Tuesday of Holy Week
- Feast Day
- March 31
Tuesday of Holy Week is observed with the proclamation of John 13:21-33, 36-38, in which Christ at the Last Supper foretells his betrayal by Judas and the threefold denial by Peter. The first reading is taken from the Second Servant Song of Isaiah (Isaiah 49:1-6), continuing the pattern through Holy Week of reading the Servant Songs that the Church has from earliest times applied to the Passion of Christ.
Per the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and Calendar, the day ranks above all memorials and commemorations and admits only the Mass of the day. No saints' feasts are observed.
Tuesday of Holy Week confronts the faithful with the human failure that surrounds the Passion: the betrayal of one apostle and the denial of another. The juxtaposition with Isaiah's Servant who is given as a light to the nations sets the universality of redemption against the particular weakness of those closest to Christ, an inversion that defines the entire Paschal Mystery.
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