He was pierced for our faults. (Fourth song of the Servant of the Lord)
From the book of the prophet Isaiah Is 52,13-53,12
Behold, my servant shall succeed, he will be honoured, exalted and greatly exalted.
How many marveled at him – so disfigured was his appearance for a man and different its form from that of the sons of man –, so many nations will marvel at him; kings will shut their mouths before him, for they will see a fact never told to them and they will understand what they had never heard.
Who would have believed our announcement? To whom would the arm of the Lord be manifested? It grew like a sapling before him and like a root in dry ground.
It has no appearance or beauty to catch our eye, not splendor to be able to please us. Despised and rejected by men, man of sorrows who knows suffering well, like one in front of which one covers one's face; he was despised and we had no esteem for him.
And yet he took on our sufferings, he bore our pains; and we judged him punished, beaten by God and humiliated. He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that saves us fell upon him; by his wounds we are healed. We were all lost like a flock, each of us went his own way; the Lord made it fall upon him the iniquity of us all.
Mistreated, he let himself be humiliated and he did not open his mouth; was like a lamb led to the slaughter, like a sheep dumb before its shearers, and did not open his mouth.
With oppression and unjust sentence he was taken out of the way; who mourns for his posterity? Yes, he was cut off from the land of the living, for the guilt of my people he was beaten to death.
He was buried with the wicked, with the rich was his burial mound, although he had not committed violence nor was there deceit in his mouth. But the Lord was pleased to prostrate him with pains.
When he offers himself as an atonement sacrifice, will see offspring, will live long, the will of the Lord will be fulfilled through him.
After his intimate torment he will see the light and he will be satisfied with his knowledge; my righteous servant will justify many, he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will reward him with multitudes, of the mighty he will plunder, because he stripped himself to death and was counted among the wicked, while he bore the sin of many and interceded for the guilty.
In you, Lord, I took refuge, I will never be disappointed; defend me for yours justice. To your hands I entrust my spirit; you redeemed me, Lord, God loyal. R.
I am the reject of my enemies and even my neighbors, the terror of my acquaintances; anyone who sees me on the street escapes me. I am like a dead man, far from the heart; I'm like a shard to throw away. R.
But I trust in you, Lord; I say: «You are mine God, my days are in your hands." Free me from hand of my enemies and from my persecutors. R.
Upon your servant let your face shine, save me by your mercy. Be strong, make your heart firm, all of you who hope in the Lord. R.
Second Reading
Christ he learned obedience and became the cause of salvation for all who obey him.From the Letter to the Hebrews Heb 4:14-16; 5.7-9
Brethren, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us keep the profession of faith firm. In fact we don't have a high priest who doesn't know how to take part in our weaknesses: he himself has been tested in everything like us, except sin.
Let us therefore approach with full confidence the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace, so as to be helped in time of need.
[Christ, in fact,] in the days of his earthly life, he offered prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to God che poteva salvarlo da morte e, per il suo pieno abbandono a lui, venne esaudito.
Although Son, learned obedience from what he suffered and, made perfect, became the cause of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
For us Christ he became obedient unto death and to a death on the cross. Because of this God exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name. (Cf. Phil 2,8-9)
Passion of our Lord JesusChrist according to John John 18.1–19.42
- They captured Jesus and they tied him up During that time, Jesus He went out with his disciples across the Kidron stream, where there was a garden, which he entered with his disciples. Even Judas, the traitor, knew that place, because Jesus spesso si era trovato là con i suoi discepoli.
So Judas went there, having taken a party of soldiers and some guards supplied by the chief priests and by the Pharisees, with lanterns, torches and weapons. Jesus then, knowing all that was to happen to him, he went forward and said to them, "Whom are you looking for?" They answered him: "Jesusthe Nazarene". He told them Jesus: «Sono io!». Vi era con loro anche Giuda, il traditore. Appena disse loro «Sono io», indietreggiarono e caddero a terra.
He asked them again: "Who are you looking for?" They replied: «Jesusthe Nazarene". Jesus replicò: «Vi ho detto: sono io. Se dunque cercate me, lasciate che questi se ne vadano», perché si compisse la parola che egli aveva detto: «Non ho perduto nessuno di quelli che mi hai dato». Allora Simon Pietro, che aveva una spada, la trasse fuori, colpì il servo del sommo sacerdote e gli tagliò l’orecchio destro.
That servant was called Malco. Jesus then he said to Peter: «Put your sword back in its scabbard: the chalice that the Father gave me, shall I not drink it?”
- They took him first to Anna Then the soldiers, with the commander and the guards of the Jews, captured Jesusthey bound him and led him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one he had advised the Jews: "It is fitting that one man should die for the people."
Meanwhile Simon Peter followed Jesus together with another disciple. This disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus nel cortile del sommo sacerdote. Pietro invece si fermò fuori, vicino alla porta. Allora quell’altro discepolo, noto al sommo sacerdote, tornò fuori, parlò alla portinaia e fece entrare Pietro.
And the young concierge said to Peter, "Aren't you also one of this man's disciples?" He replied, "I'm not." Meanwhile the servants and the guards had lit a fire, because it was cold, and they were warming themselves; Peter too stayed with them and kept warm.
So the high priest asked Jesus concerning his disciples and his teaching. Jesus gli rispose: «Io ho parlato al mondo apertamente; ho sempre insegnato nella sinagoga e nel tempio, dove tutti i Giudei si riuniscono, e non ho mai detto nulla di nascosto. Perché interroghi me? Interroga quelli che hanno udito ciò che ho detto loro; ecco, essi sanno che cosa ho detto».
As soon as he said this, one of the guards present slapped at Jesus, saying, "Do you answer the high priest like this?" She answered him Jesus: «If I spoke badly, show me where the bad is. But if I have spoken well, why do you strike me?». Then Annas sent him, with his hands tied, to Caiaphas, the high priest.
- Are you not also one of his disciples? I'm not! Meanwhile Simon Peter was there to warm up. They said to him, "Are you not also one of his disciples?" He denied it and said, "I'm not." But one of the high priest's servants, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Did I not see you with him in the garden?" Peter denied again, and immediately a rooster crowed.
- My kingdom is not of this world They then led Jesus dalla casa di Caifa nel pretorio. Era l’alba ed essi non vollero entrare nel pretorio, per non contaminarsi e poter mangiare la Pasqua. Pilato dunque uscì verso di loro e domandò: «Che accusa portate contro quest’uomo?».
Gli risposero: «Se costui non fosse un malfattore, non te l’avremmo consegnato». Allora Pilato disse loro: «Prendetelo voi e giudicatelo secondo la vostra legge!». Gli risposero i Giudei: «A noi non è consentito mettere a morte nessuno».
Thus were fulfilled the words that Jesus he had said, indicating the kind of death he was to die.
Pilate then went back to the praetorium and sent for a call Jesus and he said to him, "Art thou the king of the Jews?" Jesus rispose: «Dici questo da te, oppure altri ti hanno parlato di me?». Pilato disse: «Sono forse io Giudeo? La tua gente e i capi dei sacerdoti ti hanno consegnato a me. Che cosa hai fatto?».
He answered Jesus: «Il mio regno non è di questo mondo; se il mio regno fosse di questo mondo, i miei servitori avrebbero combattuto perché non fossi consegnato ai Giudei; ma il mio regno non è di quaggiù».
So Pilate said to him: "So you are a king?" He answered Jesus: «You say it: I am king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Whoever is of the truth, hear my voice." Pilate says to him: «What is truth?».
And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no fault in him. There is a custom among you that I release one for you on the occasion of the Passover: do you therefore want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” Then they cried out again, "Not this one, but Barabbas!" Barabbas was a brigand.
- Hail, King of the Jews! Then Pilate had them taken Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and put a purple cloak on him. Then they came up to him and said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they slapped him.
Pilate went out again and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no fault in him." At that time Jesus he went out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And Pilate said to them: «Here is the man!».
As they saw him, the chief priests and the guards cried out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!». Pilate said to them: «Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no fault in him." The Jews answered him, “We have a law and according to the law he must die, because he was made Son of God".
Hearing these words, Pilate was even more afraid. He entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus: "Where are you from?". But Jesus he gave him no answer. Pilate then said to him: «Aren't you speaking to me? Don't you know that I have the power to set you free and the power to crucify you? He answered him Jesus: «You would have no power over me, if it hadn't been given to you from above. For this reason whoever handed me over to you has a greater sin."
- Street! Street! Crucify him! From that moment Pilate tried to set him free. But the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar! Anyone who makes himself king goes against Caesar." Hearing these words, Pilate had them led outside Jesus e sedette in tribunale, nel luogo chiamato Litòstroto, in ebraico Gabbatà. Era la Parascève della Pasqua, verso mezzogiorno.
Pilate said to the Jews: "Here is your king!" But they shouted: «Go away! Street! Crucify him!». Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he delivered him to them to be crucified.
- They crucified him and two others with him They took Jesus and he, carrying the cross, went towards the place called the Skull, in Hebrew Gòlgotha, where they crucified him and with him two others, one on one side and one on the other, and Jesus in the middle of. Pilate also composed the inscription and had it placed on the cross; it was written: "Jesus il Nazareno, il re dei Giudei».
Many Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; it was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews then said to Pilate: "Do not write: 'The king of the Jews', but: 'This man said: I am the king of the Jews'". Pilate replied: "What I have written, I have written."
- They have divided my clothes among them The soldiers then, when they had been crucified Jesus, presero le sue vesti, ne fecero quattro parti – una per ciascun soldato –, e la tunica. Ma quella tunica era senza cuciture, tessuta tutta d’un pezzo da cima a fondo. Perciò dissero tra loro: «Non stracciamola, ma tiriamo a sorte a chi tocca».
This is how the Scripture was fulfilled, which says: "They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my tunic". And the soldiers did so.
- Here's yours son! Here is your mother! They stood at the cross of Jesus his mother, his mother's sister, Mary mother of Clèopa and Mary of Magdala. Jesus then, seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son!». Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother!" And from that hour the disciple received her with him.
After this, Jesus, sapendo che ormai tutto era compiuto, affinché si compisse la Scrittura, disse: «Ho sete». Vi era lì un vaso pieno di aceto; posero perciò una spugna, imbevuta di aceto, in cima a una canna e gliela accostarono alla bocca.
After taking the vinegar, Jesus disse: «È compiuto!».
And, bowing his head, he delivered the spirit.
Here we genuflect and take a short break.
- And immediately blood and water came out Era il giorno della Parascève e i Giudei, perché i corpi non rimanessero sulla croce durante il sabato – era infatti un giorno solenne quel sabato –, chiesero a Pilato che fossero spezzate loro le gambe e fossero portati via. Vennero dunque i soldati e spezzarono le gambe all’uno e all’altro che erano stati crocifissi insieme con lui.
But come from Jesus, vedendo che era già morto, non gli spezzarono le gambe, ma uno dei soldati con una lancia gli colpì il fianco, e subito ne uscì sangue e acqua. Chi ha visto ne dà testimonianza e la sua testimonianza è vera; egli sa che dice il vero, perché anche voi crediate.
This in fact happened because the Scripture was fulfilled: "No bone will be broken". And another passage of Scripture says again: "They will look upon him whom they have pierced".
- They took the body of Jesus and they wrapped it in cloths together with spices After these events Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilato lo concesse.
So he went and took the body of Jesus. Nicodèmo also went there - the one who had previously come to him at night - and brought about thirty kilos of a mixture of myrrh and áloe. They then took the body of Jesus e lo avvolsero con teli, insieme ad aromi, come usano fare i Giudei per preparare la sepoltura.
Ora, nel luogo dove era stato crocifisso, vi era un giardino e nel giardino un sepolcro nuovo, nel quale nessuno era stato ancora posto.
There therefore, since it was the day of Parasceve of the Jews and since the sepulcher was near, they placed Jesus.
"No one has a greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends"
L 'love of God for us it is much bigger than that of a father. These words of the Savior in the Gospel prove it: «God in fact, he loved the world so much that he gave his own Son unigenito per la vita del mondo» (Gv 3,16).
And the apostle Paul says again: «He who did not spare his own Son, but he gave it for us all, how will he not give us everything together with him?” (Rom 8:32). Therefore God he loves us more than one father love her son. It is evident that God he loves us beyond paternal affection, he who, for us, has not spared his own Son - is that Son! That just Son, that only Son, that Son who is God. Possiamo dire di più? Sì! E’ per noi, cioè per degli empi, dei peccatori, che egli non l’ha risparmiato. (…)
For this the apostle Paul, to signify, to a certain extent, the immensity of the mercy of God, is expressed thus: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for the wicked at the appointed time. Now, there is hardly anyone who is willing to die for a righteous man" (Rom 5:6-7). Clearly, with this single step we show thelove of God.
For if one would hardly die for a just man, Christ he experienced how much greater he was, dying for us who are sinners. But why did the Lord act like this? The apostle Paul immediately explains it to us with the following: «God demonstrates his love towards us because, while we were still sinners, Christ è morto per noi.
A maggior ragione ora, giustificati per il suo sangue, saremo salvati dall’ira per mezzo di lui» (v. 8-9). La prova che ne dà è che è morto per i peccatori: un bene ha più valore quando è dato a chi non ne è degno. (…)
For if he had given it to saints and deserving men, he would not have shown that he is the one who gives what should not be given, but he would have shown himself as the one who merely gives back what is due. What are we going to pay them for all this?
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Holy Mother of Godwhile you were under the cross, Jesus, vedendo il discepolo accanto a te, ti ha detto: «Ecco tuo figlio»: così ti ha affidato ciascuno di noi.
Poi al discepolo, a ognuno di noi, ha detto: «Ecco tua madre». Madre, desideriamo adesso accoglierti nella nostra vita e nella nostra storia. In quest’ora l’umanità, sfinita e stravolta, sta sotto la croce con te. A te dunque consacriamo l’avvenire dell’intera famiglia umana, le necessità e le attese dei popoli, le angosce e le speranze del mondo.
Through you divine Mercy is poured upon the Earth and the sweet heartbeat of peace returns to mark our days. Woman of yes, upon whom the Holy Spirit descended, brings back the harmony of God. Disseta l’aridità del nostro cuore, tu che “sei di speranza fontana vivace”.
