Thoughts and Reflection

Today we read about Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives. Luke shows us that Jesus prays often so he remains near to his Father. We should also pray like Jesus, not to just ask for things or seek answers, but to develop a relationship and be close to him. Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane he tells the Father what he is feeling and surrenders himself to the Father’s will.

Later on the cross, Jesus utters the words of mercy, asking the Father to forgive those who did this to him. WOrks of hope and promise, words of entrustment and faith, and committing his spirit to the hands of his father. Mercy is love that we don’t deserve. Jesus shows this by asking the Father to forgive those who are crucifying him.

Daily Readings

Luke 22:39-71

³⁹ He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following.

⁴⁰ When he reached the place he said to them, ‘Pray not to be put to the test.’

⁴¹ Then he withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw away, and knelt down and prayed.

⁴² ‘Father,’ he said, ‘if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.’

⁴³ Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength.

⁴⁴ In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

⁴⁵ When he rose from prayer he went to the disciples and found them sleeping for sheer grief.

⁴⁶ And he said to them, ‘Why are you asleep? Get up and pray not to be put to the test.’

⁴⁷ Suddenly, while he was still speaking, a number of men appeared, and at the head of them the man called Judas, one of the Twelve, who went up to Jesus to kiss him.

⁴⁸ Jesus said, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?’

⁴⁹ His followers, seeing what was about to happen, said, ‘Lord, shall we use our swords?’

⁵⁰ And one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear.

⁵¹ But at this Jesus said, ‘That is enough.’ And touching the man’s ear he healed him.

⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests and captains of the Temple guard and elders who had come for him, ‘Am I a bandit, that you had to set out with swords and clubs?

⁵³ When I was among you in the Temple day after day you never made a move to lay hands on me. But this is your hour; this is the reign of darkness.’

⁵⁴ They seized him then and led him away, and they took him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance.

⁵⁵ They had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and Peter sat down among them,

⁵⁶ and as he was sitting there by the blaze a servant-girl saw him, peered at him, and said, ‘This man was with him too.’

⁵⁷ But he denied it. ‘Woman, I do not know him,’ he said.

⁵⁸ Shortly afterwards someone else saw him and said, ‘You are one of them too.’ But Peter replied, ‘I am not, my friend.’

⁵⁹ About an hour later another man insisted, saying, ‘This fellow was certainly with him. Why, he is a Galilean.’

⁶⁰ Peter said, ‘My friend, I do not know what you are talking about.’ At that instant, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed,

⁶¹ and the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the Lord’s words when he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will have disowned me three times.’

⁶² And he went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³ Meanwhile the men who guarded Jesus were mocking and beating him.

⁶⁴ They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying, ‘Prophesy! Who hit you then?’

⁶⁵ And they heaped many other insults on him.

⁶⁶ When day broke there was a meeting of the elders of the people, the chief priests and scribes. He was brought before their council,

⁶⁷ and they said to him, ‘If you are the Christ, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe,

⁶⁸ and if I question you, you will not answer.

⁶⁹ But from now on, the Son of man will be seated at the right hand of the Power of God.’

⁷⁰ They all said, ‘So you are the Son of God then?’ He answered, ‘It is you who say I am.’

⁷¹ Then they said, ‘Why do we need any evidence? We have heard it for ourselves from his own lips.’

Luke 23

¹ The whole assembly then rose, and they brought him before Pilate.

² They began their accusation by saying, ‘We found this man inciting our people to revolt, opposing payment of the tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ, a king.’

³ Pilate put to him this question, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He replied, ‘It is you who say it.’

⁴ Pilate then said to the chief priests and the crowd, ‘I find no case against this man.’

⁵ But they persisted, ‘He is inflaming the people with his teaching all over Judaea and all the way from Galilee, where he started, down to here.’

⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man were a Galilean;

⁷ and finding that he came under Herod’s jurisdiction, he passed him over to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸ Herod was delighted to see Jesus; he had heard about him and had been wanting for a long time to set eyes on him; moreover, he was hoping to see some miracle worked by him.

⁹ So he questioned him at some length, but without getting any reply.

¹⁰ Meanwhile the chief priests and the scribes were there, vigorously pressing their accusations.

¹¹ Then Herod, together with his guards, treated him with contempt and made fun of him; he put a rich cloak on him and sent him back to Pilate.

¹² And though Herod and Pilate had been enemies before, they were reconciled that same day.

¹³ Pilate then summoned the chief priests and the leading men and the people.

¹⁴ He said to them, ‘You brought this man before me as a popular agitator. Now I have gone into the matter myself in your presence and found no grounds in the man for any of the charges you bring against him.

¹⁵ Nor has Herod either, since he has sent him back to us. As you can see, the man has done nothing that deserves death,

¹⁶ so I shall have him flogged and then let him go.’

¹⁷ * [23:17] This verse, “He was obliged to release one prisoner for them at the festival,” is not part of the original text of Luke. It is an explanatory gloss from Mk 15:6 (also Mt 27:15) and is not found in many early and important Greek manuscripts. On its historical background, see notes on Mt 27:15-26. (USCCB)

¹⁸ But as one man they howled, ‘Away with him! Give us Barabbas!’

¹⁹ (This man had been thrown into prison because of a riot in the city and murder.)

²⁰ In his desire to set Jesus free, Pilate addressed them again,

²¹ but they shouted back, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’

²² And for the third time he spoke to them, ‘But what harm has this man done? I have found no case against him that deserves death, so I shall have him flogged and then let him go.’

²³ But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices, demanding that he should be crucified. And their shouts kept growing louder.

²⁴ Pilate then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted.

²⁵ He released the man they asked for, who had been imprisoned because of rioting and murder, and handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they pleased.

²⁶ As they were leading him away they seized on a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and made him shoulder the cross and carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷ Large numbers of people followed him, and women too, who mourned and lamented for him.

²⁸ But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹ For look, the days are surely coming when people will say, “Blessed are those who are barren, the wombs that have never borne children, the breasts that have never suckled!”

³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”; to the hills, “Cover us!”

³¹ For if this is what is done to green wood, what will be done when the wood is dry?’

³² Now they were also leading out two others, criminals, to be executed with him.

³³ When they reached the place called The Skull, there they crucified him and the two criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

³⁴ Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.’ Then they cast lots to share out his clothing.

³⁵ The people stayed there watching. As for the leaders, they jeered at him with the words, ‘He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’

³⁶ The soldiers mocked him too, coming up to him, offering him vinegar,

³⁷ and saying, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.’

³⁸ Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews’.

³⁹ One of the criminals hanging there abused him: ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well.’

⁴⁰ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘Have you no fear of God at all?’ he said. ‘You got the same sentence as he did,

⁴¹ but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.’

⁴² Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’

⁴³ He answered him, ‘In truth I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour and the sun’s light failed, so that darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

⁴⁵ The veil of the Sanctuary was torn right down the middle.

⁴⁶ Jesus cried out in a loud voice saying, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ With these words he breathed his last.

⁴⁷ When the centurion saw what had taken place, he gave praise to God and said, ‘Truly, this was an upright man.’

⁴⁸ And when all the crowds who had gathered for the spectacle saw what had happened, they went home beating their breasts.

⁴⁹ All his friends stood at a distance; so also did the women who had accompanied him from Galilee and saw all this happen.

⁵⁰ And now a member of the Council arrived, a good and upright man named Joseph.

⁵¹ He had not consented to what the others had planned and carried out. He came from Arimathaea, a Jewish town, and he lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God.

⁵² This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁵³ He then took it down, wrapped it in a shroud and put it in a tomb which was hewn in stone and which had never held a body.

⁵⁴ It was Preparation day and the Sabbath was beginning to grow light.

⁵⁵ Meanwhile the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus were following behind. They took note of the tomb and how the body had been laid.

⁵⁶ Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. And on the Sabbath day they rested, as the Law required.

Luke 24

¹ On the first day of the week, at the first sign of dawn, they went to the tomb with the spices they had prepared.

² They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb,

³ but on entering they could not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴ As they stood there puzzled about this, two men in brilliant clothes suddenly appeared at their side.

⁵ Terrified, the women bowed their heads to the ground. But the two said to them, ‘Why look among the dead for someone who is alive?

⁶ He is not here; he has risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee:

⁷ that the Son of man was destined to be handed over into the power of sinful men and be crucified, and rise again on the third day.’

⁸ And they remembered his words.

⁹ And they returned from the tomb and told all this to the Eleven and to all the others.

¹⁰ The women were Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. And the other women with them also told the apostles,

¹¹ but this story of theirs seemed pure nonsense, and they did not believe them.

¹² Peter, however, went off to the tomb, running. He bent down and looked in and saw the linen cloths but nothing else; he then went back home, amazed at what had happened.

¹³ Now that very same day, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem,

¹⁴ and they were talking together about all that had happened.

¹⁵ And it happened that as they were talking together and discussing it, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side;

¹⁶ but their eyes were prevented from recognising him.

¹⁷ He said to them, ‘What are all these things that you are discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped, their faces downcast.

¹⁸ Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.’

¹⁹ He asked, ‘What things?’ They answered, ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth, who showed himself a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and the whole people;

²⁰ and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified.

²¹ Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have now gone by since it all happened;

²² and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning,

²³ and when they could not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive.

²⁴ Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.’

²⁵ Then he said to them, ‘You foolish men! So slow to believe all that the prophets have said!

²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into his glory?’

²⁷ Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.

²⁸ When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on;

²⁹ but they pressed him to stay with them saying, ‘It is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰ Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them.

³¹ And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight.

³² Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’

³³ They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions,

³⁴ who said to them, ‘The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon.’

³⁵ Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.

³⁶ They were still talking about all this when he himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’

³⁷ In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost.

³⁸ But he said, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts stirring in your hearts?

³⁹ See by my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.’

⁴⁰ And as he said this he showed them his hands and his feet.

⁴¹ Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, as they were dumbfounded; so he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’

⁴² And they offered him a piece of grilled fish,

⁴³ which he took and ate before their eyes.

⁴⁴ Then he told them, ‘This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled.’

⁴⁵ He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures,

⁴⁶ and he said to them, ‘So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,

⁴⁷ and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

⁴⁸ You are witnesses to this.

⁴⁹ ‘And now I am sending upon you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city, then, until you are clothed with the power from on high.’

⁵⁰ Then he took them out as far as the outskirts of Bethany, and raising his hands he blessed them.

⁵¹ Now as he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven.

⁵² They worshipped him and then went back to Jerusalem full of joy;

⁵³ and they were continually in the Temple praising God.

Proverbs 26:20-23

²⁰ No wood, and the fire goes out; no slanderer, and quarrelling dies down.

²¹ Charcoal for live embers, wood for fire, and the quarrelsome for kindling strife.

²² The words of a slanderer are tasty morsels that go right down into the belly.

²³ Base silver-plate on top of clay: such are fervent lips and a wicked heart.