6 March 2026 (Friday) / Friday of the 2nd week of Lent / Lenten Weekday / Friday of the Second Week of Lent. Day of Abstinence from Meat (age 14 and up)

6 March 2026 (Friday)

Friday of the 2nd week of Lent.

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

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Genesis 37: 3-4, 12-13, 17-28
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 105: 16-17, 18-19, 20-21
Verse Before the Gospel: John 3: 16
Gospel: Matthew 21: 33-43, 45-46

First Reading : Genesis 37:3‐4,12‐13,17‐28

Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, for he was the son of his old age, and he had a coat with long sleeves made for him. But his brothers, seeing how his father loved him more than all his other sons, came to hate him so much that they could not say a civil word to him.
  His brothers went to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem. Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers with the flock at Shechem? Come, I am going to send you to them.’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
  They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them they made a plot among themselves to put him to death. ‘Here comes the man of dreams’ they said to one another. ‘Come on, let us kill him and throw him into some well; we can say that a wild beast devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams.’
  But Reuben heard, and he saved him from their violence. ‘We must not take his life’ he said. ‘Shed no blood,’ said Reuben to them ‘throw him into this well in the wilderness, but do not lay violent hands on him’ – intending to save him from them and to restore him to his father. So, when Joseph reached his brothers, they pulled off his coat, the coat with long sleeves that he was wearing, and catching hold of him they threw him into the well, an empty well with no water in it. They then sat down to eat.
  Looking up they saw a group of Ishmaelites who were coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, tragacanth, balsam and resin, which they were taking down into Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let us not do any harm to him. After all, he is our brother, and our own flesh.’ His brothers agreed.
  Now some Midianite merchants were passing, and they drew Joseph up out of the well. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces, and these men took Joseph to Egypt.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 104(105):16‐21

Remember the wonders the Lord has done.
The Lord called down a famine on the land;
  he broke the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man before them,
  Joseph, sold as a slave.
Remember the wonders the Lord has done.
His feet were put in chains,
  his neck was bound with iron,
until what he said came to pass
  and the word of the Lord proved him true.
Remember the wonders the Lord has done.
Then the king sent and released him
  the ruler of the people set him free,
making him master of his house
  and ruler of all he possessed.
Remember the wonders the Lord has done.

Verse Before the Gospel: John 3: 16
16 God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son; so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
(16. For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.
18. No one who believes in him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not believe in the Name of God's only Son).

Gospel : Matthew 21:33‐43,45‐46

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
It was the stone rejected by the builders
that became the keystone.
This was the Lord’s doing
and it is wonderful to see?
‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’
  When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was speaking about them, but though they would have liked to arrest him they were afraid of the crowds, who looked on him as a prophet.

For our reflection today:

In his homily at Holy Mass, Pope Francis commented on the Readings from the day’s liturgy, taken from the Book of Genesis (37:3-4; 12-13; 17-18) and from the Gospel of St Matthew (21:33-43, 45). “During these days of Lent,” the Pope began, “the Lord draws close to us and the Church leads us towards the Paschal Triduum, towards the Death and Resurrection of Jesus”.

The first Reading recounts the story of “Joseph, who is a prophetic figure and type of Jesus: he was sold for 20 shekels by his brothers”. The Gospel of Matthew presents the parable of the householder who let his property out to tenants. “Jesus tells the people and the Pharisees, the priests and the elders of the people this parable to make them understand how far they have fallen”.

Pope Francis observed that the Gospel places us before “a drama, not of the people — for the people understood that Jesus was a great prophet — but of the leaders of the people, and some of the priests of that time, of the doctors of the law, and of the elders whose hearts were not open to God’s word”. In fact, “they heard Jesus, but rather than seeing in him God’s Promised One, or rather than considering him to be a great prophet, they were afraid of him”.

Essentially, the Pope said, theirs was “the same sentiment as Herod’s”. They too thought: “this man is a revolutionary, let us stop him in time, we must stop him!”. Therefore “they sought to capture him, and they sought to put him to the test so that he would fall and be captured: it was a persecution against Jesus”. But why this persecution, the Pope asked? “Because these people were not open to God’s word; they were enclosed within their egoism”.

It is within this context that “Jesus tells the parable: God gave as an inheritance a land with a vineyard which he had planted and tilled with his own hands”. In fact we read in the Gospel that the householder “planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower”. They are all things which “he did himself, with great love”. And then “he let the vineyard out to tenants”.

This is “exactly what the Lord has done with us,” the Pope explained. “He has lent us life,” and with it, “the promise” that he would come to save us. “Yet this people saw a profitable business venture in it: the vineyard is beautiful, let’s take it, it’s ours!”. Thus, as the Gospel tells us, “the season of fruit drew near, and the householder’s servants went to get his fruit. But the tenants, who had already placed themselves as masters of the vineyard, said: no, let us cast them out, this is ours!”

This parable recounts “the drama of this people and of us all”, the Pope added. “They made themselves masters of God’s word; and the word of God became their word, a word fashioned according to their own interests, their own theologies, their own ideologies … everyone interpreted it according to his own will, according to his own interests”; and “they murdered to maintain this”. In fact, the Pope added, this is precisely what happened to Jesus. “The chief priests and the Pharisees understood that he was speaking about them when they heard this parable”, and thus “they sought to capture him and have him killed”.

Yet in this way “the Word of God becomes dead, it becomes trapped”, he added. And “the Holy Spirit becomes locked up in the desires of each of them. The same thing happens to us when we are not open to the newness of God’s word, when we are not obedient to God’s word”. Disobeying the word of God is like trying to say: “this is no longer God’s Word: now it is ours”.

As “the word of God died in the heart of these people, it can also die in our hearts,” the Pontiff observed. And yet the word “does not end there, for it is alive in the heart of the simple, the humble, the people of God”. In fact, those who were seeking to capture Jesus were afraid of the people because they considered him to be a prophet. “The simple crowd followed Jesus because what Jesus said did them great good and warmed their hearts. They didn’t use the Word of God for their own interests”. Rather, they “listened and sought to be better”.

At this point, the Pope suggested that we think about “what we can do so as not to kill the Word of God, so as not to make ourselves masters of this word, to be docile, and not to lock up the Holy Spirit”. He indicated two simple ways: humility and prayer. “The people who would not accept God’s word but rather who said ‘this is God’s word, but I interpret it according to my own interests!’ were certainly not humble”, he remarked. “They were proud, self important, they were the supposed ‘doctors’. They were people who “believed they had the power to change the meaning of God’s word”.

However, he said, “there were also good and humble priests, humble Pharisees who received the Word of God in the right spirit; for example, the Gospels speak about Nicodemus”. Therefore, “the main disposition one needs in order to listen to God’s word is humility”, since “without humility one cannot welcome and receive God’s word”. The second disposition needed is prayer. The people of whom the parable speaks “did not pray, they didn’t need to pray: they felt quite secure and strong, they felt that they were gods”.

Therefore, Pope Francis said: “with humility and prayer let us go forward in listening to God’s word and obeying the Church. Thus, what happened to these people will not happen to us: we will not kill in order to defend a word which we believe to be God’s word” but which in reality is actually “a word we have utterly altered”. The Pope concluded, praying that “the Lord grant us the grace of humility to look upon Jesus as the Saviour who speaks to us: he speaks to me! Each one of us ought to say: he speaks to me! When we read the Gospels: he is speaking to me!” Pope Francis also invited those present to “open their hearts to the Holy Spirit, who gives power to these words” and “to pray, to pray much that we might all be docile to receive this word and to obeying it”. (Pope Francis - The imprisoned word)

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)