Friday, March 25, 2016
Liturgical Season: 
III The Season of Great Fast
Special Significance: 
Annunciation to the Bl. Virgin Mary
Holy Qurbono for the People
Good Friday

Jn 1:14-18

14And the Word became flesh*

and made his dwelling among us,

and we saw his glory,

the glory as of the Father’s only Son,

full of grace and truth.k

15* John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said,l ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” 16From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace,* 17because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.m 18No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God,* who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.n

Gn 3:8-19

8When they heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day,* the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.d 9The LORD God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you? 10He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.” 11Then God asked: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat? 12The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.” 13The LORD God then asked the woman: What is this you have done? The woman answered, “The snake tricked me, so I ate it.”e

14Then the LORD God said to the snake:

Because you have done this,

cursed are you

among all the animals, tame or wild;

On your belly you shall crawl,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.* f

15I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

They will strike at your head,

while you strike at their heel.* g

16To the woman he said:

I will intensify your toil in childbearing;

in pain* you shall bring forth children.

Yet your urge shall be for your husband,

and he shall rule over you.

17To the man he said: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, You shall not eat from it,

Cursed is the ground* because of you!

In toil you shall eat its yield

all the days of your life.h

18Thorns and thistles it shall bear for you,

and you shall eat the grass of the field.

19By the sweat of your brow

you shall eat bread,

Until you return to the ground,

from which you were taken;

For you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.i

Zec 4:1-7

Fourth Vision: The Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees. 1Then the angel who spoke with me returned and aroused me, like one awakened from sleep. 2He said to me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a lampstand* all of gold,a with a bowl on top of it. There are seven lamps on it, with seven spouts on each of the lamps that are on top of it. 3And beside it are two olive trees,* one on the right of the bowl and one to its left.” 4Then I said to the angel who spoke with me, “What are these things, my lord?” 5And the angel who spoke with me replied, “Do you not know what these things are?” I said, “No, my lord.”

An Oracle. 6Then he said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, and not by power, but by my spirit,* b says the LORD of hosts. 7Who are you, O great mountain?* Before Zerubbabel you become a plain. He will bring forth the first stone amid shouts of ‘Favor, favor be upon it!’”

Jb 23:8-15

8But if I go east, he is not there;*

or west, I cannot perceive him;

9The north enfolds him, and I cannot catch sight of him;

The south hides him, and I cannot see him.

10Yet he knows my way;

if he tested me, I should come forth like gold.a

11My foot has always walked in his steps;

I have kept his way and not turned aside.

12From the commands of his lips I have not departed;

the words of his mouth I have treasured in my heart.

13But once he decides, who can contradict him?

What he desires, that he does.b

14For he will carry out what is appointed for me,

and many such things he has in store.

15Therefore I am terrified before him;

when I take thought, I dread him.

Is 7:10-17

Emmanuel. 10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: 11Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as Sheol, or high as the sky!* 12But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”* 13Then he said: Listen, house of David! Is it not enough that you weary human beings? Must you also weary my God? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign;* the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. 15Curds and honey* he will eat so that he may learn to reject evil and choose good; 16for before the child learns to reject evil and choose good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted.

17The LORD shall bring upon you and your people and your father’s house such days as have not come since Ephraim seceded* from Judah (the king of Assyria).

1 Jn 3:1-10

1* See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.a 2Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed* we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.b 3Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.c

Avoiding Sin. 4Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.* 5You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.d 6No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him. 7Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil.e 9No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God.* 10In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.

Heb 6:13-20

God’s Promise Immutable. 13* i When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, “he swore by himself,” 14and said, “I will indeed bless you and multiply” you.j 15And so, after patient waiting,k he obtained the promise.* 16Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument. 17So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath,l 18so that by two immutable things,* in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.m 19This we have as an anchor of the soul,n sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil,* 20where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.o

Lk 1:26-38

Announcement of the Birth of Jesus.* 26In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.l 28And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”m 29But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31n Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. 32o He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,* and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, 33and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”p 34But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”* 35And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.q 36And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived* a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; 37for nothing will be impossible for God.”r 38Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.