GOOD FRIDAY OF THE LORD’s PASSION (YEAR C) – MARCH 29, 2013

Friday, March 29, 2013

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion – Year C

7:00 pm  Novena to Divine Mercy
7:30 pm  Stations of the CROSS follow by multilingual Good Friday Service

Good Friday is observed on the Friday before Easter Sunday. On this day Christians commemorate the passion, or suffering, and death on the cross of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Many Christians spend this day in fasting, prayer, repentance, and meditation on the agony and suffering of Christ on the cross.

First Reading
ISAIAH 52:13, 53:12

13 Look, my servant will prosper, will grow great, will rise to great heights.

12 Hence I shall give him a portion with the many, and he will share the booty with the mighty, for having exposed himself to death and for being counted as one of the rebellious, whereas he was bearing the sin of many and interceding for the rebellious.

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 24

2 turn your ear to me, make haste. Be for me a rock-fastness, a fortified citadel to save me.

6 you hate those who serve useless idols; but my trust is in Yahweh:

12 I have no more place in their hearts than a corpse, or something lost.

13 All I hear is slander -- terror wherever I turn -- as they plot together against me, scheming to take my life.

15 every moment of my life is in your hands, rescue me from the clutches of my foes who pursue me;

16 let your face shine on your servant, save me in your faithful love.

17 I call on you, Yahweh, so let disgrace fall not on me, but on the wicked. Let them go down to Sheol in silence,

24 Be brave, take heart, all who put your hope in Yahweh.

Second Reading
HEBREWS 4:14-16, 5:7-9

14 Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must hold firm to our profession of faith.

15 For the high priest we have is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but has been put to the test in exactly the same way as ourselves, apart from sin.

16 Let us, then, have no fear in approaching the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace when we are in need of help.

7 During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, with loud cries and with tears, to the one who had the power to save him from death, and, winning a hearing by his reverence,

8 he learnt obedience, Son though he was, through his sufferings;

9 when he had been perfected, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading
JOHN 18:1, 19:42

1 After he had said all this, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron valley where there was a garden into which he went with his disciples.

42 Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

“The Gospel of the Lord”