Jerusalem; the cross is made ready once more, Adam's bond is obliterated; once more paradise is opened and the thief is taken in; once more the Church makes festival...
He is not coming accompanied by the invisible powers of heaven and legions of angels; nor is he seated on a throne lifted high and raised up, overshadowed by the wings of seraphim, with a chariot of fire and beings with numerous eyes, making everything shake with terrifying displays and the sound of trumpets. He comes concealed in human nature. It is a coming of goodness, not justice; of pardon, not reprisal. He appears, not in his Father's glory but in his mother's humility. Zechariah, the prophet, foretold this coming in former times; he summoned all creation to rejoice...: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion! It was the very word the Archangel Gabriel had declared to the Virgin: Rejoice!..., the same message, too, that our Savior announced to the holy women after his resurrection: Rejoice...
Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king is coming to you; a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass... What does that mean? He does not come in splendor like every other king. He comes in the condition of a servant, of a loving bridegroom, a most gentle lamb, a dewdrop on the fleece, a sheep led to the slaughter, an innocent lamb taken to sacrifice... Today the children of the Hebrews run before him, offering their olive branches to him who is merciful and, with joy, welcoming death's conqueror with palms. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
(Biblical references : 1Th 5,19; Mt 25,7; Mt 21,15; Col 2,14; Lk 23,43; Ez 1,4f.; Ex 19, 16s; Zec 9,9; Lk 1,28; Mt 28,9 Gk; Ph 2,7; Jn 1,29; Jg 6,37; Jr 11,19; Is 53,7)
Sunday, March 24, 2013 Palm Sunday of the Lords Passion |
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Just A Minute (Listen) Some of EWTN's most popular hosts and guests in a collection of one minute inspirational messages. A different message each time you click. |
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The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.
Amen. |
From: Luke 19:28-40 (At the Procession with Palms)
The Messiah enters the Holy City
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
28. Normally in the Gospels when there is mention of going to the Holy City it is
in terms of “going up” to Jerusalem (cf. Mt 20:18; Jn 7:8), probably because geo-
graphically the city is located on Mount Zion. Besides, since the temple was the
religious and political centre, going up to Jerusalem had also a sacred meaning
of ascending to the holy place, where sacrifices were offered to God.
Particularly in the Gospel of St Luke, our Lord’s whole life is seen in terms of a
continuous ascent towards Jerusalem, where his self-surrender reaches its high
point in the redemptive sacrifice of the cross. Here Jesus is on the point of ente-
ring the city, conscious of the fact that his passion and death are imminent.
30-35. Jesus makes use of a donkey for his entry into Jerusalem, thereby fulfil-
ling an ancient prophecy: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O
daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is
he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass” (Zech 9:9).
The people, and particularly the Pharisees, were quite aware of this prophecy.
Therefore, despite its simplicity of form, there was a certain solemnity about the
whole episode which impressed those present, stirring the hearts of the people
and irritating the Pharisees. By fulfilling the prophecy our Lord was showing eve-
ryone that he was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. Other aspects
of this episode are commented on in connexion with Mk 11:3.
38. Christ is greeted with the prophetic words referring to the enthronement of the
Messiah, contained in Psalm 118:26: “Blessed be he who enters in the name of
the Lord!” But the people also acclaim him as king. This is a great messianic
demonstration, which infuriates the Pharisees. One of the acclamations, “Peace
in heaven and glory in the highest”, echoes the announcement made by the an-
gel to the shepherds on Christmas night (cf. Lk 2:14).
40. To the reproaches of the Pharisees, who are scandalized by the people’s
shouts, our Lord replies in a phrase which sounds like a proverb: so obvious is
his messiahship that if men refused to recognize it nature would proclaim it. In
fact, when his friends were cowed on the hill of Calvary the earth trembled and
the rocks split (cf. Mt 27:51). At other times our Lord imposed silence on those
who want to proclaim him King or Messiah, but now he adopts a different atti-
tude: the moment has come for his dignity and his mission to be made public.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Isaiah 50:4-7
Third Song of the Servant of the Lord
[7] For the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; there-
fore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
50:4-9. The second song dealt with the servants mission (cf. 49:6); the third
song focuses on the servant himself. The term “servant” as such does not
appear here, and therefore some commentators read the passage as being a
description of a prophet and not part of the songs. Still, the context (cf. 50:10)
does suggest that the protagonist is the servant. The poem is neatly construc-
ted in three stanzas, each beginning with the words, “The Lord God” (vv. 4, 5, 7),
and it has a conclusion containing that same wording (v. 9). The first stanza em-
phasizes the servants docility to the word of God; that is, he is not depicted as
a self-taught teacher with original ideas, but as an obedient disciple. The second
(vv. 5-6) speaks of the suffering that that docility has brought him, without his ut-
tering a word of complaint. The third (vv. 7-8) shows how determined the servant
is: if he suffers in silence, it is not out of cowardice but because God helps him
and makes him stronger than his persecutors. The conclusion (v. 9) is like the
verdict of a trial: when all is said and done, the servant will stand tall, and all his
enemies will be struck down.
The evangelists saw the words of this song as finding fulfillment in Jesus — espe-
cially what the song has to say about the suffering and silent fortitude of the ser-
vant. The Gospel of John, for example, quotes Nicodemus acknowledgment of
Christs wisdom: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no
one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him” (Jn 3:21). But the
description of the servants sufferings was the part that most impressed the ear-
ly Christians; that part of the song was recalled when they meditated on the pas-
sion of Jesus and how “they spat in his face; and struck him; and some slapped
him” (Mt 26:67) and later how the Roman soldiers “spat upon him, and took the
reed and struck him on the head” (Mt 27:30; cf. also Mk 15:19; Jn 19:3). St Paul
refers to v. 9 when applying to Christ Jesus the role of intercessor on behalf of
the elect in the suit pressed constantly against them by the enemies of the soul:
“Who shall bring any charge against Gods elect?” (Rom 8:33).
St Jerome sees the servants docility as a reference to Christ: “His self-discipline
and wisdom enabled him to communicate to us the knowledge of the Father. And
he was obedient onto death, death on the cross; he offered his body to the blows
they struck, his shoulders to the lash; and though he was wounded on the chest
and on his face, he did not try to turn away and escape their violence” (”Commen-
tarii In Isaiam”, 50, 4). This passage is used in the liturgy of Palm Sunday (along
with Psalm 22 and St Pauls hymn in the Letter to the Philippians 2:6-11), before
the reading of our Lords passion.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Philippians 2:6-11
Hymn in Praise of Christ’s Self-Emptying
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
5. The Apostle’s recommendation, “’Have this mind among yourselves, which
was in Christ Jesus, requires all Christians, so far as human power allows, to re-
produce in themselves the sentiments that Christ had when He was offering Him-
self in sacrifice—sentiments of humility, of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving to
the divine majesty. It requires them also to become victims, as it were; cultiva-
ting a spirit of self-denial according to the precepts of the Gospel, willingly doing
works of penance, detesting and expiating their sins. It requires us all, in a word,
to die mystically with Christ on the Cross, so that we may say with the same
Apostle: ‘I have been crucified with Christ’ (Galatians 2:19)” (Pius XII, “Mediator
Dei”, 22).
6-11. In what he says about Jesus Christ, the Apostle is not simply proposing
Him as a model for us to follow. Possibly transcribing an early liturgical hymn
(and) adding some touches of his own, he is — under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit — giving a very profound exposition of the nature of Christ and using the
most sublime truths of faith to show the way Christian virtues should be prac-
ticed.
This is one of the earliest New Testament texts to reveal the divinity of Christ.
The epistle was written around the year 62 (or perhaps before that, around 55)
and if we remember that the hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 may well have been in
use prior to that date, the passage clearly bears witness to the fact that Chris-
tians were proclaiming, even in those very early years, that Jesus, born in Beth-
lehem, crucified, died and buried, and risen from the dead, was truly both God
and man.
The hymn can be divided into three parts. The first (verses 6 and the beginning
of 7) refers to Christ’s humbling Himself by becoming man. The second (the end
of verse 7 and verse 8) is the center of the whole passage and proclaims the ex-
treme to which His humility brought Him: as man He obediently accepted death
on the cross. The third part (verses 9-11) describes His exaltation in glory.
Throughout St. Paul is conscious of Jesus’ divinity: He exists from all eternity.
But he centers his attention on His death on the cross as the supreme example
of humility. Christ’s humiliation lay not in His becoming a man like us and cloa-
king the glory of His divinity in His sacred humanity: it also brought Him to lead
a life of sacrifice and suffering which reached its climax on the cross, where He
was stripped of everything He had, like a slave. However, now that He has ful-
filled His mission, He is made manifest again, clothed in all the glory that befits
His divine nature and which His human nature has merited.
The man-God, Jesus Christ, makes the cross the climax of His earthly life;
through it He enters into His glory as Lord and Messiah. The Crucifixion puts
the whole universe on the way to salvation.
Jesus Christ gives us a wonderful example of humility and obedience. “We
should learn from Jesus’ attitude in these trials,” St. Escriva reminds us. “During
His life on earth He did not even want the glory that belonged to Him. Though He
had the right to be treated as God, He took the form of a servant, a slave (cf. Phi-
lippians 2:6-7). And so the Christian knows that all glory is due God and that he
must not use the sublimity and greatness of the Gospel to further his own inte-
rests or human ambitions.
“We should learn from Jesus. His attitude in rejecting all human glory is in per-
fect balance with the greatness of His unique mission as the beloved Son of
God who becomes incarnate to save men” (”Christ Is Passing By”, 62).
6-7. “Though He was in the form of God” or “subsisting in the form of God”:
“form” is the external aspect of something and manifests what it is. When refer-
ring to God, who is invisible, His “form” cannot refer to things visible to the sen-
ses; the “form of God” is a way of referring to Godhead. The first thing that St.
Paul makes clear is that Jesus Christ is God, and was God before the Incarna-
tion. As the “Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed” professes it, “the only-begotten
Son of God, born of the Father before time began, light from light, true God from
true God.”
“He did not count equality with God as something to be grasped”: the Greek
word translated as “equality” does not directly refer to equality of nature but ra-
ther the equality of rights and status. Christ was God and He could not stop
being God; therefore, He had a right to be treated as God and to appear in all
His glory. However, He did not insist on this dignity of His as if it were a treasure
which He possessed and which was legally His: it was not something He clung
to and boasted about. And so He took “the form of a servant”. He could have
become man without setting His glory aside — He could have appeared as He
did, momentarily, as the Transfiguration (cf. Matthew 17:1ff); instead He chose
to be like men, in all things but sin (cf. verse 7). By becoming man in the way
He did, He was able, as Isaiah prophesied in the Song of the Servant of Yah-
weh, to bear our sorrows and to be stricken (cf. Isaiah 53:4).
“He emptied Himself”, He despoiled Himself: this is literally what the Greek verb
means. But Christ did not shed His divine nature; He simply shed its glory, its
aura; if He had not done so it would have shone out through His human nature.
From all eternity He exists as God and from the moment of the Incarnation He
began to be man. His self-emptying lay not only in the fact that the Godhead
united to Himself (that is, to the person of the Son) something which was cor-
poreal and finite (a human nature), but also in the fact that this nature did not it-
self manifest the divine glory, as it “ought” to have done. Christ could not cease
to be God, but He could temporarily renounce the exercise of rights that be-
longed to Him as God—which was what He did.
Verses 6-8 bring the Christian’s mind the contrast between Jesus and Adam.
The devil tempted Adam, a mere man, to “be like God” (Genesis 3:5). By trying
to indulge this evil desire (pride is a disordered desire for self-advancement) and
by committing the sin of disobeying God (cf. Genesis 3:6), Adam drew down the
gravest misfortunes upon himself and on his whole line (present potentially in
him): this is symbolized in the Genesis passage by his expulsion from Paradise
and by the physical world’s rebellion against his lordship (cf. Genesis 3:16-24).
Jesus Christ, on the contrary, who enjoyed divine glory from all eternity, “emptied
Himself”: He chooses the way of humility, the opposite way to Adam’s (opposite,
too, to the way previously taken by the devil). Christ’s obedience thereby makes
up for the disobedience of the first man; it puts mankind in a position to more
than recover the natural and supernatural gifts with which God endowed human
nature at the Creation. And so, after focusing on the amazing mystery of Christ’s
humiliation or self-emptying (”kenosis” in Greek), this hymn goes on joyously to
celebrate Christ’s exaltation after death.
Christ’s attitude in becoming man is, then, a wonderful example of humility.
“What is more humble”, St. Gregory of Nyssa asks, “than the King of all crea-
tion entering into communion with our poor nature? The King of kings and Lord of
lords clothes Himself with the form of our enslavement; the Judge of the universe
comes to pay tribute to the princes of this world; the Lord of creation is born in a
cave; He who encompasses the world cannot find room in the inn...; the pure and
incorrupt one puts on the filthiness of our nature and experiences all our needs,
experiences even death itself” (”Oratio I In Beatitudinibus”).
This self-emptying is an example of God’s infinite goodness in taking the initiative
to meet man: “Fill yourselves with wonder and gratitude at such a mystery and
learn from it. All the power, all the majesty, all the beauty, all the infinite harmony
of God, all His great and immeasurable riches. God whole and entire was hidden
for our benefit in the humanity of Christ. The Almighty appears determined to ec-
lipse His glory for a time, so as to make it easy for His creatures to approach
their Redeemer.” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 111).
8. Jesus Christ became man “for us men and for our salvation”, we profess in the
Creed. Everything He did in the course of His life had a salvific value; His death
on the cross represents the climax of His redemptive work for, as St. Gregory of
Nyssa says, “He did not experience death due to the fact of being born; rather,
He took birth upon Himself in order to die” (”Oratio Catechetica Magna”, 32).
Our Lord’s obedience to the Father’s saving plan, involving as it did death on the
cross, gives us the best of all lessons in humility. For, in the words of St. Tho-
mas Aquinas, “obedience is the sign of true humility” (”Commentary on Phil.,
ad loc.”). In St. Paul’s time death by crucifixion was the most demeaning form
of death, for it was inflicted only on criminals. By becoming obedient “unto death,
even death on a cross”, Jesus was being humble in the extreme. He was perfect-
ly within His rights to manifest Himself in all His divine glory, but He chose in-
stead the route leading to the most ignominious of deaths.
His obedience, moreover, was not simply a matter of submitting to the Father’s
will, for, as St. Paul points out, He made Himself obedient: His obedience was
active; He made the Father’s salvific plans His own. He chose voluntarily to give
Himself up to crucifixion in order to redeem mankind. “Debasing oneself when
one is forced to do so is not humility”, St. John Chrysostom explains; “humility
is present when one debases oneself without being obliged to do so” (”Hom. on
Phil., ad loc.”).
Christ’s self-abasement and his obedience unto death reveals His love for us, for
“greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
(John 15:13). His loving initiative merits a loving response on our part: we should
show that we desire to be one with Him, for love “seeks union, identification with
the beloved. United to Christ, we will be drawn to imitate His life of dedication,
His unlimited love and His sacrifice unto death. Christ brings us face to face with
the ultimate choice: either we spend our life in selfish isolation, or we devote our-
selves and all our energies to the service of others” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of
God”, 236).
9-11. “God highly exalted Him”: the Greek compounds the notion of exaltation,
to indicate the immensity of His glorification. Our Lord Himself foretold this when
He said, “He who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
Christ’s sacred humanity was glorified as a reward for His humiliation. The
Church’s Magisterium teaches that Christ’s glorification affects his human nature
only, for “in the form of God the Son was equal to the Father, and between the
Begetter and the Only-begotten there was no difference in essence, no difference
in majesty; nor did the Word, through the mystery of incarnation, lose anything
which the Father might later return to Him as a gift” (St. Leo the Great, “Promi-
sisse Me Memini”, Chapter 8). Exaltation is public manifestation of the glory
which belongs to Christ’s humanity by virtue of its being joined to the divine per-
son of the Word. This union to the “form of a servant” (cf. verse 7) meant an im-
mense act of humility on the part of the Son, but it led to the exaltation of the
human nature He took on.
For the Jews the “name that is above every name” is the name of God (Yahweh),
which the Mosaic Law required to be held in particular awe. Also, they regarded
a name given to someone, especially if given by God, as not just a way of refer-
ring to a person but as expressing something that belonged to the very core of
his personality. Therefore, the statement that God “bestowed on Him the name
which is above every name” means that God the Father gave Christ’s human na-
ture the capacity to manifest the glory of divinity which was His by virtue of the
hypostatic union: therefore, it is to be worshipped by the entire universe.
St. Paul describes the glorification of Jesus Christ in terms similar to those used
by the prophet Daniel of the Son of Man: “To Him was given dominion and glory
and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve His Kingdom,
one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). Christ’s lordship extends to all
created things. Sacred Scripture usually speaks of “heaven and earth” when re-
ferring to the entire created universe; by mentioning here the underworld it is em-
phasizing that nothing escapes His dominion. Jesus Christ can here be seen as
the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy about the universal sovereignty of Yahweh:
“To Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isaiah 45:23). All crea-
ted things come under His sway, and men are duty-bound to accept the basic
truth of Christian teaching: “Jesus Christ is Lord.” The Greek word “Kyrios” used
here by St. Paul is the word used by the Septuagint, the early Greek version of
the Old Testament, to translate the name of God (”Yahweh”). Therefore, this
sentence means “Jesus Christ is God.”
The Christ proclaimed here as having been raised on high is the man-God who
was born and died for our sake, attaining the glory of His exaltation after under-
going the humiliation of the cross. In this also Christ sets us an example: we
cannot attain the glory of Heaven unless we understand the supernatural value
of difficulties, ill-health and suffering: these are manifestations of Christ’s cross
present in our ordinary life. “We have to die to ourselves and be born again to
a new life. Jesus Christ obeyed in this way, even unto death on a cross (Philip-
pians 2:18); that is why God exalted Him. If we obey God’s will, the cross will
mean our own resurrection and exaltation. Christ’s life will be fulfilled step by
step in our own lives. It will be said of us that we have tried to be good children
of God, who went about doing good in spite of our weakness and personal short-
comings, no matter how many” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 21).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Luke 22:14-23:56
(The shorter Passion reading is Luke 23:1-49.)
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke
The institution of the Eucharist
The treachery of Judas foretold
A dispute among the apostles
[28] “You are those who have continued with me in my trials; [29] and I assign to
you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, [30] that you may eat and drink
at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Peter’s denial foretold
Appeal to the apostles
Jesus’ prayer and agony in the garden
The arrest of Jesus
Peter’s denials
Jesus abused by the guards
Jesus before the chief priests
Jesus before Pilate
Jesus before Herod
Jesus is condemned to death
[18] But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Ba-
rabbas” — [19] a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started
in the city, and for murder. [20] Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to re-
lease Jesus; [21] but they shouted out, “Crucify, crucify him!” [22] A third time
he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no crime de-
serving death; I will therefore chastise him and release him.” [23] But they were
urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices
prevailed. [24] So Pilate gave sentence that their demand should be granted. [25]
He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder,
whom they asked for; but Jesus he delivered up to their will.
The crucifixion and death of Jesus
[39] One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not
the Christ? Save yourself and us!” [40] But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do
you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? [41]
And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this
man has done nothing wrong.” [42] And he said, “Jesus, remember me when
you come into your kingdom.” [43] And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, to-
day you will be with me in Paradise.”
[44] It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land
until the ninth hour, [45] while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple
was torn in two. [46] Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy
hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. [47] Now
when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, and said, “Cer-
tainly this man was innocent!” [48] And all the multitudes who assembled to see
the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their
breasts. [49] And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him
from Galilee stood at a distance and saw these things.
The burial
On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
1-38. These verses report the events immediately prior to our Lord’s passion,
events rich in meaning. The three Synoptic Gospels all give more or less the
same account, but St Luke omits certain details and adds others which fill out
Mark’s or Matthew’s account. Take, for example, the reporting of the institution
of the Eucharist: while being substantially the same in the three Synoptics and
often word for word, the Matthew and Mark accounts (cf. Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:
22-25) are quite different from that of Luke taken together with the First Letter to
the Corinthians (cf. Lk 22:15-20; 1 Cor 11:23-25).
1. The feast of the Passover, the most solemn of all the Jewish feasts, was ins-
tituted by God to commemorate the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and to
remind them of their former slavery from which he saved them (Deut 16:3). It be-
gan with the passover supper on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month
of Nisan (March-April), a little after sundown, and went on until 22 Nisan, the
feast of the unleavened bread. The Mosaic Law laid down (Ex 12:15-20) that on
the evening of 14 Nisan the Jews had to remove any trace of leaven from their
houses and eat unleavened bread for the duration of the feast — reminding them
that when the moment came to leave Egypt they had to leave in such a hurry
that they had no time to prepare leavened bread to take with them (Ex 12:34).
All this was a prefigurement of the renewal which Christ would bring about:
“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are un-
leavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore,
celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7-8).
3-6. Even prior to the Passion, one can sense that the behaviour of Jesus’ ene-
mies was being orchestrated by the spirit of evil, Satan. This is particularly true
where Judas is concerned. Corrupt human will alone cannot explain the torrent
of hatred unleashed against Jesus.
The passion of our Lord marks the climax of the struggle between God and the
powers of evil. After the third temptation in the desert the devil “departed from
him until an opportune time” (Lk 4:13). The time has now come: it is the hour of
Christ’s enemies and of the power of darkness (cf. Lk 22:53), and it is also the
hour of God’s definitive victory, for he “decreed that man should be saved through
the wood of the cross. The tree of man’s defeat became his tree of victory; where
life was lost, there life has been restored” (”Roman Missal”, Preface of the Tri-
umph of the Cross).
7-13. This scene took place on 14 Nisan. Every Israelite was familiar with the
details of preparations for the Passover: it involved a rite which Jewish tradition,
based on God-given regulations contained in the Law of Moses (cf. the note on
Lk 22:1), had spelt out in minute detail — the unleavened loaves, bitter herbs,
and the lamb to be sacrificed in the courtyard of the temple in the late afternoon.
Peter and John, therefore, were perfectly acquainted with all these details; the
only enquiry concerns where the supper is to be held, and our Lord tells them
exactly how to find the place.
The disciples think that all that is involved is the Passover meal; but Jesus is
also thinking about the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the
New Alliance, which will take the place of the sacrifices of the Old Testament.
14. The Last Supper is beginning, the meal at which our Lord is going to institute
the Holy Eucharist, a mystery of faith and love: “We must therefore approach this
mystery, above all, with humble reverence, not following human arguments, which
ought to be hushed, but in steadfast adherence to divine revelation” (Paul VI, “My-
sterium fidei”).
15. St John, the beloved disciple, sums up in a single phrase the sentiments wel-
ling up in Jesus’ soul at the Last Supper: “when Jesus knew that his hour had
come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in
the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). Our Lord expresses his burning
desire to spend the hours prior to his death with those whom he loves most on
earth and, as happens when people are taking leave of their nearest and dearest,
very affectionate words are exchanged (cf. Theophylact, “Enarratio in Evangelium
loannis”, in loc.). His love is not confined to the apostles; he is thinking of all
men and women. He knows that this Passover meal marks the beginning of his
passion. He is going to anticipate the Sacrifice of the New Testament, which will
bring such benefits to mankind.
To fulfil his Father’s will, Jesus must necessarily go away, but his love, impelling
him to stay with his own, moves him to institute the Eucharist, in which he stays
behind, in which he remains really and truly present. “Think,” St J. Escrivá writes,
“of the human experience of two people who love each other, and yet are forced
to part. They would like to stay together forever, but duty — in one form or ano-
ther — forces them to separate. They are unable to fulfill their desire of remaining
close to each other, so man’s love — which, great as it may be, is limited seeks
a symbolic gesture. People who make their farewells exchange gifts or perhaps a
photograph with a dedication so ardent that it seems almost enough to burn that
piece of paper. They can do no more, because a creature’s power is not so great
as its desire.
“What we cannot do, our Lord is able to do. Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect
man, leaves us not a symbol but a reality. He himself stays with us. He will go to
the Father, but he will also remain among men. He will leave us, not simply a gift
that will make us remember him, not an image that becomes blurred with time,
like a photograph that soon fades and yellows, and has no meaning except for
those who were contemporaries. Under the appearances of bread and wine, he
is really present, with his body and blood, with his soul and divinity” (”Christ Is
Passing By”, 83).
16-20. This text contains the three basic truths of faith having to do with the sub-
lime mystery of the Eucharist: 1) the institution of this sacrament and Jesus
Christ’s real presence in it; 2) the institution of the Christian priesthood; and 3)
the Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the New Testament or Holy Mass (cf. the note
on Mt 26:26-29). St Luke’s account is substantially the same as that in the First
Gospel, but it is enhanced by his more detailed description of some points (cf.
the note on v. 17).
Regarding the real presence of Christ in this sacrament, Paul VI stated: “In reli-
ance on this belief of the Church, the Council of Trent ‘openly and simply profes-
ses that in the bountiful sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, after the consecration
of the bread and wine, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, true God and true man,
is contained truly, really and substantially under the appearance of the objects
that the senses can perceive’ (”De SS. Eucharistia”, chap. 1). Therefore our Sa-
viour is not only present according to his humanity at the right hand of the Father,
after his natural mode of existence, but at the same time he is present in the sa-
crament of the Eucharist also by that form of existence which is possible to God,
though we can hardly express it in words. With thoughts enlightened by faith we
can reach it and we must believe it with the greatest constancy” (”Mysterium fi-
dei”). In contemplating this ineffable mystery, Christian souls have always per-
ceived its grandeur as deriving from the fact of Christ’s real presence in it. The
sacrament of the Eucharist is not only an efficacious sign of Christ’s loving pres-
ence in an intimate union with the faithful: in it he is present corporeally and sub-
stantially, as God and as man. Certainly, in order to penetrate this mystery one
needs to have faith, because “there is no difficulty about Christ being present in
the Sacrament as a sign; the real difficulty lies in his being as truly in the Sacra-
ment as he is in heaven; therefore, it is very meritorious to believe this” (St Bona-
venture, “In IV Sent.”, d. 10, q. 1, a. 1). This mystery cannot be perceived by the
senses: it can only be grasped by faith in the words of our Saviour who, being
truth itself (cf. Jn 14:6), cannot deceive or be deceived: thus, in a hymn which is
traditionally attributed to St Thomas Aquinas, the “Adoro te devote”, the Chris-
tian people sing: “Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived; how says trus-
ty hearing? that shall be believed; what God’s Son has told me, take for truth I
do; Truth himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true” (translated by G.M. Hop-
kins).
“If no one is to misunderstand this mode of presence, which oversteps the laws
of nature and constitutes the greatest miracle of all in its kind, our minds must
be docile and we must follow the voice of the Church through her teaching and
prayer. This voice continually re-echoes the voice of Christ. It informs us that
Christ becomes present in this sacrament precisely by a change of the bread’s
whole substance into his body and the wine’s whole substance into his blood.
This is clearly remarkable, a singular change, and the Catholic Church gives it
the suitable and accurate name of transubstantiation” (Paul VI, “Mysterium fidei”).
After instituting the Eucharist, our Lord instructs the apostles to perpetuate what
he has done: the Church has always taken Christ’s words “Do this in remem-
brance of me” to mean that he thereby made the apostles and their successors
priests of the New Covenant who would renew the Sacrifice of Calvary in an un-
bloody manner in the celebration of Holy Mass.
This means that at the centre of Christ’s entire activity stands the bloody Sacri-
fice he offered on the cross — the Sacrifice of the New Covenant, prefigured in
the sacrifices of the Old Law, in the offerings made by Abel (Gen 4:4), by Abra-
ham (Gen 15:10; 22:13), by Melchizedek (Gen 14:18-20; Heb 7:1-28). The Last
Supper is the very Sacrifice of Calvary performed in advance of the event through
the words of the Consecration. Similarly the Mass renews this sacrifice which
was offered once for all on the altar of the cross. Christ alone is the victim and
the priest at Supper, Calvary and Mass; the only thing that varies is the way he
is offered.
“We believe that the Mass which is celebrated by the priest in the person of
Christ in virtue of the power he receives in the sacrament of Order, and which is
offered by him in the name of Christ and of the members of his Mystical Body, is
indeed the Sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally realized on our altars” (Paul VI,
Creed of the People of God, 24).
16. The words “I shall not eat it [this Passover] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom
of heaven,” as also those in v. 18, “I shall not drink of the fruit of this vine until the
kingdom of God comes,” do not mean that Jesus Christ will eat the paschal lamb
once his Kingdom is established, but simply that this was the last time he will ce-
lebrate the Jewish Passover. Announcing the New Passover, which is now immi-
nent and which will last until his second coming, Jesus once and for all replaces
the ancient rite with his redemptive sacrifice, which marks the beginning of the
Kingdom.
17. The Passover meal always followed a very specific pattern. Before eating the
lamb, the senior person explained, in reply to a question from the youngest pre-
sent, the religious meaning of what was happening. Then the meal proceeded, in-
terspersed with hymns and psalms. At the end came a solemn prayer of thanks-
giving. Throughout the meal, marking its main stages, the diners drank four glas-
ses of wine mixed with water. St Luke refers to two of these, the second being
that which our Lord consecrated.
19. We should note how plainly our Lord speaks: he does not say “here is my bo-
dy,” or “this is the symbol of my body,” but “this is my body”: that is, “this bread
is no longer bread, it is my body”. “Some men, accordingly, not paying heed to
these things, have contended that Christ’s body and blood are present in this sa-
crament only as in a sign: this is to be rejected as heretical, since it is contrary
to Christ’s words” (St Thomas Aquinas, “Summa theologiae”, 3, q. 75, a. 1).
Jesus’ words when he promised the Eucharist reinforce what he says here: “I am
the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he
will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my
flesh [. . .]. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:51, 54).
“Do this in remembrance of me.” The solemn Magisterium of the Church teaches
us the meaning and scope of these words: “If anyone says that by the words, ‘Do
this in remembrance of me’ Christ did not make his apostles priests, or that he
did not decree that they and other priests should offer his body and blood: let him
be condemned” (Council of Trent, “De SS. Missae sacrificio”, c. 2).
24-30. This was not the first time the apostles brought up this question about
which of them was the greatest. It came up when they were going towards Caper-
naum, after Jesus’ second announcement of his passion. At that time Jesus used
a child as an example of humility (cf. Mt 18:1-5; Mk 9:33-37; Lk 9:46-48). A little
later, when the mother of James and John made her special request, the same
subject arose: the other apostles were very annoyed with the sons of Zebedee,
and our Lord intervened and put himself forward as an example: “The Son of man
also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for ma-
ny” (Mk 10:45; cf. Mt 20:25-28).
The apostles failed to grasp what Jesus meant. They continue to be blinded by
their human outlook and the same argument starts again. Jesus had invited them
to have a greater sense of responsibility by telling them that one of their number
was going to betray him (vv. 21 and 22) and by charging them to renew the Eu-
charistic Sacrifice (v. 19). As on other occasions when the apostles boasted
about their personal merits, Jesus reminds them again of the example of his
own life: he was their Teacher and Lord (cf. Jn 13:13) and yet he acted as if he
were the least among them and served them. To respond to a calling from God
a person needs humility, which expresses itself in the form of a spirit of service.
“You want to hear all that I think of ‘your way’? Very well, then. . ., listen: if you
respond to the call, you will do your utmost in your work for Christ; if you be-
come a man of prayer, you will be granted the grace necessary to respond and,
hungry for sacrifice, you will seek out the hardest tasks.. . . And you will be hap-
py here, and unspeakably happy hereafter” (St J. Escrivá, “The Way”, 235).
The reward which Jesus promises those who stay faithful to him far exceeds any-
thing human ambition can envisage: the apostles will share in divine friendship in
the Kingdom of heaven and they will sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve
tribes of Israel. Christ’s word and example are basic norm of government in the
Church; the Second Vatican Council explains our Lord’s commandment as fol-
lows: “The bishops, vicars and legates of Christ, govern the particular Church as-
signed to them by their counsels, exhortations and example, but over and above
that also by the authority and sacred power which indeed they exercise exclusive-
ly for the spiritual development of their flock in truth and holiness, keeping in mind
that he who is greater should become as the lesser, and he who is the leader as
the servant (cf. Lk 22:26-27)” (”Lumen Gentium”, 27).
25-27. By spreading Jesus’ teaching about humility and service to others, we pro-
mote the true brotherhood of man. Pope Paul VI pointed this out in his address to
the United Nations: “Allow me to say this to you, as the representative of a reli-
gion which accomplishes salvation through the humility of its divine Founder: men
cannot be brothers if they are not humble. It is pride, no matter how legitimate it
may seem to be, which provokes tension and struggles for prestige, for predomi-
nance, colonialism, selfishness; it is pride that disrupts brotherhood” (no. 4).
31-34. Our Lord had previously told Peter that he was going to give him a spe-
cially important mission among the apostles — that of being the cornerstone, the
foundation, of the Church he would found. “’So you are Simon the son of John?
You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter)” (Jn 1:42), Jesus told him on
the bank of the Jordan. Later, in Caesarea Philippi, after his profession of faith in
the divinity of the Redeemer, Christ again referred to him as being a rock, as ha-
ving a mission to strengthen the Church: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on
this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against
it” (Mt 16:18). Now, at this very solemn moment, when his death approaches
and he has just instituted the Sacrifice of the New Testament, our Lord renews
his promise to Peter to give him the primacy: Peter’s faith, despite his fall, can-
not fail because it is supported by the efficacious prayer of our Lord himself.
Jesus Christ is giving Peter a privilege which is both personal and transferable.
Peter will publicly deny his Lord in the high priest’s house, but he will not lose his
faith. As St John Chrysostom comments, it is as if our Lord were saying to Peter,
“I have not prayed that you may not deny me but that your faith may not fail”
(”Hom. on St Matthew”, 3). And Theophylact adds: “For, although St Peter would
have to experience ups and downs he still had the hidden seed of faith, and he
[Christ] adds, ‘And when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren’, as if
to say, ‘After you repent; confirm then your brethren, for I have made you the
leader of the apostles; this is the task given you: you with me are the strength
and the rock of my Church.’ This should be taken not only as applying to the disci-
ples who were present there, for them to be strengthened by Peter: it also refers
to all the faithful who would follow, until the end of the world” (”Enarratio in Evan-
gelium Lucae”, in loc.).
And, as it turned out, as a result of our Lord’s prayer, Peter’s faith did not fail and
he recovered from his fall; he confirmed his brothers and was indeed the corner-
stone of the Church.
Our Lord’s prayer was effective in respect not only to Peter but also to his succes-
sors: their faith will not fail. This indefectibility of the faith of the bishop of Rome,
the successor of St Peter, is to be seen as ensuring that he stay committed to
the faith, a commitment guaranteed by the charism of infallibility: “This infallibility,
with which the divine Redeemer wished to endow his Church in defining doctrine
pertaining to faith and morals, is co-extensive with the deposit of revelation, which
must be religiously guarded and loyally and courageously expounded. The Ro-
man Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his
office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful — who confirms his
brethren in the faith (cf. Lk 22:32) — he proclaims in an absolute decision a doc-
trine pertaining to faith or morals” (Vatican II, “Lumen gentium”, 25).
Therefore, when the Pope speaks ex cathedra (cf. Vatican I, “Pastor aeternus”,
chap. 4) “he enjoys that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer wished to pro-
vide his Church. . . and therefore the definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreform-
able by their very nature” (see also the note on Mt 16:13-20).
“The supreme power of the Roman Pontiff and his infallibility, when he speaks ex
cathedra, are not a human invention: they are based on the explicit foundational
will of Christ [. . .]. No one in the Church enjoys absolute power by himself, as
man. In the Church there is no leader other than but Christ. And Christ constitu-
ted a vicar of his — the Roman Pontiff — for his wayfaring spouse on earth [
].
Love for the Pope must be in us a beautiful passion, because in him we see
Christ” (St. J. Escrivá, “In Love with the Church”, 13).
36-38. Jesus announces his passion by applying to himself the Isaiah prophecy
about the Servant of Yahweh (Is 53:12) — “he was numbered with the transgress-
sors” — and by pointing out that all the other prophecies about the sufferings the
Redeemer would undergo will find fulfillment in him. The testing-time is imminent
and our Lord is speaking symbolically when he talks about making provision and
buying weapons to put up a fight. The apostles take him literally, and this leads
him to express a certain indulgent understanding: “It is enough.” “Just in the
same way as we,” Theophylact says, “when we are speaking to someone and
see that he does not understand, say: ‘Very well, leave it’” (”Enarratio in Evange-
lium Lucae”, in loc.).
39-71. Our Lord’s passion is the outstanding proof of God’s love for men: “God
so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). It also proves beyond doubt that Christ,
true God and true man, loves us, as he said himself: “Greater love has no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).
“Do you want to accompany Jesus closely, very closely? . . . Open the Holy
Gospel and read the Passion of our Lord. But don’t just read it: live it. There is a
big difference. To read is to recall something that happened in the past; to live is
to find oneself present at an event that is happening here and now, to be some-
one taking part in those scenes. Then, allow your heart to open wide; let it place
itself next to our Lord. And when you notice it trying to slip away — when you
see that you are a coward, like the others — ask forgiveness for your cowardice
and mine” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way of the Cross”, IX, 3).
39-40. It was Jesus’ custom to retire to the garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount
of Olives, in order to pray; this seems to be implied by both St John (Jn 18:1) and
St Luke (21:37). This explains how Judas knew the place (Jn 18:1-2).
As soon as he reaches the garden our Lord prepares to face his agony. Before
going aside to pray, he asks his disciples to pray as well because very soon they
will be tempted to lose faith when they see him being arrested (cf. Mt 26:31). At
the Last Supper Jesus had told them this would happen; now he warns them that
if they are not watchful and prayerful they will not be able to resist the temptation.
He also wants his apostles to keep him company when he suffers — which is why,
when he comes back and finds them sleeping, he sorrowfully complains to Peter:
“Could you not watch with me one hour?” (Mt 26:40).
We should stay close to our Lord and keep him company, even at times of diffi-
culty and tribulation; the command Jesus gives here shows us how to go about
this — by prayer and vigilance.
41. Jesus prays kneeling down. Many Gospel passages refer to our Lord’s prayer
but this is the only time his posture is described. It may well be that he knelt at
other times also. Kneeling is an external expression of a humble attitude toward
God.
42. Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect man: as God he is equal to the Father,
as man less than the Father. And therefore as man he could pray, he had to pray
— as he did throughout his life. Now, when his spiritual suffering is so intense that
he is in agony, our Lord addresses his Father with a prayer which shows both his
trust and his anguish: he calls him, with immense affection, “Abba”, Father, and
asks him to remove this cup of bitterness. What causes our Lord his intense pain?
Foreknowledge of all the sufferings involved in his passion, which he freely under-
goes; and the weight of all the sins of mankind, the unfaithfulness of the chosen
people and abandonment by his disciples. Christ’s sensitive soul felt the full im-
pact of all this. So intense is our Redeemer’s anguish that he actually sweats
blood, an indication of the extent of his human capacity to suffer. In this connec-
tion St Thomas More comments: “The fear of death and torments carries no stig-
ma of guilt but rather is an affliction of the sort Christ came to suffer, not to es-
cape. We should not immediately consider it cowardice for someone to feel fear
and horror at the thought of torments [. . .]. But to flee because of a fear of torture
and death when the circumstances make it necessary to fight, or to give up all
hope of victory and surrender to the enemy — that, to be sure, is a capital crime
according to the military code. But otherwise, no matter how much the heart of
the soldier is agitated and stricken by fear, if he still comes forward at the com-
mand of the general, goes on, fights and defeats the enemy, he has no reason to
fear that his former fear might lessen his reward in any way. As a matter of fact,
he ought to receive even more praise because of it, since he had to overcome not
only the enemy but also his own fear, which is often harder to conquer than the
enemy itself” (”De tristitia Christi”, in loc.).
Jesus perseveres in his prayer: “Not my will, but thine, be done” — which shows
that he had a human will and that it was in total harmony with the divine will. This
prayer of our Lord is also a perfect lesson in abandonment to and union with the
Will of God — features which should be found in our own prayer, particularly in mo-
ments of difficulty. “Are things going against you? Are you going through a rough
time? Say very slowly, as if relishing it, this powerful and manly prayer: ‘May the
most just and most lovable will of God be done, be fulfilled, be praised and eternal-
ly exalted above all things. Amen, Amen.’ I assure you that you will find peace”
(St. J Escrivá, “The Way”, 691).
43. In the Gospel we often see angels play a part in our Lord’s life. An angel an-
nounces the mystery of the Incarnation to the Blessed Virgin (Lk 1:26); choirs of
angels sing God’s praises when Jesus is born in Bethlehem (Lk 2:13); angels mi-
nister to him after he is tempted in the wilderness (Mt 4:11); and now the Father
sends an angel to comfort him in his agony.
Our Lord, who is God, accepts this consolation. The Creator of all, who is never
in need of the help of his creatures is ready to accept, as man, consolation and
help from those who can give it.
In addition to aiding Jesus in his work as Redeemer, angels also minister to the
Church in a special way. We often see them act in the early days of the Church
(cf. Acts 5:19; 7:30; 8:26; 12:7 27:23; etc.). God has given angels the mission of
accompanying men and helping them as they make their way on earth towards
their heavenly goal. The angels, says Paul VI, “intercede for us and come to the
aid of our weakness in brotherly care” (”Creed of the People of God”, 29). Their
caring presence should move us to rely constantly on our guardian angels, to
have recourse to them in our needs and to show them reverence.
47-48. Judas now gives the prearranged sign (cf. Mt 26:48); he comes forward to
kiss our Lord — a form of friendly greeting normal among the Jews. When greet-
ing someone like this, one would say Shalom, “peace”. In contemplating this sad
betrayal by an apostle, Jesus treats Judas in a very gentle way and yet shows up
the malice and ugliness of his treachery: for the last time he tries to win Judas
back.
There is no limit to the goodness of a merciful God, and not even the greatest
sinner should despair of obtaining forgiveness. “Even to Judas,” St Thomas More
comments, “God gave many opportunities of coming to his senses. He did not
deny him his companionship. He did not take away from him the dignity of his
apostleship. He did not even take the purse-strings from him, even though he was
a thief. He admitted the traitor to the fellowship of his beloved disciples at the last
supper. He deigned to stoop down at the feet of the betrayer and to wash with his
most innocent and sacred hands Judas’ dirty feet, a fit symbol of his filthy mind
[. . .]. Finally when Judas, coming with his crew to seize him, offered him a kiss,
a kiss that was in fact the terrible token of his treachery, Christ received him
calmly and gently [. . .]. Therefore, since God showed his great mercy, in so ma-
ny ways even toward Judas, an apostle turned traitor, since he invited him to for-
giveness so often and did not allow him to perish except through despair alone,
certainly there is no reason why, in this life, anyone should despair of any imita-
tor of Judas. Rather, according to that holy advice of the apostle, ‘Pray for one
another, that you may be healed’ (Jas 5:16), if we see anyone wandering wildly
from the right road, let us hope that he will one day return to the path, and mean-
while let us pray humbly and incessantly that God will hold out to him chances
to come to his senses, and likewise that with God’s help he will eagerly seize
them, and having seized them will hold fast and not throw them away out of ma-
lice or let them slip away from him through wretched sloth” (”De tristitia Christi”,
in loc.).
51. St Luke, who was a physician (cf. Col 4:15), here by divine inspiration records
the last miracle worked by Jesus before his death. Ever merciful, Jesus restores
to Malchus the ear Peter cut off (cf. Jn 18:10) — thereby showing that he is still
in control of events, even in the present situation. Careless of his own safety he
cures one of the people who have come to arrest him. Also, Jesus, who is giving
himself up to death in obedience to his Father, refuses to have violence used in
his defence. In fulfilment of the prophecies he offers no resistance, he goes like a
sheep to the slaughter (cf. Is 52-53. The “captains of the temple” were a military
corps charged with policing the temple precincts; they reported to the high priest.
To them, as well as to the priests and elders, our Lord addresses these words.
“This is your hour,” that is, the time when you, the prince of darkness, can un-
leash all your hatred against me: our Lord shows that he knows his death is at
hand. Previous attempts to arrest him had failed; but this one will succeed, be-
cause, as he explains, God allows it to happen. This is the hour the Father has
fixed to accomplish the redemption of mankind; therefore, Jesus freely lets him-
self be taken prisoner.
55-62. Peter, who has been following the throng of people hustling our Lord, en-
ters the house of the high priest. While Jesus is undergoing his first trial the sad-
dest event in the apostle’s life takes place. The evangelists give vivid accounts of
the scene. Peter is in a state of shock and is all confused. Inevitably, that night,
people would have spoken about Jesus and his disciples a number of times. In
conversation Peter says three times that he does not know Jesus, that he is not
a follower of his. He does want to continue to follow our Lord, but wanting is not
enough: he has a duty not to disguise the fact that he is a disciple, even though
it is obviously risky to do so; that is why his denial is a grave sin. No one is jus-
tified in denying or disguising his faith, the fact that he is a Christian, a follower
of Christ.
After the cock crows Jesus’ glance meets Peter’s. The apostle is moved by this
silent and tender gesture. Peter realizes the seriousness of his sin and the fact
that it fulfils our Lord’s prophecy about his betrayal. “He went out and wept bitter-
ly.” Tears like these are the natural reaction of a noble heart moved by God’s
grace; this lovesorrow, this contrition, when it is sincere, leads a person to make
the firm resolution to do anything necessary to erase the least trace of the sin he
has committed.
66-71. Our Lord’s first trial, which took place at night, was aimed at establishing
the charges to be laid against him (Mt 26:59-66; Mk 14:53-64). Now, as day
dawns, the Sanhedrin trial begins: this trial was required because Jewish custom
forbade night trials on serious charges — which meant that any decisions taken
at such trials had no legal validity. The authorities want to charge Jesus with a
crime carrying the death penalty, and they decide to establish that he has com-
mitted blasphemy; but the evidence is so inconsistent that it fails to provide a pre-
text for condemning him. Therefore the Sanhedrin endeavours to get our Lord to
say something which will compromise him. Although he knows that his reply pro-
vides the Pharisees with the pretext they are looking for, Jesus solemnly states,
to the indignation of those present, not only that he is the Messiah but that he is
the Son of God, equal to the Father; and he emphasizes that in him the ancient
prophecies are being fulfilled (cf. Dan 7:13; Ps 110:1). The members of the San-
hedrin know exactly what our Lord’s answer means and, tearing their garments
to show their horror, they call for his death: he deserves death because he has
committed the blasphemy of claiming to be on the same level as God.
Recognizing Jesus would involve their doing an about-turn in their attitude to-
wards him — which they would have found very embarrassing. They are too
proud to change, and they close the door on faith — a lesson to us all not to let
pride blind us to our mistakes and sins.
1-2. Jesus underwent two trials — a religious one, following the Jewish system,
and a civil one, following the Roman.
In the first trial, the Jewish authorities condemned Jesus to death on religious
grounds for claiming to be the Son of God; but they could not carry out the sen-
tence because the Romans reserved to themselves the exercise of the death
penalty. The Sanhedrin now arranges a new trial before Pilate in order to get the
Romans to execute the sentence they themselves have already passed. Events
are moving to fulfil Jesus’ prophecy that he will die at the hands of the Gentiles
(cf. Lk 18:32).
Due to the fact that the Romans were very tolerant of religious customs of sub-
ject peoples — and took no interest in them provided they did not lead to public
unrest — the Jewish leaders alter the charges they bring against Jesus: from now
on they accuse him of political crimes — of inciting rebellion against the Romans
and of seeking to become king. And they present these charges in such a way
that a verdict favourable to the accused might be interpreted in Rome as a trea-
cherous act: “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend; every one who
makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar” (Jn 19:12).
2. To give their charges a veneer of credibility, they produce half-truths, taken out
of context and interpreted in the worst possible light. Jesus had taught: “Render
therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are
God’s” (Mt 22:21; cf. the note on same), and in his preaching he stated that by
virtue of being the Messiah he was King as well as Prophet and Priest; but he al-
so preached that his was a spiritual kingship and therefore he energetically rejec-
ted all the people’s attempts to proclaim him king (cf. Jn 6:15).
3-4. Jesus openly confesses that he is King, but from what he says he makes
quite clear the spiritual nature of this kingship (Jn 18:33-38). Pilate becomes con-
vinced that he is guilty of no crime (Jn 18:38; 19:4) and that all the charges
brought against him are groundless (Mt 27:18). However, instead of efficiently de-
livering judgment in favour of the accused, he temporizes; he tries to gain popula-
rity at Jesus’ expense and settles for indicating that he is convinced of his inno-
cence — as if inviting the accusers to back off; but this only encourages them to
become vociferous and complicates the situation.
By behaving in this way Pilate becomes the classic example of a compromiser:
“A man, a ‘gentleman’, ready to compromise would condemn Jesus to death
again” (St J. Escrivá, “The Way”, 393).
7. Herod Antipas normally went up to Jerusalem for the Passover, staying in his
own palace in the centre of the city. By sending Jesus to Herod Pilate is trying to
rid himself of a troublesome case and build up a friendship useful to his own pol-
itical career.
8-11. Our Lord adopts a very different attitude to Herod Antipas compared with
his attitude to Pilate. Herod was superstitious, sensual and adulterous. In spite
of his regard for John the Baptist, he had him beheaded to keep his oath to Salo-
me (cf. Mk 6:14-29). Now he tries to get Jesus to perform a miracle, as if Jesus
were a magician putting on a show for Herod’s entertainment. Jesus does not re-
ply to his flattery. Our Lord’s attitude is simple, stately and also severe. His elo-
quent silence is a perfect example of the way to deal with behaviour of this type.
Herod reacts by dressing Jesus in a rich robe, to make fun of him.
12. Psalm 2 said this in prophecy of the Messiah: “The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anoin-
ted.” These words are now fulfilled to the letter, as the Book of the Acts points
out: “For truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant
Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined
to take place” (Acts 4:27f).
17. Verse 17 — “Necesse autem habebat dimittere eis per diem festum, unum”
(in the Old Vulgate) — has not been included in the New Vulgate because it is
absent from most of the better Greek manuscripts.
24-25. Jesus condemned to death and made to carry the cross (cf. Jn 19:16-17)
is devoutly contemplated by Christians in the first and second stations of the Way
of the Cross. Pilate at last gives in to the Sanhedrin and condemns our Lord to
the most ignominious form of punishment, death by crucifixion.
It was customary for people condemned to crucifixion to be made to carry the in-
strument of their own death. Our Lord fulfils in his own person the prophecies of
Isaiah: “By oppression and judgment he was taken away; [. . .] he was cut off
out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they
made his grave with the wicked” (Is 53:8-9).
26. Christian piety contemplates this episode of the Passion in the fifth station
of the Way of the Cross. The soldiers force Simon to help Jesus carry the cross,
not because they feel pity for our Lord, but because they realize that he is get-
ting weaker and weaker and they are afraid he may die before reaching Calvary.
According to tradition, preserved in the third, seventh and ninth stations, Jesus
fell three times under the weight of the cross; but he got up again and lovingly
embraced it once more in obedience to his heavenly Father’s will, seeing in the
cross the altar on which he would give his life as a propitiatory Victim for the sal-
vation of mankind.
However, our Lord chose to be helped by Simon of Cyrene in order to show us
that we — whom Simon represents — have to become co-redeemers with him.
“Love for God invites us to take up the cross and feel on our own shoulders the
weight of humanity. It leads us to fulfill the clear and loving plans of the Father’s
will in all the circumstances of our work and life” (St J. Escrivá, “Christ Is Pas-
sing By”, 97). God the Father, in his providence, gave his Son this small conso-
lation in the midst of his terrible suffering — just as he sent an angel to comfort
him in his agony in Gethsemane (Lk 22:43).
Other aspects of this scene of the Gospel are commented on in notes on Mt 27:
32 and Mk 15:21.
27-31. The piety of these women shows that Jesus had friends as well as ene-
mies. If we bear in mind that Jewish traditions, as recorded in the Talmud, for-
bade wailing for people condemned to death, we will appreciate the value of
these women’s gesture.
“Among the people watching our Lord as he passes by are a number of women
who are unable to restrain their compassion and break into tears, perhaps recall-
ing those glorious days spent with Jesus, when everyone exclaimed in amaze-
ment: “bene omnia fecit” (Mk 7:37), he has done all things well.
“But our Lord wishes to channel their weeping towards a more supernatural mo-
tive, and he invites them to weep for sins, which are the cause of the Passion
and which will draw down the rigour of divine justice: ‘Daughters of Jerusalem,
do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. . . For if they
do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’ (Lk 23:28, 31).
“Your sins, my sins, the sins of all men, rise up. All the evil we have done and
the good that we have neglected to do. The desolate panorama of the countless
crimes and iniquities which we would have committed, if he, Jesus, had not
strengthened us with the light of his most loving glance. How little a life is for
making atonement!” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way of the Cross”, VIII).
Christian devotion also includes in the Way of the Cross a pious tradition that a
woman, called Veronica (Berenice), approached Jesus and wiped his face with a
linen cloth — a brave action on her part, in view of the hostility of the crowd (sixth
station). And another station, the fourth, venerates Jesus’ meeting with his bles-
sed Mother on the way to Calvary, a sorrowful meeting which fulfils Simeon’s
prophecy to the Blessed Virgin (cf. Lk 2:35).
On the way to Calvary the only people who give Jesus consolation are women —
evidencing their bravery and religious sensitivity during this painful time in Jesus’
life; whereas only one man John — is to be seen.
In spite of his awful suffering, Jesus is mindful of the terrible times which are ap-
proaching. His words in response to the women’s lament are a prophecy about
the destruction of Jerusalem, which will come about within a few years.
The “green wood” refers to the just and innocent; the “dry wood”, to the sinner,
the guilty one. Jesus, the Son of God, is the only truly just and innocent man.
33. The crucifixion is contemplated in the eleventh station of the Way of the
Cross. The soldiers nail Jesus’ hands and feet to the beams. The purpose of this
punishment is to bring on a slow death, involving maximum suffering: “Now they
are crucifying our Lord, and with him two thieves, one on his right and one on his
left. Meanwhile, Jesus says: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they
do’ (Lk 23:34).
“It is Love that has brought Jesus to Calvary. And once on the Cross, all his ges-
tures and all his words are of love, a love both calm and strong. With a gesture
befitting an Eternal Priest, without father or mother, without lineage (cf. Heb 7:3),
he opens his arms to the whole human race.
“With the hammer blows with which Jesus is being nailed, there resound the pro-
phetic words of Holy Scripture: ‘They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can
count all my bones, and they stare and gloat over me’ (Ps 22:17-18). “’My people,
what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me!’ (Mic 6:3).
“And we, our soul rent with sorrow, say to Jesus in all sincerity: I am yours and I
give my whole self to you; gladly do I nail myself to your Cross, ready to be in the
crossroads of this world a soul dedicated to you, to your glory, to the work of Re-
demption, the co-redemption of the whole human race” (St J. Escrivá, “The Way
of the Cross, XI).
“It is good for us to try to understand better the meaning of Christ’s death. We
must get beyond external appearances and clichés. [. . .] Let us, above all, come
close to Jesus in his death and to his cross which stands out in silhouette above
the summit of Golgotha. But we must approach him sincerely and with the interior
recollection that is a sign of Christian maturity. The divine and human events of
the Passion will then pierce our soul as words spoken to us by God to uncover
the secrets of our heart and show us what he expects of our lives” (St. J. Escriva,
“Christ Is Passing By”, 101).
Jesus’ terrible suffering on the cross clearly shows the gravity of the sins of men,
of my sin. This gravity is measured by the infinite greatness and honour of God,
the offended one. God, who is infinitely merciful and at the same time infinitely
just, exercised both these attributes: his infinite justice required an infinite repa-
ration, of which mere man was incapable; his infinite mercy found the solution:
the second person of the Trinity, taking on human nature, becoming truly man
while not ceasing to be true God, suffered the punishment which was man’s due.
In this way, by being represented in Jesus’ sacred humanity, men would be able
to make sufficient atonement to God’s justice. No words can express God’s love
for us as manifested on the cross. A living faith in the mystery of our redemption
will lead us to respond with gratitude and love: “We believe that our Lord Jesus
Christ redeemed us by the sacrifice on the Cross from original sin and from all
those personal sins to which we confess, so that the truth of the apostle’s words
is vindicated that where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’ (Paul VI,
“Creed of the People of God”, 17).
34. Jesus addresses the Father in a tone of supplication (cf. Heb 5:7). We can
distinguish two parts in his prayer — his simple request: “Father, forgive them,”
and the excuse he offers, “for they know not what they do.” We can see him as
one who practises what he preaches (cf. Acts 1:1) and as a model whom we
should imitate. He had taught us that we have a duty to forgive offences (cf. Mt
6:12-15; 18:21-35), and even to love our enemies (cf. Mt 5:44-45; Rom 12:14, 20),
because he had come into the world to offer himself as a victim “for the forgive-
ness of sins” (Mt 26:28; cf. Eph 1:7) and to enable us to obtain pardon.
The excuse which Jesus offers may at first take us by surprise: “for they know
not what they do.” His love, his perfect mercy and justice make maximum allo-
wance for factors rendering our sins less heinous. It is quite clear that the people
directly responsible were perfectly aware that they were condemning an innocent
person to death, that they were guilty of homicide; but they did not realize, in
these moments of passion, that they were also committing deicide. This is what
St Peter means when he tells the Jews, encouraging them to repent, that they
acted “in ignorance” (Acts 3:17), and St Paul adds that if they had understood the
hidden wisdom of God “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:8).
Jesus in his mercy excuses them on the grounds of ignorance.
In any sinful action there are always areas of darkness, passion, blindness, which
without taking away a person’s freedom and responsibility do enable him to carry
out an evil action through being attracted by apparently good aspects which that
action involves; and this does lessen the evil that we do.
Christ teaches us to forgive those who offend us and to look for excuses for them,
thereby leaving open the door to the hope of their pardon and repentance; only
God can be the ultimate judge of men. This heroic charity was practised by Chris-
tians from the very beginning. Thus, the first martyr, St Stephen, dies begging
God to pardon his executioners (cf. Acts 7:60). “Force yourself, if necessary, al-
ways to forgive those who offend you, from the very first moment. For the greatest
injury or offence that you can suffer from them is as nothing compared with what
God has pardoned you” (St J. Escrivá, “The Way”, 452).
35-37. The Roman governor’s soldiers join the Jewish people and their leaders
in mocking Jesus; thus, everyone — Jews and Gentiles — contributed to making
Christ’s passion even more bitter. But we should not forget that we too make a
mockery of our Lord every time we fall into sin or fail to respond sufficiently to
grace. This is why St Paul says that those who sin “crucify the Son of God on
their own account and hold him up to contempt” (Heb 6:6).
39-43. The episode of the two thieves invites us to admire the designs of divine
providence, of grace and human freedom. Both thieves are in the same position
in the presence of the Eternal High Priest as he offers himself in sacrifice for
them and for all mankind. One of them hardens his heart, despairs and blas-
phemes, while the other repents, prays with confidence to Christ and is promised
immediate salvation. “The Lord,” St Ambrose comments, “always grants more
than one asks: the thief only asked him to remember him, but the Lord says to
him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ Life consists in
dwelling with Jesus Christ, and where Jesus Christ is there is his Kingdom” (”Ex-
positio Evangelii sec. Lucam”, in loc.). “It is one thing for man to judge someone
he does not know; another, for God, who can see into a person’s conscience.
Among men, confession is followed by punishment; whereas confession to God
is followed by salvation” (St John Chrysostom, “De Cruce et latrine”).
While we make our way through life, we all sin, but we can all repent also. God
is always waiting for us with his arms wide open, ready to forgive us. Therefore,
no one should despair: everyone should try to have a strong hope in God’s mer-
cy. But no one may presume that he will be saved, for none of us can be absolu-
tely certain of our final perseverance (cf. Council of Trent, “De Iustificatione”, can.
16). This relative uncertainty is a spur God gives us to be ever vigilant; this vigi-
lance in turn helps us progress in the work of our sanctification as Christians.
42. “Many times have I repeated that verse of the Eucharistic hymn: “Peto quod
petivit latro poenitens”, and it always fills me with emotion: to ask like the peni-
tent thief did! He recognized that he himself deserved that awful punishment. . . .
And with a word he stole Christ’s heart and ‘opened up for himself’ the gates of
heaven” (St J. Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, XII, 4).
43. In responding to the good thief, Jesus reveals that he is God, for he has po-
wer over man’s eternal destiny; and he also shows that he is infinitely merciful
and does not reject the soul who sincerely repents. Similarly by these words
Jesus reveals to us a basic truth of faith: “We believe in eternal life. We believe
that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ — whether they must
still make expiation in the fire of purgatory, or whether from the moment they
leave their bodies they are received by Jesus Christ into Paradise like the good
thief go to form that People of God which succeeds death, death which will be
totally destroyed on the day of the Resurrection when these souls are reunited
with their bodies” (Paul VI, “Creed of the People of God”, 28).
45. The darkening of the sun is a sign of the magnitude and gravity of the Lord’s
death (cf. the note on Mk 15:33). The tearing of the curtain of the temple shows
the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant, sealed in
the blood of Christ (cf. the note on Mk 15:38).
46. The Way of the Cross contemplates Jesus’ death as the twelfth station.
Christ’s life is totally influenced by the fact that he is the only Son of the Father:
“I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the
world and going to the Father” (Jn 16:28). All along, his only desire was to do
the will of him who sent him (cf. Jn 4:34), who, as Christ himself says, “is with
me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him” (Jn 8:29).
At this, the climax of his life on earth, when he is apparently left totally on his
own, Christ makes an act of supreme confidence, throws himself into his Father’s
arms, and freely gives up his life. He was not forced to die nor did he die against
his will; he died because he wanted to die. “It was the peculiar privilege of Christ
the Lord to have died when he himself decreed to die, and to have died not so
much by external violence as by internal assent. Not only his death, but also its
time and place, were ordained by him. For thus Isaiah wrote: ‘He was offered be-
cause it was his own will’ (Is 53:7). The Lord, before his Passion, declared the
same of himself, ‘I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it
from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I
have power to take it again’ (Jn 10:17f)” (St Pius V, Catechism, 1, 6, 7).
“We know”, says St Paul, “that our old self was crucified with him so that the
sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. The
death he died he died to sin, once for all. . . . So you also must consider your-
selves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:6, 10f). Therefore,
Vatican II explains, “This work of redeeming mankind [. . .] Christ the Lord
achieved principally by the paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrec-
tion from the dead, and glorious Ascension, whereby ‘dying, he destroyed our
death, and rising, he restored our life.’ For it was from the side of Christ as he
slept the sleep of death upon the Cross that there came forth ‘the wondrous sa-
crament of the whole Church’” (”Sacrosanctum Concilium”, 5).
47. The three Synoptic Gospels all report the profound reaction of the centurion,
the reaction of an upright man who, helped by grace, studies these events with
an openness to the mystery of the supernatural. The parallel accounts in Mat-
thew 27: 54 and Mark 15:39 show more clearly that the centurion recognized the
divinity of Jesus Christ. See the note on Mk 15:39.
48. Jesus’ redemptive death on the cross immediately begins to draw people to-
wards God by way of repentance: as he made his way to Calvary there was the
probable conversion of Simon of Cyrene and the lamentations of the women of
Jerusalem; at the cross, the repentance of the good thief, the effect of grace on
the Roman centurion, and the compunction felt by the crowd reported in this
verse. Jesus had prophesied, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all
men to myself” (Jn 12:32). This prophecy begins to come true on Golgotha, and
it will continue to be fulfilled until the end of time.
“On the Cross hangs our Lord’s — now lifeless — body. The people, ‘when they
saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts’ (Lk 23:48).
“Now that you have repented, promise Jesus that, with his help, you will not cru-
cify him again. Say it with faith. Repeat, over and over again: I will love you, my
God, because ever since you were born, ever since you were a child, you aban-
doned yourself in my arms, defenceless, trusting in my loyalty” (St J. Escrivá,
“The Way of the Cross”, XII, 5).
49. We should note here the presence of a number of women, some of whose
names have been recorded by St Matthew (27:56) and St Mark (15:40-41) Ma-
ry Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Salome. The soldiers
would not have allowed them to approach the cross while Jesus was alive; but
the women would have waited, watching from a distance, and then come up
close to it, and unashamedly stood there (cf. Jn 19:25), impelled by their deep
love for Jesus Christ. “Woman is stronger than man, and more faithful, in the
hour of trial: Mary of Magdala and Mary Cleophas and Salome! With a group of
valiant women like these, closely united to our Lady of Sorrows, what work for
souls could be done in the world!” (St J. Escrivá, “The Way”, 982).
50-54. St John’s Gospel tells us that “Nicodemus also, who had at first come
to him by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred
pounds’ weight” (Jn 19:39). “Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus visit Jesus
secretly in ordinary times and in the time of triumph. But they are courageous
in the face of authority, declaring their love for Christ audacter boldly — in the
time of cowardice. Learn from them” (”The Way”, 841).
“With them I too will go up to the foot of the Cross; I will press my arms tightly
round the cold Body, the corpse of Christ, with the fire of my love. . .; I will un-
nail it, with my reparation and mortifications . . . ; I will wrap it in the new winding-
sheet of my clean life, and I will bury it in the living rock of my breast, where no
one can tear it away from me, and there, Lord, take your rest!
“Were the whole world to abandon you and to scorn you . . . , serviam!, I will
serve you, Lord” (St J. Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, XIV, 1).
Joseph of Arimathea’s and Nicodemus’ love for our Lord leads them to ignore the
Dangers — the hatred of their colleagues in the Sanhedrin, possible reprisals from
fanatics. They show the body of Jesus utmost reverence, doing everything re-
quired for its pious burial and thereby giving an example to every disciple of Christ
who should be ready to risk honour, position and wealth for love for his Lord. In
the thirteenth and fourteenth stations of the Cross Christian piety contemplates
the descent from the cross, and the noble actions of these two men, whose res-
pect God chose to reward by inscribing their names in the Gospel text (cf. the
note on Mt 15:43—46).
55-56. These holy women — who were familiar with the material poverty of our
Lord when he was born in Bethlehem, and in the course of his public ministry and
on the cross — do not skimp in showing veneration for the body of the Lord. When
the Christian people generously endow eucharistic worship they are simply show-
ing that they have learned well the lesson taught by these first disciples.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
Talk about someone with nothing to do.
Passiontide and Holy Week
Passiontide
Christ became, for our sake, obedient unto death,
even the death of the Cross.
Philippians 2:8Contents:
The Celebration of Passiontide
Passion Sunday - Blessed palms and Palm procession
Holy Week - Confession and Easter Duty
The Triduum - TenebraeSee also Paschalis Sollemnitatis - Vatican Letter on Preparations for Holy Week and Easter - Congregation for Divine Worship
--------- Confession - Penance
--------- Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday
PASSIONTIDE is the last two weeks of Lent, when the readings and prayers of the liturgy focus on the Passion of Our Lord. The word "passion", in the Christian sense, does not mean an intense emotion; it refers to the historical events of Jesus' suffering and death.
Although for several centuries the Fifth Sunday of Lent was known as Passion Sunday, after the Second Vatican Council this name was restored to the Sunday at beginning of Holy Week , formerly called Palm Sunday. As a penitential season of the Church, Passiontide is evidently even more ancient than Lent.
Devotions and Prayers for Passiontide
Among the traditional non-liturgical devotions of Passiontide are saying the Stations of the Cross, praying the Rosary, meditating on the five Sorrowful Mysteries, and saying the five prayers in honor of Christ's five wounds.
The Sorrowful Mysteries are: 1. The Agony in the Garden; 2. The Scourging at the Pillar; 3. The Crowning with Thorns; 4. The Carrying of the Cross; 5. The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord on the Cross.
There are many booklets containing meditations on the Rosary. Father Romano Guardini's The Rosary (Sophia Institute Press) is excellent, and The Handbook of Prayers (Midwest Theological Forum) contains the Rosary and many other prayers (see links page to contact these publishers). Pope John Paul II's meditations in The Light of Christ is a good resource for this and other devotions.
It is fitting, during this season, that we remember Mary and her inexpressible grief at the suffering and death of her Son.
Another ancient devotion for this season was The Seven Sorrows [Dolors] of Mary. Christian believers appealed to Mary, the Mother of Sorrows who publicly shared in her Son's suffering on the road to Calvary, taking all things upon herself concern, affliction and sorrow.
This devotion listed the Seven Sorrows of Mary as: 1. The prophecy of Simeon, 2. The flight to Egypt, 3. The loss of the Child Jesus in the temple, 4. His way of the Cross, 5. His Crucifixion, 6. The piercing of His heart on Calvary, and 7. His burial in the tomb.
The famous hymn associated with this devotion is the Stabat Mater Dolorosa (Stands the Sorrowful Mother) which was originally written for private devotion in the late 13th century and traditionally attributed to the Franciscan, Jacopone da Todi. The words in English and Latin are in the music section of the Lent-Easter Family source book.
Both Latin and English words to the Stabat Mater are on this site, and both words and music are in The Adoremus Hymnal, nos.400 and 401. (For information about The Adoremus Hymnal see the Adoremus website, www.adoremus.org, or contact Ignatius Press - see links page.)
All of the events of Our Lord's Passion have been the subjects of works of great Christian art. A good activity with children would be to look at and talk about some of these beautiful works, either in books or, if you're fortunate enough to live near one, an art museum.
These words of St. Paul to the Philippians [2:8] might be recited during the two weeks before Easter, along with the Act of Hope, at morning, bedtime or mealtime prayers:
Christ became, for our sake, obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.
Act of Hope
O my God, knowing thy almighty power, and thy infinite goodness and mercy,
I hope in thee that, by the merits of the Passion and Death of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
thou wilt grant me eternal life, which thou hast promised to all such as shall do the works of a good Christian;
and these I resolve to do, with the help of thy Grace. Amen +
Passion (Palm) Sunday
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelcis!
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!
Holy Week, the most solemn and intense period of worship in the Christian faith, begins with Passion Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. In spite of the spiritual gravity of Holy Week, it begins with joy; for on this Sunday, the Church celebrates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem which foretells the victory of His Resurrection and His return to earth in glory; and with the first reading of the Passion in the liturgies of Holy Week, the Church begins her commemorative pilgrimage with her Lord on His way to Calvary.
Liturgical commemoration of the Passion actually begins during the fifth week of Lent, when Masses are focused on the power of the Cross and the Kingship of Christ. Until the liturgical reforms just before the Second Vatican Council restored important liturgical elements of the early Church which had gradually disappeared (the Easter Vigil, for example), the Fifth Sunday of Lent was called Passion Sunday, and the Sunday beginning Holy Week was called Palm Sunday. Earliest accounts describing the beginning of Holy Week speak of Passion Sunday.
Blessed Palms
The blessing and distribution of palms takes place on Passion Sunday, and altar decorations are palm branches rather than flowers. The palms are solemnly blessed by the priest, and each worshipper holds the blessed palm during the singing of the ancient hymn, Gloria Laus ("All Glory, Laud and Honor") and during reading of the Passion.
These solemnly blessed palms are sacramentals, or signs of Christ's grace which help Christians in the practice of the faith, and, as they are associated with Christ's triumph, the palms symbolize victory over spiritual danger and death. For this reason, palms are associated with martyrdom, and often appear in paintings and sculpture of those who were martyred for the faith. This also explains the old custom of burning a palm in the stove in time of danger (from a threatening storm, for example).
As the blessed palms are sacramentals, then, Catholics keep them in their homes, customarily placing them behind the crucifix. The ashes used on Ash Wednesday come from the burning of blessed palms.
This Sunday was also sometimes called the Pasch of Flowers in European countries, because throughout the Middle Ages flowers were blessed on this day along with palms and olive branches. (The State of Florida is so named because Ponce de Leon landed there on Pasqua Florida Sunday.) The words "pasch" and "paschal" come from the Hebrew word "pesach'" meaning "passage" or "passover."
The Passion Sunday liturgy, incorporating both the blessing of the palms and commemoration of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem to the joyous Hosannas of the people, and the reading of the Passion Gospel, combines two contrasting elements .The two parts are linked by the traditional procession which follows the blessing and distribution of the palms and which leads into the Sacrifice of the Mass; hence symbolically reproducing the historical event of Our Lord's royal entry into Jerusalem which signifies the actual meeting of the Church with Christ; moreover, His entry foretells the entry of the faithful into the eternal Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Heaven.
Palm Procession
According to the account of a fifth-century Spanish pilgrim to the Holy Land, Passion Sunday Mass was celebrated in Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. After this the people were invited to meet again in the afternoon at the Mount of Olives, in the Church of Eleona (the grotto of the Our Father). They then proceeded to the Church of the Ascension for a service consisting of hymns and antiphons, readings and prayers, where at five o'clock in the afternoon the Gospel of the palms was read and the procession set out for the city. The people responded to the antiphons with the acclamation, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," as we say even today.
All these pilgrims carried palms, and with their little children in their arms they escorted the bishop (who represented the Savior) to the Church of the Resurrection where the processsion ended with Vespers (evening prayer).
This palm procession was introduced in the West first in France and then in Italy. In the Middle Ages the custom began of carving a wooden statue of Christ seated on a donkey which was then placed on a cart, the center of the procession. These statues were called Palm Donkeys or Palmesels, and some are preserved in museums.
In medieval Rome the papal procession set out from the papal residence at the Lateran, then the official headquarters of the Popes as the Vatican is now. The palms were blessed by a cardinal and some were distributed by acolytes at the ancient Church of St. Sylvester nearby. The Pope alsodistributed them himself in the Hall of Leo IV at the Lateran.
Holy Week
At the Name of Jesus, every knee should bend
for the Lord became obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.
Philippians 2:10,8HOLY WEEK has been held in great reverence since the very early years of the Church. No other Christian observance has interested the world so much as Holy Week. For the rituals of the Church during these few days of each year, so complex and so laden with meaning, emphatically and prophetically proclaim to the entire world the liberating and redeeming and perpetual truth of the Gospel the Good News that Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again.
As early as the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom referred to Holy Week as The Great Week, "Not that it has more days in it than other weeks, or that its days are made up of more hours than other days; but we call it great, because of the great mysteries which are then celebrated" [Homily 30, on Genesis]. In other Christian cultures we find the week before Easter referred to by several names such as the Painful Week (Hebdomada Poenosa) because of the sufferings of the Christ and of the fatigue and physical sacrifice required of the faithful in observing them.
Although in our time and nation the Church's only required food fast is to restrict meals (fast) and to abstain from meat (abstinence) on Good Friday, we learn from medieval Church documents that Christians observed a strict fast from Monday of Holy Week to the cock-crow of Easter Day. A very strict fast was usually observed from Thursday evening to Easter morning.
History also tells us that early Christian rulers issued decrees forbidding not only festive activities but also work in trade, business, and the courts. Holy Week, it was decreed, was to be spent in contemplation and meditation and the faithful were be free from worldly concerns as much as possible. (Clearly this was before anyone had the idea of "separation of Church and State.")
Confession and the Easter Duty
The discipline of fasting from food is not the only nor even the primary way in which we must prepare our entire selves body and soul to receive the benefits of our Savior's redeeming sacrifice. Physical fasting is not enough.
St. Paul warns us that "you cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all your self-indulgent passions and desires" [Galations 5:24]. We are powerless to do this alone. We must have God's help. In order to receive Christ and in order to prepare ourselves for our responsibility for His mission on earth, we must be drawn ever closer to Him in prayer and action. But sin separates us from Him. We must be convinced of our sins, repent, receive forgiveness and be reconciled to God.
Through His Grace we must try to become holy, "perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect." This is why the Church calls all her people, especially at this time of year, to the Sacrament of Penance, to perform their Easter Duty. At least once each year during the Easter season Catholics are required to confess sins, receive absolution and receive Communion in order to remain truly members of the the Church.
This is what the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, like the early Fathers of the Church, tried to teach us with the emphasis on personal awareness of how we have offended God and need His forgiveness. As Pope John Paul II said "The awareness of sin, in which the person knows before whom and towards whom he is guilty, is an indispensable pre-condition for obtaining the objective value of forgiveness. This is because He against whom the sin is committed and who is therefore offended is also the Father who has the power to fogive it." And this is what the Church invites us no, implores us to do during Holy Week.
Related pages on this site: Act of Contrition -- Confession-Penance -- Fast and Abstinence
The Triduum
In the Triduum, or Three Days, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday ,the Church gives us a singularly dramatic, intense and richly symbolic expression of the very heart of Christian belief. Even in our unspiritual time and culture, the Triduum and Easter reaffirm the essence of the Church's central beliefs in the strongest possible way a way which penetrates the deepest recesses of the human heart, and calls forth a response from all, young and old, rich and poor, and in every state of life.
Through the Church's continued observance of many ancient liturgical traditions, and also the restoration of the ancient Easter Vigil, the liturgical expression of these core truths of the faith during Holy Week is without parallel. Although the penitential season is now less severe than in times past, and some inspiring symbols and devotions were lost in the confusion of rapid and sometimes erroneous liturgical changes after the Second Vatican Council, for the believing Catholic the days of Holy Week make it possible even for us, who are so easily distracted by the world and its enticements, to concentrate with our entire being on the Events which assured us of God's inestimable love, and which made possible our Salvation.
By participating in the liturgy of the Church and by increasing our own observance of these holy days in our homes, we can deepen our understanding of these Events in the history of Salvation.
Tenebræ
The Latin word Tenebræ means "darkness." Tenebræ is very ancient service of prayers in the Church which takes place during the darkness of night. Many parishes are now reviving this extraordinarily moving service which consists of three sets of Psalms and verses from the Lamentations of Jeremiah chanted on each of three nights of Holy Week: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. (Originally this was a service of Matins said in monasteries before dawn on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday; but it customarily takes place the evenings before.)
The service begins with the nave of the church in darkness, except for a candelabrum on a stand in the sanctuary, usually containing fifteen candles arranged in an inverted `v', called a `Tenebræ hearse.' As each lamentation, introduced with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is chanted one of the candles is extinguished until only one, representing the Light of Christ remains. Then this is extinguished, leaving the church in darkness. The ministers and cantor leave the sanctuary, and a loud noise like a thunderclap (representing the earthquake during the Crucifixion) is heard; after which a single candle representing the Light of Christ is brought in, placed on the altar and the people leave in silence.
This is a very impressive service, and we hope you are able to attend with your children at least once during the Triduum. If your parish does not have Tenebræ it is worth trying to find a place that does.
If you have young children you might consider using the adaptation of this service in this book, Stations of the Cross. It is by no means as powerful as real Tenebræ, celebrated in church, but it does retain the symbolism of Christ as our Light, and it may be a workable substitute if your children are little or if the real service is not available where you live. (See Stations of the Cross.)
Also see: Seder Meal for Christians
Feast Day: | March 24 |
Born: | 1331 at Sweden |
Died: | 24 March 1381 |
Canonized: | 1484 (cultus confirmed) by Pope Innocent VIII |
Patron of: | against abortion, against miscarriages |
Saint's Days are superseded by the Sunday liturgy.
Blessed Didacus was born in Cadiz, Spain. He was baptized Joseph Francis by his parents who loved their faith and practiced it. They were delighted when their child built an altar and decorated it. He would kneel and pray to Jesus, to Our Lady and to St. Joseph. When he was old enough, Joseph learned to love the Mass and became an altar server at the Capuchin Franciscan church just down the street. He used to get up early enough to be at the church each morning and wait for the doors to be unlocked. He never missed a day. One of the Capuchin priests or brothers gave Joseph a book about the lives of the Capuchin saints. He read it and read it again learning. every story. He grew to love the holy men who were poor and humble like Jesus. The day came when he asked to join the order. He was accepted and went to Seville, Spain, for his training, called a novitiate. He began a new life with a new name, Brother Didacus. After years of preparation, Brother Didacus was ordained a priest. He was sent throughout Spain to preach to the people the Good News of Jesus which he did with joy. His homilies (sermons) were so clear and kind that people listened. They even brought friends to listen. Soon an ordinary church was too small for the crowds. When Father Didacus was preaching, the talks were held outdoors, usually in the town square or in the streets. Father Didacus loved to preach about the Blessed Trinity and was know as the Apostle of the Blessed Trinity and of Our Lady, the Mother of the Good Shepherd. He was always available to hear confessions, too. He was happy when people came to the sacrament of Reconciliation. Whenever he had some free time, he visited prisons, hospitals and the homes of shut-ins (people with infectious diseases). Father Didacus died in 1801 and was declared "blessed" by Pope Leo XIII in 1894. Blessed Didacus
Born: 1743 :: Died: 1801
Luke | |||
English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
Luke 22 |
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14. | And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. | Et cum facta esset hora, discubuit, et duodecim apostoli cum eo. | και οτε εγενετο η ωρα ανεπεσεν και οι δωδεκα αποστολοι συν αυτω |
15. | And he said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer. | Et ait illis : Desiderio desideravi hoc pascha manducare vobiscum, antequam patiar. | και ειπεν προς αυτους επιθυμια επεθυμησα τουτο το πασχα φαγειν μεθ υμων προ του με παθειν |
16. | For I say to you, that from this time I will not eat it, till it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. | Dico enim vobis, quia ex hoc non manducabo illud, donec impleatur in regno Dei. | λεγω γαρ υμιν οτι ουκετι ου μη φαγω εξ αυτου εως οτου πληρωθη εν τη βασιλεια του θεου |
17. | And having taken the chalice, he gave thanks, and said: Take, and divide it among you: | Et accepto calice gratias egit, et dixit : Accipite, et dividite inter vos. | και δεξαμενος ποτηριον ευχαριστησας ειπεν λαβετε τουτο και διαμερισατε εαυτοις |
18. | For I say to you, that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, till the kingdom of God come. | Dico enim vobis quod non bibam de generatione vitis donec regnum Dei veniat. | λεγω γαρ υμιν οτι ου μη πιω απο του γενηματος της αμπελου εως οτου η βασιλεια του θεου ελθη |
19. | And taking bread, he gave thanks, and brake; and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me. | Et accepto pane gratias egit, et fregit, et dedit eis, dicens : Hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis datur : hoc facite in meam commemorationem. | και λαβων αρτον ευχαριστησας εκλασεν και εδωκεν αυτοις λεγων τουτο εστιν το σωμα μου το υπερ υμων διδομενον τουτο ποιειτε εις την εμην αναμνησιν |
20. | In like manner the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you. | Similiter et calicem, postquam cnavit, dicens : Hic est calix novum testamentum in sanguine meo, qui pro vobis fundetur. | ωσαυτως και το ποτηριον μετα το δειπνησαι λεγων τουτο το ποτηριον η καινη διαθηκη εν τω αιματι μου το υπερ υμων εκχυνομενον |
21. | But yet behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. | Verumtamen ecce manus tradentis me, mecum est in mensa. | πλην ιδου η χειρ του παραδιδοντος με μετ εμου επι της τραπεζης |
22. | And the Son of man indeed goeth, according to that which is determined: but yet, woe to that man by whom he shall be betrayed. | Et quidem Filius hominis, secundum quod definitum est, vadit : verumtamen væ homini illi per quem tradetur. | και ο μεν υιος του ανθρωπου πορευεται κατα το ωρισμενον πλην ουαι τω ανθρωπω εκεινω δι ου παραδιδοται |
23. | And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. | Et ipsi cperunt quærere inter se quis esset ex eis qui hoc facturus esset. | και αυτοι ηρξαντο συζητειν προς εαυτους το τις αρα ειη εξ αυτων ο τουτο μελλων πρασσειν |
24. | And there was also a strife amongst them, which of them should seem to be the greater. | Facta est autem et contentio inter eos, quis eorum videretur esse major. | εγενετο δε και φιλονεικια εν αυτοις το τις αυτων δοκει ειναι μειζων |
25. | And he said to them: The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that have power over them, are called beneficent. | Dixit autem eis : Reges gentium dominantur eorum : et qui potestatem habent super eos, benefici vocantur. | ο δε ειπεν αυτοις οι βασιλεις των εθνων κυριευουσιν αυτων και οι εξουσιαζοντες αυτων ευεργεται καλουνται |
26. | But you not so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is the leader, as he that serveth. | Vos autem non sic : sed qui major est in vobis, fiat sicut minor : et qui præcessor est, sicut ministrator. | υμεις δε ουχ ουτως αλλ ο μειζων εν υμιν γενεσθω ως ο νεωτερος και ο ηγουμενος ως ο διακονων |
27. | For which is greater, he that sitteth at table, or he that serveth? Is it not he that sitteth at table? But I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth: | Nam quis major est, qui recumbit, an qui ministrat ? nonne qui recumbit ? Ego autem in medio vestrum sum, sicut qui ministrat : | τις γαρ μειζων ο ανακειμενος η ο διακονων ουχι ο ανακειμενος εγω δε ειμι εν μεσω υμων ως ο διακονων |
28. | And you are they who have continued with me in my temptations: | vos autem estis, qui permansistis mecum in tentationibus meis. | υμεις δε εστε οι διαμεμενηκοτες μετ εμου εν τοις πειρασμοις μου |
29. | And I dispose to you, as my Father hath disposed to me, a kingdom; | Et ego dispono vobis sicut disposuit mihi Pater meus regnum, | καγω διατιθεμαι υμιν καθως διεθετο μοι ο πατηρ μου βασιλειαν |
30. | That you may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom: and may sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. | ut edatis et bibatis super mensam meam in regno meo, et sedeatis super thronos judicantes duodecim tribus Israël. | ινα εσθιητε και πινητε επι της τραπεζης μου [εν τη βασιλεια μου] και καθισεσθε επι θρονων κρινοντες τας δωδεκα φυλας του ισραηλ |
31. | And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: | Ait autem Dominus : Simon, Simon, ecce Satanas expetivit vos ut cribraret sicut triticum : | ειπεν δε ο κυριος σιμων σιμων ιδου ο σατανας εξητησατο υμας του σινιασαι ως τον σιτον |
32. | But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren. | ego autem rogavi pro te ut non deficiat fides tua : et tu aliquando conversus, confirma fratres tuos. | εγω δε εδεηθην περι σου ινα μη εκλιπη η πιστις σου και συ ποτε επιστρεψας στηριξον τους αδελφους σου |
33. | Who said to him: Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. | Qui dixit ei : Domine, tecum paratus sum et in carcerem et in mortem ire. | ο δε ειπεν αυτω κυριε μετα σου ετοιμος ειμι και εις φυλακην και εις θανατον πορευεσθαι |
34. | And he said: I say to thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, till thou thrice deniest that thou knowest me. And he said to them: | At ille dixit : Dico tibi, Petre, non cantabit hodie gallus, donec ter abneges nosse me. Et dixit eis : | ο δε ειπεν λεγω σοι πετρε ου μη φωνηση σημερον αλεκτωρ πριν η τρις απαρνηση μη ειδεναι με |
35. | When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, did you want anything? | Quando misi vos sine sacculo, et pera, et calceamentis, numquid aliquid defuit vobis ? | και ειπεν αυτοις οτε απεστειλα υμας ατερ βαλαντιου και πηρας και υποδηματων μη τινος υστερησατε οι δε ειπον ουθενος |
36. | But they said: Nothing. Then said he unto them: But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a scrip; and he that hath not, let him sell his coat, and buy a sword. | At illi dixerunt : Nihil. Dixit ergo eis : Sed nunc qui habet sacculum, tollat ; similiter et peram : et qui non habet, vendat tunicam suam et emat gladium. | ειπεν ουν αυτοις αλλα νυν ο εχων βαλαντιον αρατω ομοιως και πηραν και ο μη εχων πωλησει το ιματιον αυτου και αγορασει μαχαιραν |
37. | For I say to you, that this that is written must yet be fulfilled in me: And with the wicked was he reckoned. For the things concerning me have an end. | Dico enim vobis, quoniam adhuc hoc quod scriptum est, oportet impleri in me : Et cum iniquis deputatus est. Etenim ea quæ sunt de me finem habent. | λεγω γαρ υμιν οτι ετι τουτο το γεγραμμενον δει τελεσθηναι εν εμοι το και μετα ανομων ελογισθη και γαρ τα περι εμου τελος εχει |
38. | But they said: Lord, behold here are two swords. And he said to them, It is enough. | At illi dixerunt : Domine, ecce duo gladii hic. At ille dixit eis : Satis est. | οι δε ειπον κυριε ιδου μαχαιραι ωδε δυο ο δε ειπεν αυτοις ικανον εστιν |
39. | And going out, he went, according to his custom, to the mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. | Et egressus ibat secundum consuetudinem in monte Olivarum. Secuti sunt autem illum et discipuli. | και εξελθων επορευθη κατα το εθος εις το ορος των ελαιων ηκολουθησαν δε αυτω και οι μαθηται αυτου |
40. | And when he was come to the place, he said to them: Pray, lest ye enter into temptation. | Et cum pervenisset ad locum, dixit illis : Orate ne intretis in tentationem. | γενομενος δε επι του τοπου ειπεν αυτοις προσευχεσθε μη εισελθειν εις πειρασμον |
41. | And he was withdrawn away from them a stone's cast; and kneeling down, he prayed, | Et ipse avulsus est ab eis quantum jactus est lapidis : et positis genibus orabat, | και αυτος απεσπασθη απ αυτων ωσει λιθου βολην και θεις τα γονατα προσηυχετο |
42. | Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done. | dicens : Pater, si vis, transfer calicem istum a me : verumtamen non mea voluntas, sed tua fiat. | λεγων πατερ ει βουλει παρενεγκειν το ποτηριον τουτο απ εμου πλην μη το θελημα μου αλλα το σον γενεσθω |
43. | And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. | Apparuit autem illi angelus de cælo, confortans eum. Et factus in agonia, prolixius orabat. | ωφθη δε αυτω αγγελος απ ουρανου ενισχυων αυτον |
44. | And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground. | Et factus est sudor ejus sicut guttæ sanguinis decurrentis in terram. | και γενομενος εν αγωνια εκτενεστερον προσηυχετο εγενετο δε ο ιδρως αυτου ωσει θρομβοι αιματος καταβαινοντες επι την γην |
45. | And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. | Et cum surrexisset ab oratione et venisset ad discipulos suos, invenit eos dormientes præ tristitia. | και αναστας απο της προσευχης ελθων προς τους μαθητας ευρεν αυτους κοιμωμενους απο της λυπης |
46. | And he said to them: Why sleep you? arise, pray, lest you enter into temptation. | Et ait illis : Quid dormitis ? surgite, orate, ne intretis in tentationem. | και ειπεν αυτοις τι καθευδετε ανασταντες προσευχεσθε ινα μη εισελθητε εις πειρασμον |
47. | As he was yet speaking, behold a multitude; and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near to Jesus, for to kiss him. | Adhuc eo loquente, ecce turba : et qui vocabatur Judas, unus de duodecim, antecedebat eos, et appropinquavit Jesu ut oscularetur eum. | ετι δε αυτου λαλουντος ιδου οχλος και ο λεγομενος ιουδας εις των δωδεκα προηρχετο αυτους και ηγγισεν τω ιησου φιλησαι αυτον |
48. | And Jesus said to him: Judas, dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss? | Jesus autem dixit illi : Juda, osculo Filium hominis tradis ? | ο δε ιησους ειπεν αυτω ιουδα φιληματι τον υιον του ανθρωπου παραδιδως |
49. | And they that were about him, seeing what would follow, said to him: Lord, shall we strike with the sword? | Videntes autem hi qui circa ipsum erant, quod futurum erat, dixerunt ei : Domine, si percutimus in gladio ? | ιδοντες δε οι περι αυτον το εσομενον ειπον αυτω κυριε ει παταξομεν εν μαχαιρα |
50. | And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. | Et percussit unus ex illis servum principis sacerdotum, et amputavit auriculam ejus dexteram. | και επαταξεν εις τις εξ αυτων τον δουλον του αρχιερεως και αφειλεν αυτου το ους το δεξιον |
51. | But Jesus answering, said: Suffer ye thus far. And when he had touched his ear, he healed him. | Respondens autem Jesus, ait : Sinite usque huc. Et cum tetigisset auriculam ejus, sanavit eum. | αποκριθεις δε ο ιησους ειπεν εατε εως τουτου και αψαμενος του ωτιου αυτου ιασατο αυτον |
52. | And Jesus said to the chief priests, and magistrates of the temple, and the ancients, that were come unto him: Are ye come out, as it were against a thief, with swords and clubs? | Dixit autem Jesus ad eos qui venerant ad se principes sacerdotum, et magistratus templi, et seniores : Quasi ad latronem existis cum gladiis et fustibus ? | ειπεν δε ο ιησους προς τους παραγενομενους επ αυτον αρχιερεις και στρατηγους του ιερου και πρεσβυτερους ως επι ληστην εξεληλυθατε μετα μαχαιρων και ξυλων |
53. | When I was daily with you in the temple, you did not stretch forth your hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. | Cum quotidie vobiscum fuerim in templo, non extendistis manus in me : sed hæc est hora vestra, et potestas tenebrarum. | καθ ημεραν οντος μου μεθ υμων εν τω ιερω ουκ εξετεινατε τας χειρας επ εμε αλλ αυτη υμων εστιν η ωρα και η εξουσια του σκοτους |
54. | And apprehending him, they led him to the high priest's house. But Peter followed afar off. | Comprehendentes autem eum, duxerunt ad domum principis sacerdotum : Petrus vero sequebatur a longe. | συλλαβοντες δε αυτον ηγαγον και εισηγαγον αυτον εις τον οικον του αρχιερεως ο δε πετρος ηκολουθει μακροθεν |
55. | And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were sitting about it, Peter was in the midst of them. | Accenso autem igne in medio atrii et circumsedentibus illis, erat Petrus in medio eorum. | αψαντων δε πυρ εν μεσω της αυλης και συγκαθισαντων αυτων εκαθητο ο πετρος εν μεσω αυτων |
56. | Whom when a certain servant maid had seen sitting at the light, and had earnestly beheld him, she said: This man also was with him. | Quem cum vidisset ancilla quædam sedentem ad lumen, et eum fuisset intuita, dixit : Et hic cum illo erat. | ιδουσα δε αυτον παιδισκη τις καθημενον προς το φως και ατενισασα αυτω ειπεν και ουτος συν αυτω ην |
57. | But he denied him, saying: Woman, I know him not. | At ille negavit eum, dicens : Mulier, non novi illum. | ο δε ηρνησατο αυτον λεγων γυναι ουκ οιδα αυτον |
58. | And after a little while, another seeing him, said: Thou also art one of them. But Peter said: O man, I am not. | Et post pusillum alius videns eum, dixit : Et tu de illis es. Petrus vero ait : O homo, non sum. | και μετα βραχυ ετερος ιδων αυτον εφη και συ εξ αυτων ει ο δε πετρος ειπεν ανθρωπε ουκ ειμι |
59. | And after the space, as it were of one hour, another certain man affirmed, saying: Of a truth, this man was also with him; for he is also a Galilean. | Et intervallo facto quasi horæ unius, alius quidam affirmabat, dicens : Vere et hic cum illo erat : nam et Galilæus est. | και διαστασης ωσει ωρας μιας αλλος τις διισχυριζετο λεγων επ αληθειας και ουτος μετ αυτου ην και γαρ γαλιλαιος εστιν |
60. | And Peter said: Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, as he was yet speaking, the cock crew. | Et ait Petrus : Homo, nescio quid dicis. Et continuo, adhuc illo loquente, cantavit gallus. | ειπεν δε ο πετρος ανθρωπε ουκ οιδα ο λεγεις και παραχρημα ετι λαλουντος αυτου εφωνησεν αλεκτωρ |
61. | And the Lord turning looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as he had said: Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. | Et conversus Dominus respexit Petrum, et recordatus est Petrus verbi Domini, sicut dixerat : Quia priusquam gallus cantet, ter me negabis. | και στραφεις ο κυριος ενεβλεψεν τω πετρω και υπεμνησθη ο πετρος του λογου του κυριου ως ειπεν αυτω οτι πριν αλεκτορα φωνησαι απαρνηση με τρις |
62. | And Peter going out, wept bitterly. | Et egressus foras Petrus flevit amare. | και εξελθων εξω ο πετρος εκλαυσεν πικρως |
63. | And the men that held him, mocked him, and struck him. | Et viri qui tenebant illum, illudebant ei, cædentes. | και οι ανδρες οι συνεχοντες τον ιησουν ενεπαιζον αυτω δεροντες |
64. | And they blindfolded him, and smote his face. And they asked him, saying: Prophesy, who is it that struck thee? | Et velaverunt eum, et percutiebant faciem ejus : et interrogabant eum, dicentes : Prophetiza, quis est, qui te percussit ? | και περικαλυψαντες αυτον ετυπτον αυτου το προσωπον και επηρωτων αυτον λεγοντες προφητευσον τις εστιν ο παισας σε |
65. | And blaspheming, many other things they said against him. | Et alia multa blasphemantes dicebant in eum. | και ετερα πολλα βλασφημουντες ελεγον εις αυτον |
66. | And as soon as it was day, the ancients of the people, and the chief priests and scribes, cane together; and they brought him into their council, saying: If thou be the Christ, tell us. | Et ut factus est dies, convenerunt seniores plebis, et principes sacerdotum, et scribæ, et duxerunt illum in concilium suum, dicentes : Si tu es Christus, dic nobis. | και ως εγενετο ημερα συνηχθη το πρεσβυτεριον του λαου αρχιερεις και γραμματεις και ανηγαγον αυτον εις το συνεδριον αυτων λεγοντες |
67. | And he saith to them: If I shall tell you, you will not believe me. | Et ait illis : Si vobis dixero, non credetis mihi : | ει συ ει ο χριστος ειπε ημιν ειπεν δε αυτοις εαν υμιν ειπω ου μη πιστευσητε |
68. | And if I shall also ask you, you will not answer me, nor let me go. | si autem et interrogavero, non respondebitis mihi, neque dimittetis. | εαν δε και ερωτησω ου μη αποκριθητε μοι η απολυσητε |
69. | But hereafter the Son of man shall be sitting on the right hand of the power of God. | Ex hoc autem erit Filius hominis sedens a dextris virtutis Dei. | απο του νυν εσται ο υιος του ανθρωπου καθημενος εκ δεξιων της δυναμεως του θεου |
70. | Then said they all: Art thou then the Son of God? Who said: You say that I am. | Dixerunt autem omnes : Tu ergo es Filius Dei ? Qui ait : Vos dicitis, quia ego sum. | ειπον δε παντες συ ουν ει ο υιος του θεου ο δε προς αυτους εφη υμεις λεγετε οτι εγω ειμι |
71. | And they said: What need we any further testimony? for we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth. | At illi dixerunt : Quid adhuc desideramus testimonium ? ipsi enim audivimus de ore ejus. | οι δε ειπον τι ετι χρειαν εχομεν μαρτυριας αυτοι γαρ ηκουσαμεν απο του στοματος αυτου |
Luke 23 |
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1. | AND the whole multitude of them rising up, led him to Pilate. | Et surgens omnis multitudo eorum, duxerunt illum ad Pilatum. | και ανασταν απαν το πληθος αυτων ηγαγον αυτον επι τον πιλατον |
2. | And they began to accuse him, saying: We have found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he is Christ the king. | Cperunt autem illum accusare, dicentes : Hunc invenimus subvertentem gentem nostram, et prohibentem tributa dare Cæsari, et dicentem se Christum regem esse. | ηρξαντο δε κατηγορειν αυτου λεγοντες τουτον ευρομεν διαστρεφοντα το εθνος και κωλυοντα καισαρι φορους διδοναι λεγοντα εαυτον χριστον βασιλεα ειναι |
3. | And Pilate asked him, saying: Art thou the king of the Jews? But he answering, said: Thou sayest it. | Pilatus autem interrogavit eum, dicens : Tu es rex Judæorum ? At ille respondens ait : Tu dicis. | ο δε πιλατος επηρωτησεν αυτον λεγων συ ει ο βασιλευς των ιουδαιων ο δε αποκριθεις αυτω εφη συ λεγεις |
4. | And Pilate said to the chief priests and to the multitudes: I find no cause in this man. | Ait autem Pilatus ad principes sacerdotum et turbas : Nihil invenio causæ in hoc homine. | ο δε πιλατος ειπεν προς τους αρχιερεις και τους οχλους ουδεν ευρισκω αιτιον εν τω ανθρωπω τουτω |
5. | But they were more earnest, saying: He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place. | At illi invalescebant, dicentes : Commovet populum docens per universam Judæam, incipiens a Galilæa usque huc. | οι δε επισχυον λεγοντες οτι ανασειει τον λαον διδασκων καθ ολης της ιουδαιας αρξαμενος απο της γαλιλαιας εως ωδε |
6. | But Pilate hearing Galilee, asked if the man were of Galilee? | Pilatus autem audiens Galilæam, interrogavit si homo Galilæus esset. | πιλατος δε ακουσας γαλιλαιαν επηρωτησεν ει ο ανθρωπος γαλιλαιος εστιν |
7. | And when he understood that he was of Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him away to Herod, who was also himself at Jerusalem, in those days. | Et ut cognovit quod de Herodis potestate esset, remisit eum ad Herodem, qui et ipse Jerosolymis erat illis diebus. | και επιγνους οτι εκ της εξουσιας ηρωδου εστιν ανεπεμψεν αυτον προς ηρωδην οντα και αυτον εν ιεροσολυμοις εν ταυταις ταις ημεραις |
8. | And Herod, seeing Jesus, was very glad; for he was desirous of a long time to see him, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to see some sign wrought by him. | Herodes autem viso Jesu, gavisus est valde. Erat enim cupiens ex multo tempore videre eum, eo quod audierat multa de eo, et sperabat signum aliquod videre ab eo fieri. | ο δε ηρωδης ιδων τον ιησουν εχαρη λιαν ην γαρ θελων εξ ικανου ιδειν αυτον δια το ακουειν πολλα περι αυτου και ηλπιζεν τι σημειον ιδειν υπ αυτου γινομενον |
9. | And he questioned him in many words. But he answered him nothing. | Interrogabat autem eum multis sermonibus. At ipse nihil illi respondebat. | επηρωτα δε αυτον εν λογοις ικανοις αυτος δε ουδεν απεκρινατο αυτω |
10. | And the chief priests and the scribes stood by, earnestly accusing him. | Stabant autem principes sacerdotum et scribæ constanter accusantes eum. | ειστηκεισαν δε οι αρχιερεις και οι γραμματεις ευτονως κατηγορουντες αυτου |
11. | And Herod with his army set him at nought, and mocked him, putting on him a white garment, and sent him back to Pilate. | Sprevit autem illum Herodes cum exercitu suo : et illusit indutum veste alba, et remisit ad Pilatum. | εξουθενησας δε αυτον ο ηρωδης συν τοις στρατευμασιν αυτου και εμπαιξας περιβαλων αυτον εσθητα λαμπραν ανεπεμψεν αυτον τω πιλατω |
12. | And Herod and Pilate were made friends, that same day; for before they were enemies one to another. | Et facti sunt amici Herodes et Pilatus in ipsa die : nam antea inimici erant ad invicem. | εγενοντο δε φιλοι ο τε πιλατος και ο ηρωδης εν αυτη τη ημερα μετ αλληλων προυπηρχον γαρ εν εχθρα οντες προς εαυτους |
13. | And Pilate, calling together the chief priests, and the magistrates, and the people, | Pilatus autem, convocatis principibus sacerdotum, et magistratibus, et plebe, | πιλατος δε συγκαλεσαμενος τους αρχιερεις και τους αρχοντας και τον λαον |
14. | Said to them: You have presented unto me this man, as one that perverteth the people; and behold I, having examined him before you, find no cause in this man, in those things wherein you accuse him. | dixit ad illos : Obtulistis mihi hunc hominem, quasi avertentem populum, et ecce ego coram vobis interrogans, nullam causam inveni in homine isto ex his in quibus eum accusatis. | ειπεν προς αυτους προσηνεγκατε μοι τον ανθρωπον τουτον ως αποστρεφοντα τον λαον και ιδου εγω ενωπιον υμων ανακρινας ουδεν ευρον εν τω ανθρωπω τουτω αιτιον ων κατηγορειτε κατ αυτου |
15. | No, nor Herod neither. For I sent you to him, and behold, nothing worthy of death is done to him. | Sed neque Herodes : nam remisi vos ad illum, et ecce nihil dignum morte actum est ei. | αλλ ουδε ηρωδης ανεπεμψα γαρ υμας προς αυτον και ιδου ουδεν αξιον θανατου εστιν πεπραγμενον αυτω |
16. | I will chastise him therefore, and release him. | Emendatum ergo illum dimittam. | παιδευσας ουν αυτον απολυσω |
17. | Now of necessity he was to release unto them one upon the feast day. | Necesse autem habebat dimittere eis per diem festum unum. | αναγκην δε ειχεν απολυειν αυτοις κατα εορτην ενα |
18. | But the whole multitude together cried out, saying: Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: | Exclamavit autem simul universa turba, dicens : Tolle hunc, et dimitte nobis Barabbam : | ανεκραξαν δε παμπληθει λεγοντες αιρε τουτον απολυσον δε ημιν βαραββαν |
19. | Who, for a certain sedition made in the city, and for a murder, was cast into prison. | qui erat propter seditionem quamdam factam in civitate et homicidium missus in carcerem. | οστις ην δια στασιν τινα γενομενην εν τη πολει και φονον βεβλημενος εις φυλακην |
20. | And Pilate again spoke to them, desiring to release Jesus. | Iterum autem Pilatus locutus est ad eos, volens dimittere Jesum. | παλιν ουν ο πιλατος προσεφωνησεν θελων απολυσαι τον ιησουν |
21. | But they cried again, saying: Crucify him, crucify him. | At illi succlamabant, dicentes : Crucifige, crucifige eum. | οι δε επεφωνουν λεγοντες σταυρωσον σταυρωσον αυτον |
22. | And he said to them the third time: Why, what evil hath this man done? I find no cause of death in him. I will chastise him therefore, and let him go. | Ille autem tertio dixit ad illos : Quid enim mali fecit iste ? nullam causam mortis invenio in eo : corripiam ergo illum et dimittam. | ο δε τριτον ειπεν προς αυτους τι γαρ κακον εποιησεν ουτος ουδεν αιτιον θανατου ευρον εν αυτω παιδευσας ουν αυτον απολυσω |
23. | But they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified; and their voices prevailed. | At illi instabant vocibus magnis postulantes ut crucifigeretur : et invalescebant voces eorum. | οι δε επεκειντο φωναις μεγαλαις αιτουμενοι αυτον σταυρωθηναι και κατισχυον αι φωναι αυτων και των αρχιερεων |
24. | And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. | Et Pilatus adjudicavit fieri petitionem eorum. | ο δε πιλατος επεκρινεν γενεσθαι το αιτημα αυτων |
25. | And he released unto them him who for murder and sedition, had been cast into prison, whom they had desired; but Jesus he delivered up to their will. | Dimisit autem illis eum qui propter homicidium et seditionem missus fuerat in carcerem, quem petebant : Jesum vero tradidit voluntati eorum. | απελυσεν δε τον δια στασιν και φονον βεβλημενον εις την φυλακην ον ητουντο τον δε ιησουν παρεδωκεν τω θεληματι αυτων |
26. | And as they led him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country; and they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus. | Et cum ducerent eum, apprehenderunt Simonem quemdam Cyrenensem venientem de villa : et imposuerunt illi crucem portare post Jesum. | και ως απηγαγον αυτον επιλαβομενοι σιμωνος τινος κυρηναιου ερχομενου απ αγρου επεθηκαν αυτω τον σταυρον φερειν οπισθεν του ιησου |
27. | And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him. | Sequebatur autem illum multa turba populi et mulierum, quæ plangebant et lamentabantur eum. | ηκολουθει δε αυτω πολυ πληθος του λαου και γυναικων αι και εκοπτοντο και εθρηνουν αυτον |
28. | But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children. | Conversus autem ad illas Jesus, dixit : Filiæ Jerusalem, nolite flere super me, sed super vos ipsas flete et super filios vestros. | στραφεις δε προς αυτας ο ιησους ειπεν θυγατερες ιερουσαλημ μη κλαιετε επ εμε πλην εφ εαυτας κλαιετε και επι τα τεκνα υμων |
29. | For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck. | Quoniam ecce venient dies in quibus dicent : Beatæ steriles, et ventres qui non genuerunt, et ubera quæ non lactaverunt. | οτι ιδου ερχονται ημεραι εν αις ερουσιν μακαριαι αι στειραι και κοιλιαι αι ουκ εγεννησαν και μαστοι οι ουκ εθηλασαν |
30. | Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us. | Tunc incipient dicere montibus : Cadite super nos ; et collibus : Operite nos. | τοτε αρξονται λεγειν τοις ορεσιν πεσετε εφ ημας και τοις βουνοις καλυψατε ημας |
31. | For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry? | Quia si in viridi ligno hæc faciunt, in arido quid fiet ? | οτι ει εν τω υγρω ξυλω ταυτα ποιουσιν εν τω ξηρω τι γενηται |
32. | And there were also two other malefactors led with him to be put to death. | Ducebantur autem et alii duo nequam cum eo, ut interficerentur. | ηγοντο δε και ετεροι δυο κακουργοι συν αυτω αναιρεθηναι |
33. | And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified him there; and the robbers, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. | Et postquam venerunt in locum qui vocatur Calvariæ, ibi crucifixerunt eum : et latrones, unum a dextris, et alterum a sinistris. | και οτε απηλθον επι τον τοπον τον καλουμενον κρανιον εκει εσταυρωσαν αυτον και τους κακουργους ον μεν εκ δεξιων ον δε εξ αριστερων |
34. | And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But they, dividing his garments, cast lots. | Jesus autem dicebat : Pater, dimitte illis : non enim sciunt quid faciunt. Dividentes vero vestimenta ejus, miserunt sortes. | ο δε ιησους ελεγεν πατερ αφες αυτοις ου γαρ οιδασιν τι ποιουσιν διαμεριζομενοι δε τα ιματια αυτου εβαλον κληρον |
35. | And the people stood beholding, and the rulers with them derided him, saying: He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the elect of God. | Et stabat populus spectans, et deridebant eum principes cum eis, dicentes : Alios salvos fecit, se salvum faciat, si hic est Christus Dei electus. | και ειστηκει ο λαος θεωρων εξεμυκτηριζον δε και οι αρχοντες συν αυτοις λεγοντες αλλους εσωσεν σωσατω εαυτον ει ουτος εστιν ο χριστος ο του θεου εκλεκτος |
36. | And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, | Illudebant autem ei et milites accedentes, et acetum offerentes ei, | ενεπαιζον δε αυτω και οι στρατιωται προσερχομενοι και οξος προσφεροντες αυτω |
37. | And saying: If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. | et dicentes : Si tu es rex Judæorum, salvum te fac. | και λεγοντες ει συ ει ο βασιλευς των ιουδαιων σωσον σεαυτον |
38. | And there was also a superscription written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. | Erat autem et superscriptio scripta super eum litteris græcis, et latinis, et hebraicis : Hic est rex Judæorum. | ην δε και επιγραφη γεγραμμενη επ αυτω γραμμασιν ελληνικοις και ρωμαικοις και εβραικοις ουτος εστιν ο βασιλευς των ιουδαιων |
39. | And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed him, saying: If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. | Unus autem de his, qui pendebant, latronibus, blasphemabat eum, dicens : Si tu es Christus, salvum fac temetipsum et nos. | εις δε των κρεμασθεντων κακουργων εβλασφημει αυτον λεγων ει συ ει ο χριστος σωσον σεαυτον και ημας |
40. | But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? | Respondens autem alter increpabat eum, dicens : Neque tu times Deum, quod in eadem damnatione es. | αποκριθεις δε ο ετερος επετιμα αυτω λεγων ουδε φοβη συ τον θεον οτι εν τω αυτω κριματι ει |
41. | And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. | Et nos quidem juste, nam digna factis recipimus : hic vero nihil mali gessit. | και ημεις μεν δικαιως αξια γαρ ων επραξαμεν απολαμβανομεν ουτος δε ουδεν ατοπον επραξεν |
42. | And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. | Et dicebat ad Jesum : Domine, memento mei cum veneris in regnum tuum. | και ελεγεν τω ιησου μνησθητι μου κυριε οταν ελθης εν τη βασιλεια σου |
43. | And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. | Et dixit illi Jesus : Amen dico tibi : Hodie mecum eris in paradiso. | και ειπεν αυτω ο ιησους αμην λεγω σοι σημερον μετ εμου εση εν τω παραδεισω |
44. | And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. | Erat autem fere hora sexta, et tenebræ factæ sunt in universam terram usque ad horam nonam. | ην δε ωσει ωρα εκτη και σκοτος εγενετο εφ ολην την γην εως ωρας ενατης |
45. | And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. | Et obscuratus est sol, et velum templi scissum est medium. | και εσκοτισθη ο ηλιος και εσχισθη το καταπετασμα του ναου μεσον |
46. | And Jesus crying out with a loud voice, said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost. | Et clamans voce magna Jesus ait : Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum. Et hæc dicens, expiravit. | και φωνησας φωνη μεγαλη ο ιησους ειπεν πατερ εις χειρας σου παραθησομαι το πνευμα μου και ταυτα ειπων εξεπνευσεν |
47. | Now the centurion, seeing what was done, glorified God, saying: Indeed this was a just man. | Videns autem centurio quod factum fuerat, glorificavit Deum, dicens : Vere hic homo justus erat. | ιδων δε ο εκατονταρχος το γενομενον εδοξασεν τον θεον λεγων οντως ο ανθρωπος ουτος δικαιος ην |
48. | And all the multitude of them that were come together to that sight, and saw the things that were done, returned striking their breasts. | Et omnis turba eorum, qui simul aderant ad spectaculum istud, et videbant quæ fiebant, percutientes pectora sua revertebantur. | και παντες οι συμπαραγενομενοι οχλοι επι την θεωριαν ταυτην θεωρουντες τα γενομενα τυπτοντες εαυτων τα στηθη υπεστρεφον |
49. | And all his acquaintance, and the women that had followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. | Stabant autem omnes noti ejus a longe, et mulieres, quæ secutæ eum erant a Galilæa, hæc videntes. | ειστηκεισαν δε παντες οι γνωστοι αυτου μακροθεν και γυναικες αι συνακολουθησασαι αυτω απο της γαλιλαιας ορωσαι ταυτα |
50. | And behold there was a man named Joseph, who was a counsellor, a good and just man, | Et ecce vir nomine Joseph, qui erat decurio, vir bonus et justus : | και ιδου ανηρ ονοματι ιωσηφ βουλευτης υπαρχων ανηρ αγαθος και δικαιος |
51. | (The same had not consented to their counsel and doings;) of Arimathea, a city of Judea; who also himself looked for the kingdom of God. | hic non consenserat consilio, et actibus eorum, ab Arimathæa civitate Judææ, qui exspectabat et ipse regnum Dei : | ουτος ουκ ην συγκατατεθειμενος τη βουλη και τη πραξει αυτων απο αριμαθαιας πολεως των ιουδαιων ος και προσεδεχετο και αυτος την βασιλειαν του θεου |
52. | This man went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. | hic accessit ad Pilatum et petiit corpus Jesu : | ουτος προσελθων τω πιλατω ητησατο το σωμα του ιησου |
53. | And taking him down, he wrapped him in fine linen, and laid him in a sepulchre that was hewed in stone, wherein never yet any man had been laid. | et depositum involvit sindone, et posuit eum in monumento exciso, in quo nondum quisquam positus fuerat. | και καθελων αυτο ενετυλιξεν αυτο σινδονι και εθηκεν αυτο εν μνηματι λαξευτω ου ουκ ην ουδεπω ουδεις κειμενος |
54. | And it was the day of the Parasceve, and the sabbath drew on. | Et dies erat parasceves, et sabbatum illucescebat. | και ημερα ην παρασκευη σαββατον επεφωσκεν |
55. | And the women that were come with him from Galilee, following after, saw the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. | Subsecutæ autem mulieres, quæ cum eo venerant de Galilæa, viderunt monumentum, et quemadmodum positum erat corpus ejus. | κατακολουθησασαι δε γυναικες αιτινες ησαν συνεληλυθυιαι αυτω εκ της γαλιλαιας εθεασαντο το μνημειον και ως ετεθη το σωμα αυτου |
56. | And returning, they prepared spices and ointments; and on the sabbath day they rested, according to the commandment. | Et revertentes paraverunt aromata, et unguenta : et sabbato quidem siluerunt secundum mandatum. | υποστρεψασαι δε ητοιμασαν αρωματα και μυρα και το μεν σαββατον ησυχασαν κατα την εντολην |
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