Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading I Numbers 21:4-9
From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road,
to bypass the land of Edom.
But with their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”
In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21
R. (2) O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily.
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.”
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Verse Before the Gospel
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever.
Gospel John 8:21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.”
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
March 24, 2026 // Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 8:21-30
Reflect on the Word //
At the beginning of Lent, I imagined this wide and dusty desert that we were all collectively entering. And yet, I imagined some of us felt very much like we entered it alone. But we didn’t. We didn’t walk into this Lent on our own, and we don’t walk into any desert season alone. Rather, like Christ as He entered the desert and was accompanied by the Holy Spirit, we too are accompanied.
Christ in today’s Gospel passage said to the Pharisees, “The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone” (John 8:29). We too can say this with Him as we encounter the challenges of living the call the Father has given us. This short excerpt—this proclamation—I hope, can become an echo within our hearts throughout the rest of our time in this Lenten desert and throughout our lives. A reminder that we’re never alone.
Something I’ve grown to enjoy over the last few years is how I’m more easily recalling the Gospel reading as it's being read. After going to Mass for decades now, the repetition has really cemented, or planted, the Word within my mind. It’s as though I’ve been listening to my grandparents’ stories of faith over and over again. The more I hear them, the more I learn, the better I recall.
In the same vein, if we read or hear Jesus’ prayer over and over again, it can become our own. The legacy of faith can be passed on. And when we enter the desert again—as we all likely will do, whether that’s next Lent or another season of our life that feels like Lent—then Jesus’ prayer can be what guides us, as God’s word was what guided Jesus in living out His mission from the Father.
Relate to the Lord // Have you been walking alone this Lent? Invite Jesus in again and ask Him to accompany you.
Annie Deddens is a writer and producer. She runs a prayer ministry with her husband, called Pray More Novenas. She has a heart for the sick & suffering, and she writes about living with greater faith (hope & love, too) in this imperfect world as a Catholic wife on her blog, Catholic Wife, Catholic Life. Find out more about her here.
Be a Woman of the Word
