Spy Wednesday (also Holy Wednesday of Holy Week)

ClericalWhispersblogspot.com ^ | Wednesday, April 08, 2009 | Clerical Whispers team

[Salvation]

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Spy Wednesday

Today is Holy Wednesday, also called Spy Wednesday, as we draw closer to the end of Lent and the beginning of the commemoration of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord.

Today the Mass readings again show Judas Iscariot making the preparations to betray Our Lord.

And, today, he is given 30 pieces of silver to turn over Our Lord and bring about His death and horrible suffering.

Lent officially ends tomorrow night at the moment the Mass of the Lord's Supper begins.

Wednesday’s Gospel reading preludes the betrayal of Judas. How appropriate then is the sometimes used term of “Spy Wednesday’’ for this period before our observance of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The events that led Jesus to the cross were filled with intrigue, suspense, and an impending sense of disaster.

Clearly, the powers of good and evil, light and darkness, sin and salvation were poised to exhibit themselves at the place called Golgotha. John’s Gospel account of Jesus’ betrayal seemed to show Jesus’ deep understanding of His role as the Messianic fulfillment. (Jn 14-17) Judas in his interrogatory and somewhat cynical statement of “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’’ (Mt 26:25) provided the catalyst for the process of darkness to unravel.

The Synoptic tradition on the betrayal of Judas began about the time when the authorities in Jerusalem had determined to kill Jesus, and Judas engaged to betray Him into their hands.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke did not imply that the betrayal was induced by anything more than the money offered or that opposition to Jesus was Judas’ motive; indeed Judas appeared as the instrument of higher powers as Luke write: “Satan entered into Judas.’’ (Lk 22:3).

The event was not unexpected to Jesus, since at the Last Supper, He had announced His coming betrayal by one of the 12 disciples. While to the 12, this event seemed at the time most improbable, to Jesus it was not so and indeed was in keeping with the divine purpose as expressed in the Scriptures and was a necessary means for the accomplishment of the divine plan.

What is so significant about Spy Wednesday is that it reflects the daily struggles we all endure in order to accept a relationship with the Lord. To live the life that Jesus intended for us is a perpetual struggle on a daily basis with good and evil. Sometimes when we are questioned about our transgressions, we answer back. “It’s not me Lord.’’ But the tranquility of Jesus’ realization of His mission provides us with hope in the days to come.

There is a real message here in Jesus’ tranquil resignation to the events that are coming: Faith in the love and power of the Father. As believers in the power of God’s love and goodness, Spy Wednesday should provide a period for reflection and prayer. We need to examine our lives and look for the moments that we have falsely shared intimacy with our brothers and sisters in faith.

[Salvation]

Funny name for this day -- serious actions with consequences to this day!

[Salvation]

Prayer in the Steps of the Passion

Most dear Jesus, filled with sorrow during the agony in the garden, covered with a sweat of blood while praying, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, delivered into the hands of the wicked by a kiss, bound like a robber, and abandoned by your disciples, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, condemned to death by an unjust Council, taken as an evildoer before Pilate, and ridiculed by the wicked Herod, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, publicly shorn of your garments, and most cruelly scourged at the pillar, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, crowned with thorns, beaten and blindfolded, clothed in rich purple and mocked, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, likened to the infamous Barabbas, rejected by your people, and unjustly sentenced to death, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, burdened with the weight of the Cross and led to the place of execution like a lamb to the slaughter, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, reckoned with the wicked, blasphemed, and derided, and given gall to drink to mitigate your pain, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, dying on the Cross in the presence of Mary, pierced with a lance that drew blood and water from your side, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, taken down and placed in the arms of your Sorrowful Mother, have mercy on us, O Lord.

Most dear Jesus, horribly bruised and marked with five wounds, annointed for burial and placed in a tomb, have mercy on us, O Lord.

My Jesus, I thank you for dying on the Cross for my sins. Have mercy on us, O Lord. Amen.

 

Posted by CW Team

Posted at 01:24:00

[Salvation]

Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

[Salvation]

Spy Wednesday (also Holy Wednesday of Holy Week)

Judas, Alive and Well

Spy Wednesday

[boatbums]

Jonah 1:17
But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

Matthew 12:40
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 27:62-64
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."

Mark 8:31
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

So, can you explain why "tradition" marks Friday as the day Jesus Christ was crucified and Sunday morning as the day of resurrection? Scriptures - both prophetically as the "sign of Jonah" and Jesus' own words - say he would be raised after three days and three nights. Friday morning to Sunday morning is NOT three days AND nights.

Mark 15 says he was crucified "the third hour" of the day and "at the ninth hour" is when he died. "As evening approached" is when he was buried in the tomb. By my calculations, Jesus was crucified on Wednesday. He was buried that evening.

Wednesday p.m. to Thursday p.m. = first day

Thursday evening to Friday evening = second day

Friday evening to Saturday evening = third day

It was early on the first day of the week - Sunday morning - that the followers went to the tomb and Jesus was not there. He had risen. How do you see this?

[Salvation]

Why don’t you post this on its separate thread? Might lead to a great discussion......realizing that translations of the Bible passages might differ.

[vladimir998]

Hmmmmm...there must be more than one version:

My sweetest Jesus, Who, while praying in the garden, didst sweat Blood, wast in agony, and didst suffer a sorrow so great as to suffice to cause Thee death, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, Who wast betrayed by Judas with a kiss, and delivered over into the hands of Thine enemies, and then wast taken prisoner by them and bound, and abandoned by Thy disciples, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, declared by the council of the Jews guilty of death, and in the house of Caiphas blindfolded with a piece of cloth, and then buffeted, spit at, and derided, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, led away as a malefactor to Pilate, and then turned by Herod into ridicule, and treated as a madman, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, stripped of Thy garments, and bound to the pillar, and so cruelly scourged, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, crowned with thorns, covered with a red mantle, buffeted, and in mockery saluted as King of the Jews, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, rejected by the Jews, and placed after Barabbas, and then unjustly condemned by Pilate to die upon a Cross, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, laden with the wood of the Cross, and as an innocent Lamb led away unto death, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, nailed upon the Cross, placed between two thieves, ridiculed and blasphemed, and for three hours in an agony of the most horrible torments, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, dead upon the Cross, and in sight of Thy holy Mother, transfixed in Thy side with the spear, from whence there issued forth Blood and water, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, taken down from the Cross, and placed in the bosom of Thine afflicted Mother, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

My sweetest Jesus, Who, torn with stripes and stamped with Thy five wounds, wast laid in the sepulchre, have mercy on us.

R. Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

V. Surely He hath borne our infirmities.
R. And He hath carried our sorrows.

Let us pray.

O God, Who, for the redemption of the world, didst will to be born, to be circumcised, rejected by the Jews, betrayed by the traitor Judas with a kiss, bound with cords, led as an innocent Lamb to the sacrifice, and with so many insults taken before Annas, Caiphas, Pilate, and Herod, accused by false witnesses, beaten with scourges and buffetings, overwhelmed with ignominies, spit upon, crowned with thorns, smitten with the reed, blindfolded, stripped of Thy raiment, fastened with nails to the Cross lifted up on the Cross, numbered amongst thieves, with gall and vinegar given Thee to drink, and wounded with the spear,——do Thou, Lord, by these sacred pains, which I, unworthy, venerate, and by Thy holy Cross and death, deliver me from Hell, and vouchsafe to conduct me whither Thou didst conduct the thief that was crucified with Thee: Thou, Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. So do I hope; and so may it be.

[Salvation]

I like that too.

[Salvation]

 

Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”

[onyx]

I love the name for today = SPY WEDNESDAY.