26 March 2026 (Thursday) / Lenten Weekday / Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

26 March 2026 (Thursday)

Lenten Weekday.
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Genesis 17: 3-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 105: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Gospel Acclamation: Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 95: 8
Gospel: John 8: 51-59
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: violet (or purple)

First Reading : Genesis 17:3‐9

Abram bowed to the ground and God said this to him, ‘Here now is my covenant with you: you shall become the father of a multitude of nations. You shall no longer be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I make you father of a multitude of nations. I will make you most fruitful. I will make you into nations, and your issue shall be kings. I will establish my Covenant between myself and you, and your descendants after you, generation after generation, a Covenant in perpetuity, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land you are living in, the whole land of Canaan, to own in perpetuity, and I will be your God.
  ‘You on your part shall maintain my Covenant, yourself and your descendants after you, generation after generation.’

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 104(105):4‐9

The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
Consider the Lord and his strength;
  constantly seek his face.
Remember the wonders he has done,
  his miracles, the judgements he spoke.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
O children of Abraham, his servant,
  O sons of the Jacob he chose.
He, the Lord, is our God:
  his judgements prevail in all the earth.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
He remembers his covenant for ever,
  his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
  the oath he swore to Isaac.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

Gospel Acclamation: Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 95: 8
Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 95: 8
8 If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
(1. Come, let us cry out with joy to Yahweh, acclaim the rock of our salvation.
2. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving, acclaim him with music.
3. For Yahweh is a great God, a king greater than all the gods.
4. In his power are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are his;
5. the sea belongs to him, for he made it, and the dry land, moulded by his hands.
6. Come, let us bow low and do reverence; kneel before Yahweh who made us!
7. For he is our God, and we the people of his sheepfold, the flock of his hand. If only you would listen to him today!
8. Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as at the time of Massah in the desert,
9. when your ancestors challenged me, put me to the test, and saw what I could do!
10. For forty years that generation sickened me, and I said, 'Always fickle hearts; they cannot grasp my ways.'
11. Then in my anger I swore they would never enter my place of rest.)

Gospel : John 8:51‐59

Jesus said to the Jews:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
whoever keeps my word
will never see death.’
The Jews said, ‘Now we know for certain that you are possessed. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, and yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never know the taste of death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? The prophets are dead too. Who are you claiming to be?’ Jesus answered:
‘If I were to seek my own glory
that would be no glory at all;
my glory is conferred by the Father,
by the one of whom you say, “He is our God”
although you do not know him.
But I know him,
and if I were to say: I do not know him,
I should be a liar, as you are liars yourselves.
But I do know him, and I faithfully keep his word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced
to think that he would see my Day;
he saw it and was glad.’
The Jews then said, ‘You are not fifty yet, and you have seen Abraham!’ Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
before Abraham ever was,
I Am.’
At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.

For our reflection today:

Spes contra spem, “in hope he believed against hope”. This is the Christian identity as described by St Paul who, following in the footsteps of Abraham, was certain that “the thread of hope”, even in the most difficult of times, “runs through the course of salvation history and, moreover, is a source of joy”. At Mass on Thursday morning, 17 March, Pope Francis called on Christians to preserve their hope.

“Today’s liturgy”, he began, “prepares us for the Easter celebrations with a reflection on the virtue of hope”, the humble virtue so often cast aside, he said. In the passage from the Gospel of John (8:51-59), “Jesus speaks about Abraham and says to the doctors of the law: ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day’; he saw it and was glad’”.

Abraham, the Pope recalled, was “the man who left his land without knowing where he was going. He left in obedience, in faithfulness”. Abraham was also “the man who believed in the Word of God and was justified in that faith”; but he was also “the man who was tempted along this path of hope when, both he and his wife, smiled as God told them they would have a son. But he believed”.

Referring to the First Reading, taken from the Book of Genesis (17:3-9), the Pontiff spoke about the covenant: “you will be the father of nations”. Thus, “Abraham believed, and this thread of hope runs through the course of salvation history. Moreover, it is a source of joy”.

Today, the Pope continued, “the Church speaks to us about the joy of hope”. Indeed, “in the first prayer of the Mass”, he recalled, “we asked God for the grace to preserve the hope of the Church, that it never fail”. St Paul too, “speaking of our father Abraham, tells us to ‘believe against all hope’”. Thus, Francis stated, “when there is no human hope, there is this virtue which leads you forward”. It is “humble and simple, but it gives you joy, sometimes great joy, sometimes simply peace”. However, we can always be certain that “hope does not disappoint”.

“Abraham’s joy grows in history”, said the Pontiff, who repeated the words of the Lord from the day’s Gospel Reading: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day”. It’s true, the Pope acknowledged, that hope “is sometimes hidden, it is unseen”, and “sometimes it is openly manifest”. Thus, upon Mary’s arrival at her cousin’s house, Elizabeth says to her: “as soon as I heard your voice, the babe in my womb leaped for joy!”. In this meeting there is “the joy of the presence of God who walks with his people”, and “when there is joy, there is peace. This is the virtue of hope: from joy to peace, which never disappoints”.

This is the reason that, even “in times of slavery, at times in which they were sojourners, in a foreign land”, the People of God always had “that sense of certainty that the Prophets cultivated: ‘The Lord will save you’”. That “thread of hope”, the Pope explained, “begins here with Abraham, God speaks with Abraham. And it ‘ends’ in this Gospel passage where the same God who spoke with Abraham says: ‘I am he who spoke; before Abraham was, I am; I am he who called Abraham; I am he who began this journey of salvation’”.

He is the God, Francis added, “who accompanies us. He is also the God who suffers, who suffers as his people have suffered. He suffers on the Cross, but he is true to his word”.

Precisely in this regard the Pope recommended an essential examination of conscience regarding faith, charity and hope, asking several direct questions: “Do you have faith? Yes father, I have faith: I believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and in the sacraments. Very well, do you believe in charity? Yes, sort of, I try not to quarrel, to help the needy, to do good in life”. Those are the easy answers, Francis noted. But, he added, “when you are asked if you have hope, if you have the joy of hope”, the answer is: “Father, I don’t understand, what do you mean?”.

Hope, the Pontiff remarked, is “the humble virtue, the virtue that courses beneath the water of life, that keeps us from drowning in the many difficulties and losing the desire to find God, to find that marvellous face that we will all see one day”. Today, Pope Francis said, “is a fine day to reflect on this: the same God who called Abraham and made him come down from his land without knowing where he should go, is the same God who goes to the Cross in order to fulfil the promise that he made”. He is, the Pope continued, “the same God who in the fullness of time will make that promise a reality for all of us”. What “joins that first instance to this last moment is the thread of hope”. Therefore, what “joins my Christian life to our Christian life, from one moment to another, in order to always go forward — sinners, but forward — is hope”. Yet, “what gives us peace in the dark moments, in life’s darkest moments”, is always “hope”.

Hope “does not disappoint: it is always there, silent, humble, but strong”, Francis concluded. Then he repeated once again “today’s prayer, at the beginning of Mass: ‘Our hope is in your hands, O Lord, preserve our hope”.

POPE FRANCIS
MORNING MEDITATION IN THE CHAPEL OF THEDOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE
The thread of hope
Thursday, 17 March 2016

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)