Mass Readings
First Reading – Is 50:4-9a
The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; And I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. He is near who upholds my right; if anyone wishes to oppose me, let us appear together. Who disputes my right? Let him confront me. See, the Lord GOD is my help; who will prove me wrong?
Responsorial Psalm – 69:8-10, 21-22, 31 and 33-34 (R.14c)
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother’s sons,
because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me. R.
Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak,
I looked for sympathy, but there was none;
for consolers, not one could I find.
Rather they put gall in my food,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. R.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving:
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.” R.
Gospel – Mt 26:14-25
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?”
He said,
“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
‘The teacher says, AMy appointed time draws near;
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.
When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
He said in reply,
“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”
Featured Saints
St. Martin I, Pope and martyr (†655). He was exiled to Crimea by Emperor Constans II for having condemned the Monothelist heresy, where he died after much suffering.
St. Hermenegild, martyr (†586). Son of Leovigild, Arian king of the Visigoths of Toledo, Spain. He was killed by order of his father in Tarragona, Spain, for refusing to receive Communion from an Arian bishop.
Blessed Ida of Louvain, virgin (†circa 1290). After suffering at the hands of her father who denied her vocation, she finally succeeded in persuading him and entered the Cistercian convent of Roosendaal, in present day-Belgium.
St. Caradoc, priest and hermit (†1124). He played harp in the Welsh royal palace, but realizing that dogs were more highly esteemed in that milieu than men, he decided to serve the King of Heaven.
St. Sabás Reyes Salazar, priest and martyr (†1927). Gifted with great pastoral zeal; after three days of torture he was shot during the antiChristian persecution in Mexico.
Blesseds Francis Dickenson and Gerard Miles, priests and martyrs (†1590). Ordained priests in Rheims (France), they returned to their native England to clandestinely exercise their ministry. For this they were imprisoned, tortured and hanged in Rochester during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Blessed Seraphim Morazzone, priest (†1822). Parish priest of Lecco, Italy for forty-nine years; he was considered by many to be another Cure of Ars.
Blessed Scubilion Rousseau, religious (†1867). Entered the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and spent the rest of his life as a missionary on Reunion Island (Indian Ocean), educating children and teaching the Faith to slaves.
Blessed Margaret of Castello, virgin (+1320). Born in Metola, Italy, she was abandoned by her noble parents owing to her blindness from birth. A poor couple offered her shelter, and she became a Dominican tertiary and dedicated herself to prayer and good works.
Blessed Ida, widow (†1113). After the death of her husband, Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, France, she dedicated herself to works of piety and charity. She was the mother of Godfrey of Bouillon.
Image gallery
