13 March 2026 (Friday) / Lenten Weekday / Day of Abstinence from Meat (age 14 and up) / Friday of the Third Week of Lent

13 March 2026 (Friday)

Lenten Weekday.
Day of Abstinence from Meat (age 14 and up)
Friday of the Third Week of Lent.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Hosea 14: 2-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 81: 6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17
Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 17
Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34

First Reading: Hosea 14: 2-10

2 Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity.
3 Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips.
4 Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods, for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee.
5 I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them.
6 I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus.
7 His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Libanus.
8 They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall be as the wine of Libanus.
9 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.
10 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 81: 6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17

R. (11, 9a) I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
6c He heard a tongue which he knew not.
7 He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in baskets.
8a Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee.
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
8bc I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction.
9 Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me,
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
10 There shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god.
11ab For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
14 If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways:
17 And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock.
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 17
17 Repent, says the Lord; the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34

28 And there came one of the scribes that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all.
29 And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God.
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
32 And the scribe said to him: Well, Master, thou hast said in truth, that there is one God, and there is no other besides him.
33 And that he should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength; and to love one’s neighbour as one’s self, is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.
34 And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

For our reflection today:

We can ask ourselves, in giving his assent, why did that scribe feel the need to repeat Jesus’ same words?. This repetition is a teaching for all of us who are listening. For the Word of the Lord cannot be received as any other type of news. The Word of the Lord should be repeated, made one’s own, safeguarded. We could say that it is so nutritious that it must reach every aspect of life: to involve, as Jesus says today, the entire heart, the entire soul, the entire mind, all of our strength (cf. v. 30). Let us take for example today’s Gospel: it is not enough to read it and understand that we should love God and our neighbour. It is necessary that this commandment, which is the “great commandment”, resound in us, that it be assimilated, that it become the voice of our conscience. This way, it does not remain a dead letter, in the drawer of the heart, because the Holy Spirit makes the seed of that Word germinate in us. Today, therefore, let us take the example of this scribe. Let us repeat Jesus’ words, making them resound in us: “To love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength and my neighbour as myself”. And let us ask ourselves: does this commandment truly orient my life? Does this commandment resonate in my daily life? It would be good this evening, before going to sleep, to make an examination of conscience on this Word, to see if we have loved the Lord today and if we have done a little good to those we happened to meet. May every encounter bring about a little bit of good, a little bit of love that comes from this Word. (Francis - Angelus, 31 October 2021)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Pelayan Atasan Tertinggi / Most High Servant,
Yesus, Maria, Yusuf Pelayanan Kasih / Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love 
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)

My vocation is Blessed and Saints.

"I am the most humble of all the Saints in Heaven" Mary, Mother of God.

"I am the handmaid of the Lord, said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me."

Mother Mary is the most humble Saint in Heaven and she is also the Mother of God for us all
(Luke 1:38)