Good Friday Year A First Reading and Responsorial Psalm

A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

You will prosper, my servant,

you will be raised up and highly exalted.

Even as the crowds were appalled after seeing you –

you were so disfigured as to no longer look human –

so will the crowds be amazed at you,

and rulers will stand speechless before you;

for they will see something never told

and witness something never heard,

“Who would believe what we have heard?

To whom has the might of Our God been revealed?”

You grew up like a sapling before us,

like a root in parched soil.

There was no beauty in you, we saw you without esteem;

there was nothing to attract us.

You were rejected and despised by all;

you know suffering, and you are acquainted with sorrow.

People avoided your gaze;

we held you in low esteem.

Yet you bore our infirmities

and carried our suffering.

We thought you were being punished,

struck by God, and brought low.

But you were pierced for our offenses,

crushed for our sins;

upon you lies a chastening which brings us wholeness,

and through your wounds we are healed.

All of us, like sheep, have gone astray:

each of us goes our own way.

But God laid upon you

the guilt of us all.

Though treated harshly, you bore it humbly

and never opened your mouth.

You were like a lamb led to slaughter, or a sheep before shearers:

you were silent and never opened your mouth.

Taken by force and condemned,

who would ever have foreseen your destiny?

You were taken from the land of the living,

and fatally struck down for the sin of the people.

You were buried with the wicked

and entombed with the rich,

though you had done no wrong,

and deceit was not found in your mouth.

But God was satisfied to crush you and put you to grief:

if you give your life as an atonement for sin

you will see your descendants,

you will prolong your days,

and the will of God will prevail through you.

Through your suffering,

you will see contentment and light.

By your knowledge, my Righteous One, my servant,

you will justify many

by taking their guilt upon yourself.

Therefore, I will grant you a reward among the great,

and you will divide the spoils with the mighty;

for you surrendered yourself to death

and allowed yourself to be counted among the wicked,

while you were taking away the sins of many

and interceding for sinners.

The Word of God recorded in the book of the prophet Isaiah.

R: Abba-God!  I place my life in Your hands.

In You, Adonai, I take shelter;

never let me be disgraced.

In Your righteousness deliver me,

into Your hands I commit my spirit,

You have redeemed me, Adonai.

R: Abba-God!  I place my life in Your hands.

 

To every one of my oppressors I am contemptible,

loathsome to my neighbors,

to my friends a thing of fear.

Those who see me in the street hurry past me;

I am forgotten,

as good as dead in their hearts, something discarded.

R: Abba-God!  I place my life in Your hands.

 

But I put my trust in You, Adonai,

I say, “You are my God.”

My days are in Your hands,

rescue me from the hands of my enemies and persecutors.

R: Abba-God!  I place my life in Your hands.

 

Let Your face smile on your faithful one,

save me in Your love.

Be strong, let your heart be bold,

all you who hope in Our God!

R: Abba-God!  I place my life in your hands.