First reading Isaiah 50:4-9
Who thinks he has a case against me? Let him approach me
The Lord has given me
a disciple’s tongue.
So that I may know how to reply to the wearied
he provides me with speech.
Each morning he wakes me to hear,
to listen like a disciple.
The Lord has opened my ear.
For my part, I made no resistance,
neither did I turn away.
I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;
I did not cover my face
against insult and spittle.
The Lord comes to my help,
so that I am untouched by the insults.
So, too, I set my face like flint;
I know I shall not be shamed.
My vindicator is here at hand. Does anyone start proceedings against me?
Then let us go to court together.
Who thinks he has a case against me?
Let him approach me.
The Lord is coming to my help,
who will dare to condemn me?
Responsorial Psalm 68(69):8-10,21-22,31,33-34
In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers for your favour.
It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons.
I burn with zeal for your house
and taunts against you fall on me.
In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers for your favour.
Taunts have broken my heart;
I have reached the end of my strength.
I looked in vain for compassion,
for consolers; not one could I find.
For food they gave me poison;
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers for your favour.
I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers for your favour.
Gospel Matthew 26:14-25
‘The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will’
One of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?’ They paid him thirty silver pieces, and from that moment he looked for an opportunity to betray him.
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus to say, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the passover?’ ‘Go to so-and-so in the city’ he replied ‘and say to him, “The Master says: My time is near. It is at your house that I am keeping Passover with my disciples.”’ The disciples did what Jesus told them and prepared the Passover.
When evening came he was at table with the twelve disciples. And while they were eating he said ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me.’ They were greatly distressed and started asking him in turn, ‘Not I, Lord, surely?’ He answered, ‘Someone who has dipped his hand into the dish with me, will betray me. The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!’ Judas, who was to betray him; asked in his turn, ‘Not I, Rabbi, surely?’ ‘They are your own words’ answered Jesus.
________________________________________________
To listen, to speak, to love like a disciple
“The Lord has given me a disciples’ tongue. So that I may know how to reply to the wearied, he provides me with speech. Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple…” (1st reading). God opened the prophet’s ears each morning, enabling Him to listen to Him so that he, in turn, could bring the message of hope and strength to others. Similarly, we, too, must listen attentively to God in prayer to convey His hope. However, we must be prepared for rejection when we commit to God’s mission. “…The Lord comes to my help so that I am untouched by the insults…My vindicator is here at hand…”. The prophet’s words remind us that God is always with us to help, and so we continue to speak, love, and serve as He calls us to do.
In the gospel, the disciples wondered who would betray Jesus. Today, we are invited to examine our hearts to see if we are truly following Jesus, our Master, or following other “masters” who pull us away from Him. Jesus calls us to return to Him and follow Him again.
Reflective question:
What is Jesus’ invitation to me today?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year C” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD.
