18 March 2026 (Wednesday) / Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent (optional commemoration of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Doctor) / Lenten Weekday/ Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Doctor of the Church / Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

18 March 2026 (Wednesday)

Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent (optional commemoration of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Doctor)

Lenten Weekday/ Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Doctor of the Church.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Isaiah 49: 8-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 144(145):8‐9,13b‐14,17‐18
Verse Before the Gospel: John 11: 25a, 26
Gospel: John 5: 17-30
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: violet (or purple)

First Reading : Isaiah 49:8‐15

Thus says the Lord:
At the favourable time I will answer you,
on the day of salvation I will help you.
(I have formed you and have appointed you
as covenant of the people.)
I will restore the land
and assign you the estates that lie waste.
I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out’,
to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
On every roadway they will graze,
and each bare height shall be their pasture.
They will never hunger or thirst,
scorching wind and sun shall never plague them;
for he who pities them will lead them
and guide them to springs of water.
I will make a highway of all the mountains,
and the high roads shall be banked up.
Some are on their way from afar,
others from the north and the west,
others from the land of Sinim.
Shout for joy, you heavens; exult, you earth!
You mountains, break into happy cries!
For the Lord consoles his people
and takes pity on those who are afflicted.
For Zion was saying, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
the Lord has forgotten me.’
Does a woman forget her baby at the breast,
or fail to cherish the son of her womb?
Yet even if these forget,
I will never forget you.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 144(145):8‐9,13b‐14,17‐18

The Lord is kind and full of compassion.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
  slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
  compassionate to all his creatures.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion.
The Lord is faithful in all his words
  and loving in all his deeds.
The Lord supports all who fall
  and raises all who are bowed down.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion.
The Lord is just in all his ways
  and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
  who call on him from their hearts.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion.

Verse Before the Gospel: John 11: 25a, 26
25a, 26 I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in me will never die.
(17. On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already.
18. Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem,
19. and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
20. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house.
21. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,
22. but even now I know that God will grant whatever you ask of him.'
23. Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'
24. Martha said, 'I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.'
25. Jesus said: I am the resurrection. Anyone who believes in me, even though that person dies, will live,
26. and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
27. 'Yes, Lord,' she said, 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.')

Gospel : John 5:17‐30

Jesus said to the Jews, ‘My Father goes on working, and so do I.’ But that only made them even more intent on killing him, because, not content with breaking the sabbath, he spoke of God as his own Father, and so made himself God’s equal.
  To this accusation Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
the Son can do nothing by himself;
he can do only what he sees the Father doing:
and whatever the Father does the Son does too.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything he does himself,
and he will show him even greater things than these,
works that will astonish you.
Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,
so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses;
for the Father judges no one;
he has entrusted all judgement to the Son,
so that all may honour the Son
as they honour the Father.
Whoever refuses honour to the Son
refuses honour to the Father who sent him.
I tell you most solemnly,
whoever listens to my words,
and believes in the one who sent me,
has eternal life;
without being brought to judgement
he has passed from death to life.
I tell you most solemnly,
the hour will come – in fact it is here already –
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and all who hear it will live.
For the Father, who is the source of life,
has made the Son the source of life;
and, because he is the Son of Man,
has appointed him supreme judge.
Do not be surprised at this,
for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves
at the sound of his voice:
those who did good will rise again to life;
and those who did evil, to condemnation.
I can do nothing by myself;
I can only judge as I am told to judge,
and my judging is just,
because my aim is to do not my own will,
but the will of him who sent me.’

For our reflection today:

It will be our Lord Jesus who on the last day raises those who have believed in him. Jesus has come among us, he became man like us in all things, except sin; in this way he took us with him on his return journey to the Father. He, the Word Incarnate, who died for us and rose again, gives to his disciples the Holy Spirit as a pledge of full communion in his glorious Kingdom, which we vigilantly await. This waiting is the source and reason for our hope: a hope that, if cultivated and guarded — our hope, if we cultivate and guard it — becomes a light that illumines our common history. Let us remember it always: we are disciples of the One who came, who comes everyday and who will come at the end. If we can manage to be more aware of this reality, we will be less fatigued by daily life, less prisoners of the ephemeral and more disposed to walk with a merciful heart on the way of salvation. (Francis - General Audience, 4 December 2013)

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)