First Reading
First reading
Reading from the book of Exodus
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
In those days, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month each one shall take a lamb for a household, a lamb for a house. If a household is too small for a lamb, it shall join the nearest household in determining the number of persons, and it shall be calculated how much each person will eat. The lamb must be a year-old male, without blemish, and you may take it from either the sheep or the goats.
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then, with the whole community of Israel, it shall be slaughtered at twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. That night they shall eat its meat roasted over the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, and you shall eat like those in flight. It is the Passover of the Lord.
For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the Lord! The blood will be a sign on the houses where you are; seeing the blood, I will pass over you, and neither the devastating plague nor the destruction will touch you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
This day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; generation after generation, you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time.”
Second reading
Reading from the first letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
Gospel
Reading from the holy Gospel according to John
John 13:1-15
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had put all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
After he had washed their feet, he put his outer garment back on and returned to the table. He said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”