Daily Mass Readings — Tuesday of Holy Week
| Year A | Liturgical Colour: Violet
"It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth." — Isaias 49:6
Liturgical Context
Today is Tuesday of Holy Week. The liturgy presses deeper into the mystery: the Second Servant Song reveals a Servant who confesses to apparent failure — I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength without cause — and yet is given a vocation more vast than Israel alone, extending to the very ends of the earth. The Gospel places us at the table of the Last Supper, where Christ announces the betrayer and foretells Peter's denial. Every friendship in the room is about to be tested. The Servant who seemed to fail will be revealed as the Saviour of all nations; the disciples who will scatter will be the foundation of the Church.
✠ First Reading — Isaias 49:1–6
¹ Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he hath been mindful of my name. ² And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow: in his quiver he hath hidden me. ³ And he said to me: Thou art my servant Israel, for in thee will I glory. ⁴ And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain: therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. ⁵ And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength. ⁶ And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Commentary
The Servant's confession in verse 4 — I have laboured in vain — is, on Good Friday, the most exact possible description of three years of preaching, healing, and teaching that ended with a crowd crying crucify him. Yet the passage immediately turns: the Father's answer to apparent failure is not a correction but an enlargement. The mission was always greater than Israel — it was for every island, every people from afar, the farthest part of the earth. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, commenting on the fulfilment of this text in Acts 13:47 where Paul and Barnabas cite this very verse as the charter for Gentile mission, notes that the Servant's apparent failure was the precondition for the universal harvest: the grain of wheat had to fall (Commentary on Isaiah, Book IV). Pope Benedict XVI, reflecting on the Servant Songs in Jesus of Nazareth, writes that in these texts Isaiah glimpses a reversal of all human calculations of power: the one who seems most defeated carries within him the most enduring victory.
✠ Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 70 (71):1–6, 15, 17
R. My lips shall tell of Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day long.
¹ In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion: ² deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me. Incline thy ear unto me, and save me. ³ Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge. ⁴ Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust.
R. My lips shall tell of Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day long.
⁵ For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth. ⁶ By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother's womb thou art my protector. Of thee shall I continually sing.
R. My lips shall tell of Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day long.
¹⁵ My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day long. Because I have not known learning. ¹⁷ O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and till now I will declare thy wonderful works.
R. My lips shall tell of Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day long.
Commentary
Psalm 70 (71) is the prayer of one who has trusted from the womb and will declare God's wonders until the very last. The phrase thou art my patience is remarkable: patience itself is a divine attribute poured into the soul of the one who waits. Saint Augustine reads this as the voice of Christ in His humanity, who from the womb of the Virgin was confirmed in the Father, and who on the Cross declares the Father's justice even in the moment of apparent abandonment (Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 70). The refrain — My lips shall tell of Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day long — is the vow the Church makes at the beginning of Holy Week: we will not be silent. We will declare what was done here, to every generation, until He comes.
✠ Verse Before the Gospel — Hail and adoration
Hail to thee, our King, who alone hast had compassion on our errors: obedient to the Father, thou wast led as a meek lamb to the slaughter.
✠ The Holy Gospel — John 13:21–33, 36–38
The Lord be with you. — And with your spirit.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
²¹ When Jesus had said these things, he was troubled in spirit; and he testified, and said: Amen, amen I say to you, one of you shall betray me. ²² The disciples therefore looked one upon another, doubting of whom he spoke. ²³ Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. ²⁴ Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, and said to him: Who is it of whom he speaketh? ²⁵ He therefore, leaning on the breast of Jesus, saith to him: Lord, who is it? ²⁶ Jesus answered: He it is to whom I shall reach bread dipped. And when he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. ²⁷ And after the morsel, Satan entered into him. And Jesus said to him: That which thou dost, do quickly. ²⁸ Now no man at the table knew to what purpose he said this unto him. ²⁹ For some thought, because Judas had the purse, that Jesus had said to him: Buy those things which we have need of for the festival day: or that he should give something to the poor. ³⁰ He therefore having received the morsel, went out immediately. And it was night. ³¹ When he therefore was gone out, Jesus said: Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³² If God be glorified in him, God also will glorify him in himself; and immediately will he glorify him. ³³ Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me; and as I said to the Jews: Whither I go you cannot come; so I say to you now.
³⁶ Simon Peter saith to him: Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered: Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow hereafter. ³⁷ Peter saith to him: Why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thee. ³⁸ Jesus answered him: Wilt thou lay down thy life for me? Amen, amen I say to thee, the cock shall not crow, till thou deny me thrice.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ.
Commentary
Three moments define this Gospel. First: he was troubled in spirit — Christ, who knows all things, is genuinely troubled at the betrayal of one He has loved and chosen. The Challoner note on verse 27 is careful and precise: Christ's words to Judas — do quickly — are not a license, much less a command; they signify only that Christ will not resist what Judas intends. Second: he went out immediately. And it was night. Saint Augustine, in his Tractates on John, marks these four words as among the most terrible in all Scripture — not merely a description of the hour but of the state of a soul that has chosen darkness over the Light of the World (Tractatus LXII). Third: Peter's boast and Christ's quiet correction. I will lay down my life for thee. He means it and will fail it — yet Christ's prediction is not rejection but prophecy, for Peter will indeed follow hereafter. The one who denies three times by a fire at night will confess three times in love by another fire at dawn (Jn 21). Holy Week contains both fires. We are invited to sit by neither in complacency, but to watch and wait.
✠ Closing Prayer
O Lord Jesus, who wast troubled in spirit at the betrayal of one Thou hadst chosen, and who yet looked upon Judas as friend and Peter as shepherd: grant us the grace to see ourselves honestly in both men — in the one who went out into the night, and in the one who wept bitterly at the cock's crow. Do not let us be the confident ones who discover their cowardice too late. Make us the humble ones who hear Thy gentle correction and believe that Thou wilt bring us through. Thou art our patience, O Lord, from our youth until our last breath. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...
✠ Laus Deo semper — Praise be to God always ✠
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