Daily Gospel for April 7. Readings for today, Holy Tuesday

Reading for today April 7, Holy Tuesday.

Reading the Book of Isaiah 49:1-6. Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

Daily Psalm. PSalm 27,1-6,15,17.

(R). "My lips will tell of your help"

In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your justice rescue me, free me: pay heed to me and save me. (R).

Be a rock where I can take refuge, a mighty stronghold to save me; for you are my rock, my stronghold. Free me from the hand of the wicked. (R).

It is you, O Lord, who are my hope, my trust, O Lord, since my youth. On you I have leaned from my birth, from my mother’s womb you have been my help. (R).

My lips will tell of your justice and day by day of your help. O God, you have taught me from my youth and I proclaim your wonders still. (R).

Daily Gospel Aclamation for April 7, Holy Tuesday.

"Glory and praise to you, O Christ! Hail to you, our King! Obedient to the Father, you were led to your crucifixion as a meek lamb is led to the slaughter. Glory and praise to you, O Christ!"

Daily Gospel for April 7. John 13,21-33.36-38

Reading for daily Gospel - (Holy Tuesday. The announcement of Judas´ betrayal of the Master): Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days´ wages and given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." (The) large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

Daily Gospel Commentaries by Pope Francis.

About Gospel of today - Judas was chosen from the first hour to be one of the twelve. When inserting his name in the list of the apostles, the evangelist Luke writes:

"Judas Iscariot who became the traitor". (Lk 6:16).

Therefore, Judas was not born a traitor and was not a traitor at the time of Jesus´ election; he became one! We are facing one of the darkest dramas of human freedom.

Why did he become one? In not too distant years, when the thesis of the revolutionary Jesus was in vogue, an attempt was made to give his gesture ideal motivation.

Someone saw in his nickname of Iscariot a deformation of sicariote, that is, belonging to the group of extremist zealots who acted as hitmen against the Romans; others thought that Judas was disappointed by the way Jesus carried out his idea of the kingdom of God and that he wanted to force him to act also on the political level against the pagans.

Judas was entrusted with the common purse of the group; on the occasion of the Bethany anointing he had protested against the waste of the precious perfume poured by Mary upon Jesus´ feet, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and, since he had the box, he took what was inside. (John 12,6).

Judas´ proposal to the chief priests is explicit:

"How much are you willing to give me, if I give you the box? And they fixed thirty shekels of silver". (Matthew 26,15)

Judas´ betrayal continues throughout history and the betrayed one is always him, Jesus. Judas sold the chief, his imitators sell his body, because the poor are members of Christ, whether they know it or not.

"Whatever you do to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done to me." (Matthew 25:40).

But the betrayal of Judas does not continue only in the clamorous cases I have mentioned. Thinking about it would be comfortable for us, but it is not so. The homily that don Primo Mazzolari had on a Holy Thursday about "Our brother Judas" has remained famous. "Let me think for a moment about the Judas I have inside me, the Judas that perhaps you also have inside you.

Jesus can be betrayed also for other kinds of rewards than the thirty dinars of silver:

He betrays Christ who betrays his wife or her husband.
The minister of God who is unfaithful to his state, or who, instead of feeding the flock entrusted to him, feeds himself, betrays Jesus.
Everyone who betrays his conscience betrays Jesus.

I may betray Him, too, at this moment, and the thing makes me tremble, if while I am preaching about Judas I am concerned with the approval of the audience rather than with participating in the Savior´s immense sorrow.

Judas had an extenuating circumstance which I do not have. He did not know who Jesus was, he considered him only a just man; he did not know that he was the son of God, as we know (Cf. Father Rainier Cantalamessa, preacher of the Papal Household and of the spiritual retreats of Pope Francis, April 18, 2014)

Pope´s quotes.

"The tragedy we are experiencing summons us to take seriously the things that are serious, and not to be caught up in those that matter less; to rediscover that life is of no use if not used to serve others. For life is measured by love.". (04.6.2020 - @pontifex)

Daily Gospel, meditation in video for April 7, Holy Tuesday.