Wednesday of Holy Week - April 1, 2015

Reading 1The Lord GOD has given mea well-trained tongue,That I might know how to speak to the wearya word that will rouse them.Morning after morninghe opens my ear that I may hearAnd I have not rebelled,have not turned back.I gave my back to those who beat me,my cheeks to those who plucked my beardMy face I did not shieldfrom buffets and spitting.The Lord GOD is my help,therefore I am not disgracedI have set my face like flint,knowing that I shall not be put to shame.He is near who upholds my rightif anyone wishes to oppose me,let us appear together.Who disputes my right?Let him confront me.See, the Lord GOD is my helpwho will prove me wrong?Responsorial Psalm and//www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/69and8 Ps 69and8-10, 21-22, 31 and 33-34 R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.For your sake I bear insult,and shame covers my face.I have become an outcast to my brothers,a stranger to my mother’s sons,because zeal for your house consumes me,and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak,I looked for sympathy, but there was nonefor consolers, not one could I find.Rather they put gall in my food,and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.I will praise the name of God in song,and I will glorify him with thanksgivingand See, you lowly ones, and be gladyou who seek God, may your hearts revive!For the LORD hears the poor,and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.Verse Before the GospelHail to you, our Kingyou alone are compassionate with our errors.Gospel and//www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/26:14 Mt 26:14-25 One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,went to the chief priests and said, What are you willing to give meif I hand him over to you?”They paid him thirty pieces of silver,and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,the disciples approached Jesus and said, Where do you want us to preparefor you to eat the Passover?”He said, Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,‘The teacher says, My appointed time draws nearin your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,and prepared the Passover.When it was evening,he reclined at table with the Twelve.And while they were eating, he said, Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”Deeply distressed at this,they began to say to him one after another, Surely it is not I, Lord?”He said in reply, He who has dipped his hand into the dish with meis the one who will betray me.The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”He answered, You have said so.”