March 11, 2026
Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19
Jesus Christ: The Fulfiller of All the Law and the Prophets

We often treat our relationship with God casually, according to our own understanding of His holy will. In our view, if everything God bestows upon us is not what we hope to receive from Him in our hearts, we will turn away from Him. When such thoughts dwell in our hearts, our actions will react accordingly—that is, like the Pharisees, we will arbitrarily add to or subtract from all that God has revealed to us through His Church as His holy will, according to our own understanding of His will.

Today, Jesus tells us: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the least stroke of a letter will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (cf. Mt 5:17-18). He came into the world to correct the errors caused by the Pharisees, whose God was a harsh deity whom they arbitrarily altered in the Torah; He also came to correct the errors of the Sadducees, who portrayed God as one who delights in sacrifices. We know that Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (cf. Heb 1:3). St. Paul the Apostle says: “God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin, and condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (cf. Rom 8:1-4). Therefore, He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to restore them to their original state, revealing to us the true God.

Grant, we pray, O Lord,
that, schooled through Lenten observance
and nourished by your word,
through holy restraint
we may be devoted to you with all our heart
and be ever united in prayer.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica