30 March 2026 (Monday) / Monday of Holy Week

30 March 2026 (Monday)

Monday of Holy Week.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Isaiah 42: 1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 27: 1, 2, 3, 13-14
Gospel: John 12: 1-11
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: violet (or purple)

First Reading : Isaiah 42:1‐7
(Reader) A reading from the prophet Isaiah.

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom my soul delights.
I have endowed him with my spirit
that he may bring true justice to the nations.
He does not cry out or shout aloud,
or make his voice heard in the streets.
He does not break the crushed reed,
nor quench the wavering flame.
Faithfully he brings true justice;
he will neither waver, nor be crushed
until true justice is established on earth,
for the islands are awaiting his law.
Thus says God, the Lord,
he who created the heavens and spread them out,
who gave shape to the earth and what comes from it,
who gave breath to its people
and life to the creatures that move in it:
‘I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right;
I have taken you by the hand and formed you;
I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations,
‘to open the eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison,
and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.’

(Reader) The Word of the Lord.
(All) Thanks be to God.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 26(27):1‐3,13‐14

The Lord is my light and my help.
The Lord is my light and my help;
  whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
  before whom shall I shrink?
The Lord is my light and my help.
When evil‐doers draw near
  to devour my flesh,
it is they, my enemies and foes,
  who stumble and fall.
The Lord is my light and my help.
Though an army encamp against me
  my heart would not fear.
Though war break out against me
  even then would I trust.
The Lord is my light and my help.
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness
  in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.
  Hope in the Lord!
The Lord is my light and my help.

Gospel Acclamation: Verse Before the Gospel
Hail to you, our King; you alone are compassionate with our faults.

Gospel : John 12:1‐11

(Reader) A reading from the holy Gospel according to John.
(All) Glory to you, O Lord.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table. Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was full of the scent of the ointment. Then Judas Iscariot – one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him – said, ‘Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contributions. So Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.’
  Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well, since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

(Reader) The Gospel of the Lord.
(All) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

For our reflection today:

Pope at Santa Marta: No to the spirit of the world that leads us to corruption.
Alessandro Di Bussolo - Vatican City.

Pope Francis resumes the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta and recalls, that the Holy Spirit "is the guarantee that God remains in us", and that we do not lend faith to the spirit of the world, which makes us unconscious, to the point of not distinguishing good from evil.

The Christian life is to remain in God, following the Holy Spirit and not the spirit of the world, which leads to corruption, and does not distinguish good from evil. Pope Francis resumed the morning celebration of Holy Mass at the Casa Santa Marta and in his homily commented on the passage from the first letter of St. John the Apostle, the first reading in the liturgy of the day, in which the evangelist takes up the advice of Jesus to his disciples: "Remain in God".

For many Christians today the Holy Spirit is only a dove.

One can "be in the most sinful cities, in the most atheistic societies, but if one's heart remains in God," stressed the Pope, this man and this woman bring salvation. He then recalled the episode narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, who arrive in a city and meet Christians baptized by John. They ask them: "Have you received the Holy Spirit?", but they didn't even know he was there. How many Christians, commented Pope Francis, even today identify the Holy Spirit only with a dove and do not know that "what makes you remain in the Lord is the guarantee, the strength to remain in the Lord".

The spirit of the world makes you unconscious.

The Pontiff then spoke of the spirit of the world, which is contrary to the Holy Spirit. "Jesus, at the Last Supper," he recalled, "does not ask the Father to remove the disciples from the world," because Christian life is in the world, "but to protect them from the spirit of the world, which is the opposite. He emphasized, that it is, "even worse than committing a sin. It is an atmosphere that renders you unconscious, leads you to a point that you do not know how to recognize good from evil".

The Holy Spirit: the guarantee of remaining in God.

Instead, to remain in God, "we must ask for this gift" of the Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee. From this "we know that we remain in the Lord". But how can we know, Pope Francis asked, if we have the Holy Spirit or the spirit of the world? Saint Paul, he explained, gives us this advice: "Do not sadden the Holy Spirit. When we go towards the spirit of the world we upset the Holy Spirit and ignore him, we cast him aside and our life goes another way".

Those Christians who celebrate the New Year by wasting money.

The spirit of the world, the Pope added, is forgetting, because "sin does not turn you away from God if you realize it and ask forgiveness, but the spirit of the world makes you forget what sin is" everything is permissible. Then he said, that in these days a priest showed him a film of Christians celebrating the New Year in a tourist city, in a Christian country.

They celebrated the New Year with a terrible worldliness, wasting money and many things. The spirit of the world. "Is this a sin?" - "No dear: this is corruption, worse than sin." The Holy Spirit leads you to God, and if you sin, the Holy Spirit protects you and helps you to rise up, but the spirit of the world leads you to corruption, to the point that you do not know what is good and what is evil: everything is the same.

Test the spirits, to see if they come from God.

Pope Francis recalled an Argentinean song that says: "Go, go, go... everything is the same that down there in the oven we will meet". The spirit of the world, he commented, leads you to the unconsciousness "of not distinguishing sin". And how do I know, the Pontiff asked, if " I am on the road to worldliness, to the spirit of the world, or if am I following the Spirit of God?"

The Apostle John gives us this advice: "Dear friends, do not give faith to every spirit (i.e. to every feeling, every inspiration, every idea), but test the spirits, to test whether they really come from God (or from the world)". But what does it mean to test the Spirit? It is simply this: when you feel something, you feel like doing something, or you come up with an idea, a judgment of something, ask yourself: is this what I feel from the Spirit of God or from the spirit of the world?

Does what I hear come from the spirit of the world or from God?

And how do you do it? Pope Francis' advice is to ask yourself "once, twice a day, or when you feel something that comes into your mind": This thing that I feel, that I want to do, where does it come from? "From the spirit of the world or the Spirit of God? Will this make me good or will it throw me down the road of worldliness that is unconsciousness?".

So many Christians don't know what goes on in their hearts.

Many Christians, the Pope lamented, "live without knowing what goes on in their hearts". That is why St. Paul and St. John say: "Do not lend faith to every spirit", to what you feel, but put it to the test. And so "we will know what happens in our hearts". Because, concluded Pope Francis: "For many Christians their hearts are like a road and they do not know who comes and goes, who comes and goes, because they do not know how to examine what happens inside".

For this reason I recommend that you take some time every day before going to bed or at noon - when you want to - [and ask yourself]: what has happened in my heart today? What did I want to do, to think? What is the spirit that has moved in my heart? The Spirit of God, the gift of God, the Holy Spirit who always brings me forward to the encounter with the Lord or the spirit of the world who gently, slowly moves me away from the Lord; it is a slow, slow, slow slide.

A Heart that is not a road, but a meeting point with God.

In a final piece of advice, the Pope said, “we ask this grace, "to remain in the Lord and we pray to the Holy Spirit, that He may make us remain in the Lord and give us the grace to distinguish spirits, that is, what moves within us. May our heart not be a road", may it be the meeting point between us and God.

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)