Isa 50:4-9a; Matthew 26

Wednesday of Holy Week
Readings and Antiphons on p 360 of the Daily Missal

Entrance Antiphon
At the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, for the Lord became obedient to death, death on a cross: therefore Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a

A reading from the Book of Isaiah

The Lord God has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him that is weary.
Morning by morning he wakens,
he wakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I turned not backward.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I hid not my face
from shame and spitting.
For the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been confounded;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
those who vindicate me are near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?

The Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 69:8-10.21-22.31 & 33-34 (R. 14c, b)

Let us pray the Responsorial Psalm:

R/. In your great mercy, answer me, O God,
for a time of your favour.

It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame has covered my face.
To my own kin I have become an outcast,
a stranger to the children of my mother.
Zeal for your house consumes me,
and taunts against you fall on me.

Taunts have broken my heart;
here I am in anguish.
I looked for solace, but there was none;
for consolers – not one could I find.
For food they gave me gall;
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Then 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 own in their chains.

R/. In your great mercy, answer me, O God,
for a time of your favour.

Please stand for the Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Hail, our King: you alone have had mercy on our failings
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel: Matthew 26:14-25

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

At that time:
One of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What will you give me if I deliver him to you?”
And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.
And from that moment
he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread
the disciples came to Jesus, saying,
“Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

He said,
“Go into the city to such a one, and say to him,
‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand;
I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’”
And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them,
and they prepared the Passover.

When it was evening,
he sat at table with the twelve disciples;
and as they were eating, he said,
“Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

And they were very sorrowful,
and began to say to him one after another,
“Is it I, Lord?”

He answered,
“He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me,
will betray me.
The Son of man goes as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed!
It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

Judas, who betrayed him, said,
“Is it I, Master?”

He said to him, “You have said so.”

The Gospel of the Lord

Communion antiphon:
The Son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his lie as a ransom for many.