PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

ACCORDING TO SAINT MATTHEW

26, 14; 27, 66.
CYCLE A

C. At that time, one of the Twelve, named Judas Iscariot,

went to the chief priests and said to them:
S. "How much do they give me if I give them Jesus?
C. They agreed to give him thirty silver coins.
And from that moment on I was looking for an opportunity
to give it to him.
The first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples came to Jesus and asked him:

S. "Where do you want us to prepare Easter dinner for

you?"

C. He replied:

H "Go to the city, to Fulano's house and tell him:

'The Master says: my hour is at hand.
I am going to celebrate the Passover with my
disciples in your house.' "

C. They did as Jesus had commanded them

and prepared the Passover meal.
In the evening he sat down at table with the Twelve, and as
they were dining, he said to them:
 H "I assure you that one of you is going to turn me in".

C. They became very sad and began to ask him one by

one:

S. "Is it me, Lord?"

C. He replied:

H "He who dips his bread in the same dish as I do,

he will betray me.
For the Son of Man is going to die,
as it is written of him;
but woe to him through whom the Son of man
will be delivered!
It would have been better for that man if he had
never been born".

C. Then Judas, the one who was to betray him, asked:

S. "Is it me, Master?"
C. Jesus answered him:

H "You said so."

C. During supper, Jesus took a loaf of bread,

pronounced the blessing,
He broke it and gave it to the disciples saying:
H "Take and eat. This is my Body.
C. Then he took a glass of wine in his hands,
and pronounced the thanksgiving,
he passed it on to his disciples, saying:

H "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my Blood, the

Blood of the new covenant,
that will be poured out for all,
for the forgiveness of sins.
I tell you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine
until the day I drink with you.
the new wine in my Father's Kingdom".

C. After singing the hymn, they went out to the Mount of

Olives.
Then Jesus said to them:
H - Tonightyou will all fall because of me, for it is written,
"I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will
be scattered." But when I rise again, I will go before you
to Galilee.

C. Then Peter replied:

S. "Even if everyone is scandalized by you,

I will never be shocked.
C. Jesus said to him:

H "I assure you that this very night,

 before the rooster crows,
you have denied me three times.

C. Peter replied:
S. "Even if I have to die with you,
I will not deny you.

C. And all the disciples said the same.

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane,
and said to the disciples:

H "Stay here, while I go pray further."

C. He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and
he began to feel sadness and anguish. Then he said to them:

H "My soul is filled with a deadly sadness. Stay here

and watch with me".

C. He advanced a few more steps, prostrated his face to the

ground and began to pray, saying:

H "My father, if it is possible,

to let this chalice pass from me;
but not to be done the way I want it to be done,
but as you wish".

C. He then returned to where the disciples were

and found them asleep. He said to Pedro:
H "Have they not been able to watch with me for even
an hour?
Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation,
for the spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak".

C. And turning away again, he began to pray, saying:

H "My Father,
if this cup cannot pass without my drinking it,
thy will be done".

C. Then he returned and found his disciples asleep again, for

their eyes were heavy with sleep.
He left them and went to pray again,
for the third time, repeating the same words.
After this he returned to where the disciples were and said to
them:

H "Sleep now and rest.

Behold, the time has come
and the Son of Man will be delivered
in the hands of sinners.
Get up, let's go!
The one who is going to deliver me is already here".

C. Jesus was still speaking when Judas arrived,

one of the twelve,
accompanied by a large mob with swords and sticks, sent by
the high priests
and the village elders.
The one who was going to deliver it had given them this
sign:
S. "He to whom I give a kiss,
That is: Learn it".

C. At once he came to Jesus and said:

S. "Good evening, Master!"

C. And she kissed him. Jesus said to him:

H "Dude, is this what you came for?"

C. Then they approached Jesus,

and seized him.
One of those who were with Jesus drew his sword,
He struck a servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.
Jesus said to him:

H "Return the sword to its place,

For he who uses the sword shall die by the sword.
Don't you think that if I were to ask my Father,
He would put more than twelve legions of angels at
my disposal right now?
But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled,
which says that it must be so?'

C. Then Jesus said to the rabble:

H "Have you come out to seize me like a bandit with

swords and sticks?
 Every day I taught, sitting in the temple, and I was
not apprehended. But all this has come to pass that
the predictions of the prophets might be fulfilled."
 C. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.
Those who seized Jesus took him to the house of the high
priest Caiaphas,
where the scribes and elders were assembled.
Peter followed them from afar
to the palace of the high priest.
He entered and sat with the servants.
to see where it would end.
The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin
were seeking a false witness against Jesus,
with the intention of killing him;
but they did not find it,
although many false witnesses were presented.
At last two arrived, who said:

S. "This one said, "I can tear down the temple of God
and rebuild it in three days."
C. The high priest stood up and said to him:

S. "Do you answer nothing to what these testify

against you?"

C. When Jesus was silent, the high priest said to him:

S. "I conjure thee by the living God

to tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God".

C. Jesus answered him:

H "You said it.

 Moreover, I declare to you that soon you will see the
Son of Man, seated at the right hand of God,
come over the clouds of heaven".

C. Then the high priest tore his garments and exclaimed:

S. "He has blasphemed!

What need do we have for witnesses anymore?
You yourselves have heard the blasphemy.
What do you think?"
C. They responded:

S. "He is a death row inmate."

C. Then they began to spit in his face.
and slap him in the face.
Others beat him saying:

S. "Guess who's the one who hit you."

C. Meanwhile, Pedro was outside sitting in the courtyard.
A maid approached him and said:

S. "You too were with Jesus the Galilean."

C. But he denied it in front of everyone saying:

S. "I don't know what you're talking about."

C. He was already on his way to the hallway, when another
maid saw him and said to those who were there:
 S. "That one also walked with Jesus, the Nazarene."

C. He again denied itwith an oath:

S. "I don't know that man."
C. Shortly thereafter, they approached Pedro
those who were there and said:

S. "There is no doubt that you are one of them too,

For even the way you talk gives you away."
C. Then he began to curse
and to swear that he did not know the man.
And at that moment the rooster crowed.
Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said:
"Before the cock crows, you will have denied me three
times." And he left and wept bitterly.

Arrival in the morning,

all the chief priests and elders of the people
held a council against Jesus to put him to death.
After tying it,
They brought him before Pontius Pilate, the procurator,
and handed it over to him.
Then Judas, the one who had betrayed him,
Seeing that Jesus had been condemned to death,
returned the thirty silver coins in repentance.
To the chief priests and elders saying:

S. "I sinned, giving the blood of an innocent man."

C. They said:

S. "And what do we care? It's up to you.

C. Then Judas threw the silver ones into the temple,

went and hanged himself.
The high priests took the silver coins and said:

S. "It is not lawful to put them together with alms

money, for they are the price of blood."

C. After deliberation,
bought with them the Potter's Field,
to bury foreigners there.
That is why that field is still called to this day
"Field of blood".
Thus was fulfilled what Jeremiah the prophet said:
"They took the thirty silver coins,
at which was priced the one to whom the price was set
some of the children of Israel,
and gave them for the Potter's Field,
According as the Lord commanded me."

C. Jesus appeared before the procurator Pontius Pilate

who asked him:
S. "Are you the king of the Jews?"
C. Jesus answered:

H "You said so."

C. But he answered nothing to the accusations made against
him by the chief priests and elders.
Then Pilate said to him:

S. "Don't you hear everything they say against you?"

C. But he did not respond,
To the point that the prosecutor was very surprised. On the
occasion of the feast of Easter,
the procurator used to grant the crowd the freedom of any
prisoner they wanted.
They had a famous prisoner named Barabbas.
Pilate said to those assembled there:

S. "Who do they want me to release them to:

Barabbas or Jesus, who calls himself the Messiah?"

C. Pilate knew that they had handed him over to him out of
envy.
While he was sitting in the courtroom,
his wife sent him to say:

S. "Don't mess with that righteous man,

because today I have suffered a lot in my sleep because of
him".

C. In the meantime, the chief priests and elders persuaded

the crowd to ask for
the freedom of Barabbas
and the death of Jesus.
So when the prosecutor asked them:
 S. "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?
C. They responded:
S. "To Barabbas".

C. Pilate said to them:

S. "And what am I going to do with Jesus,

who calls himself the Messiah?
C. They all responded:
S. "Crucify him."

C. Pilate asked:

S. "But what wrong has he done?"

C. But they kept shouting louder and louder:

S. "Crucify him."

C. So Pilate,
seeing that nothing was happening and that the tumult was
growing,
he asked for water and washed his hands before the people,
saying:
S. "I am not responsible
of the death of this righteous man.
It's up to you.
C. All the people responded:

S. "May his blood fall upon us

and about our children!"

C. Then Pilate released Barabbas.

Jesus, on the other hand, had him scourged.
and handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers of the procurator took Jesus to the praetorium

and gathered around him the whole battalion.
They stripped him naked, put a purple robe over him, plaited
a crown of thorns
and put it on his head;
a reed was placed in his right hand,
And kneeling before him, they mocked him saying:
S. "Long live the king of the Jews!",

C. and spit on him,

Then removing the rod,
They would hit him over the head with it.
After they mocked him, they took away his mantle,
they put his clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by
name, and forced him to carry the cross.
Arriving at the place called Golgotha
i.e.: "Place of the Skull",
they gave Jesus wine mixed with gall to drink;
he tasted it, but did not want to drink it.
Those who crucified him divided his garments,
drawing lots,
and they sat there to guard it.

Over his head they wrote the cause of his condemnation:

"This is Jesus, the king of the Jews".
Together with him they crucified two thieves,
one to his right and one to his left.

Those passing by,

They insulted him by shaking their heads and shouting at
him:

S. "You who destroy the temple

and in three days you rebuild it,
save yourself;
if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross".

C. He was also mocked by the chief priests ,

the scribes and elders, saying:
S. "He has saved others and cannot save himself.
If he is the King of Israel,
to come down from the cross and we will believe in him.
He has put his trust in God, may God save him now,
 if he really loves him, for he has said
'I am the Son of God'."

C. Even the thieves who were crucified beside him reviled

him.

From noon to three in the afternoon,

all that land was darkened.
And about three o'clock, Jesus exclaimed with a loud voice:
H "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?"

C. what it means:
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?".
Some of those present, upon hearing this, said:

S. "He's calling Elijah."

C. One of them
went running to grab a sponge,
soaked it in vinegar
and, attaching it to a reed,
offered him a drink.
But the others told him:

S. "Leave it. Let's see if Elias will come to save him."

C. Then Jesus, again giving a loud cry, breathed his last.

(Here everyone kneels down for a moment)

Then the veil of the temple
was torn in two parts from top to bottom;
the earth shook, the rocks split.
The tombs were opened
and many righteous who had died were raised to life,
and after the resurrection of Jesus,
entered the Holy City and appeared to many people.
For his part, the officer and those who were with him
guarding Jesus,
seeing the earthquake and the things that were happening,
were filled with great fear and said:
S. "Truly this was the Son of God."

C. There he was, watching from afar,

many of the women who had followed Jesus
from Galilee to serve him.
Among them were Mary Magdalene,
Mary, the mother of James and Joseph,
and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

In the evening, a rich man from Arimathea came,

called José,
who had also become a disciple of Jesus.
He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus,
and Pilate gave orders for him to be handed over to them.
Joseph took the body,
wrapped it in a clean sheet,
and placed it in the new tomb,
that he had dug out of the rock for himself.
He rolled a large stone to the entrance of the sepulcher
and withdrew.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there.
sitting in front of the tomb.

The next day,

the following of the preparation for Easter,
the chief priests and the Pharisees
they gathered before Pilate and said to him:

S. "Sir, we have remembered that impostor,

while still alive said:
"After three days I will rise again."
He commands, therefore, to secure the tomb until the
third day;
lest his disciples come,
steal it and then tell the people:
"He rose from the dead."
Because this last imposture
would be worse than the first.

C. Pilate said to them:

S. "Take a platoon of soldiers,

go and secure the sepulcher as you wish".
C. They went and secured the tomb,
putting a seal on the door
and left the guard there.

Word of the Lord.