22 March 2026 (Sunday) / Fifth Sunday of Lent / Third Scrutiny of the Elect

22 March 2026 (Sunday)

Fifth Sunday of Lent.
Third Scrutiny of the Elect.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Ezekiel 37: 12-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 130: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Second Reading: Romans 8: 8-11
Verse Before the Gospel: John 11: 25a, 26
Gospel: John 11: 1-45

First Reading: Ezekiel 37: 12-14

12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my people: and will bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my people:
14 And shall have put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken, and done it, saith the Lord God:

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 130: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

R. (7bc) With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
1 Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord:
2 Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
3 If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it.
4 For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word:
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
5 My soul hath hoped in the Lord.
6 From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
7 Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Second Reading: Romans 8: 8-11

8 And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead, because of sin; but the spirit liveth, because of justification.
11 And if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you; he that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Verse Before the Gospel: John 11: 25a, 26
25a, 26 I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will never die.

Gospel: John 11: 1-45

1 Now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary and Martha her sister.
2 (And Mary was she that anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3 His sisters therefore sent to him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 And Jesus hearing it, said to them: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God: that the Son of God may be glorified by it.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus.
6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he still remained in the same place two days.
7 Then after that, he said to his disciples: Let us go into Judea again.
8 The disciples say to him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone thee: and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world:
10 But if he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.
11 These things he said; and after that he said to them: Lazarus our friend sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.
12 His disciples therefore said: Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13 But Jesus spoke of his death; and they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep.
14 Then therefore Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there, that you may believe: but let us go to him.
16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him.
17 Jesus therefore came, and found that he had been four days already in the grave.
18 (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.)
19 And many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus had come, went to meet him: but Mary sat at home.
21 Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22 But now also I know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23 Jesus saith to her: Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith to him: I know that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live:
26 And every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. Believest thou this?
27 She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art come into this world.
28 And when she had said these things, she went, and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The master is come, and calleth for thee.
29 She, as soon as she heard this, riseth quickly, and cometh to him.
30 For Jesus was not yet come into the town: but he was still in that place where Martha had met him.
31 The Jews therefore, who were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she rose up speedily and went out, followed her, saying: She goeth to the grave to weep there.
32 When Mary therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing him, she fell down at his feet, and saith to him: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33 Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her, weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled himself,
34 And said: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see.
35 And Jesus wept.
36 The Jews therefore said: Behold how he loved him.
37 But some of them said: Could not he that opened the eyes of the man born blind, have caused that this man should not die?
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself, cometh to the sepulchre. Now it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it.
39 Jesus saith: Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to him: Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he is now of four days.
40 Jesus saith to her: Did not I say to thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God?
41 They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up his eyes said: Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people who stand about have I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43 When he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth.
44 And presently he that had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him, and let him go.
45 Many therefore of the Jews, who were come to Mary and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him.

For our reflection today:

The Gospel passage for this fifth Sunday of Lent is the resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus could have avoided the death of his friend Lazarus, but he wanted to share in our suffering for the death of people dear to us, and above all, he wished to demonstrate God’s dominion over death. In this Gospel passage we see that the faith of man and the omnipotence of God, of God’s love, seek each other and finally meet. It is like a two lane street: the faith of man and the omnipotence of God’s love seek each other and finally meet. We see this in the cry of Martha and Mary, and of all of us with them: “If you had been here!”. And God’s answer is not a speech, no, God’s answer to the problem of death is Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life”  have faith. Amid grief, continue to have faith, even when it seems that death has won. Take away the stone from your heart! Let the Word of God restore life where there is death. Today, too, Jesus repeats to us: “Take away the stone”. Christ lives, and those who welcome him and follow him come into contact with life. (Francis, Angelus, 29 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)