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

20 March 2026 (Friday)

Friday of the 4th week of Lent

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

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Wisdom 2:1,12‐22
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33 (34):16,18,19‐21,23
Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 4b
Gospel: John 7:1‐2,10,25‐30
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: violet (or purple)

First Reading : Wisdom 2:1,12‐22

The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning:
‘Our life is short and dreary,
nor is there any relief when man’s end comes,
nor is anyone known who can give release from Hades.
Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us
and opposes our way of life,
reproaches us for our breaches of the law
and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing.
He claims to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a son of the Lord.
Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking,
the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;
his way of life is not like other men’s,
the paths he treads are unfamiliar.
In his opinion we are counterfeit;
he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth;
he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy
and boasts of having God for his father.
Let us see if what he says is true,
let us observe what kind of end he himself will have.
If the virtuous man is God’s son, God will take his part
and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture,
and thus explore this gentleness of his
and put his endurance to the proof.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death
since he will be looked after – we have his word for it.’
This is the way they reason, but they are misled,
their malice makes them blind.
They do not know the hidden things of God,
they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded,
they can see no reward for blameless souls.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 33 (34):16,18,19‐21,23

The Lord is close to the broken‐hearted.
The Lord turns his face against the wicked
  to destroy their remembrance from the earth.
The just call and the Lord hears
  and rescues them in all their distress.
The Lord is close to the broken‐hearted.
The Lord is close to the broken‐hearted;
  those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
Many are the trials of the just man
  but from them all the Lord will rescue him.
The Lord is close to the broken‐hearted.
He will keep guard over all his bones,
  not one of his bones shall be broken.
The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.
  Those who hide in him shall not be condemned.
The Lord is close to the broken‐hearted.

Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 4b
4b One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
(1. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the desert to be put to the test by the devil.
2. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was hungry,
3. and the tester came and said to him, 'If you are Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves.'
4. But he replied, 'Scripture says: Human beings live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'
5. The devil then took him to the holy city and set him on the parapet of the Temple.
6. 'If you are Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down; for scripture says: He has given his angels orders about you, and they will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.'
7. Jesus said to him, 'Scripture also says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'
8. Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.
9. And he said to him, 'I will give you all these, if you fall at my feet and do me homage.'
10. Then Jesus replied, 'Away with you, Satan! For scripture says: The Lord your God is the one to whom you must do homage, him alone you must serve.'
11. Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels appeared and looked after him.)

Gospel : John 7:1‐2,10,25‐30

Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea, because the Jews were out to kill him. As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself. Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ? Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.’
  Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out: ‘Yes, you know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of myself: no, there is one who sent me and I really come from him, and you do not know him, but I know him because I have come from him and it was he who sent me.’ They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

For our reflection today:

The first Reading is almost like an anticipated news report about what happened to Jesus. It is truly a prophecy of what happened. And the Jews sought to kill Him, the Gospel says. They even go to arrest Him, the Gospel tells us, “but because His time had not yet come no one laid a hand on Him” (Jn 7:30). This is called hounding. And what should one do in the moment of being hounded? There are two things to be done: to dialogue with these people is not possible because they have their own ideas, fixed ideas, which the devil has sown in their hearts. We have heard what their plan of action is. What can one do? What Jesus did: remain silent. It is the silence of the just one in the face of dogged fury. This is valid even for – we can say – the little, everyday types of hounding … stay silent. Silence. Endure and tolerate the hounding of gossip. (Francis, Santa Marta, 27 March 2020)

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)