Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
FIRST READING
Exodus 12:1–8, 11–14
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
“This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the Lord. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the Lord! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.
“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 116:12–13, 15–16bc, 17–18 (see 1 Corinthians 10:16)
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid; you have loosed my bonds.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
SECOND READING
1 Corinthians 11:23–26
Brothers and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
John 13:34
I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: Love one another as I have loved you.
GOSPEL
John 13:1–15
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
Chrism Mass
FIRST READING
Isaiah 61:1–3a, 6a, 8b–9
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn; to place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, to give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit.
You yourselves shall be named priests of the LORD, ministers of our God you shall be called.
I will give them their recompense faithfully, a lasting covenant I will make with them. Their descendants shall be renowned among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them as a race the LORD has blessed.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 89:21–22, 25 and 27 (2)
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
“I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him. That my hand may always be with him; and that my arm may make him strong.”
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him; and through my name shall his horn be exalted. He shall say of me, ‘You are my father, my God, the Rock, my savior!’”
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
SECOND READING
Revelation 1:5–8
[Grace to you and peace] from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his Blood, who has made us into a Kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes. Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
Isaiah 61:1 (cited in Luke 4:18)
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
GOSPEL
Luke 4:16–21
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
REFLECTIONS:
Does your love waver when you encounter bitter disappointments
and injury from others? As Jesus' hour of humiliation draws near
he reveals to his disciples the supreme humility which shaped the love
he had for them. He stoops to perform a menial task reserved for servants
– the washing of smelly, dirty feet. In stooping to serve his disciples
Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one of them and that the rest would
abandon him through disloyalty. Such knowledge could have easily led to
bitterness or hatred. Jesus met the injury of betrayal and disloyalty with
the greatest humility and supreme love. Jesus loved his disciples to the
very end, even when they failed him and forsook him. The Lord loves each
of us unconditionally. His love has power to set us free to serve others
with Christ-like compassion and humility. Does the love of Christ rule
in your heart, thoughts, intentions and actions?
Saint Augustine in his sermon for this day, wrote: “He had the power
of laying down his life; we by contrast cannot choose the length of our
lives, and we die even if it is against our will. He, by dying, destroyed
death in himself; we are freed from death only in his death. His body did
not see corruption; our body will see corruption and only then be clothed
through him in incorruption at the end of the world. He needed no help
from us in saving us; without him we can do nothing. He gave himself to
us as the vine to the branches; apart from him we cannot have life. Finally,
even if brothers die for brothers, yet no martyr by shedding his blood
brings forgiveness for the sins of his brothers, as Christ brought forgiveness
to us. In this he gave us, not an example to imitate but a reason for rejoicing.
Inasmuch, then, as they shed their blood for their brothers, the martyrs
provided “the same kind of meal” as they had received at the Lord’s table.
Let us then love one another as Christ also loved us and gave himself up
for us.”
"Lord Jesus, your love conquers all and never fails. Help me to love
others freely, with heart-felt compassion , kindness and goodness. Where
there is injury, may I sow peace rather than strife."
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