March 28, 2026
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 11:45-56
Today is the Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent. The passage from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John continues to present us with a narrative of Jesus before His Passion.
We often handle our interpersonal relationships according to our own thoughts and concerns. Some of us are unwilling to point out others’ mistakes and shortcomings face-to-face; instead, we prefer to criticize them behind their backs, even magnifying the slightest errors or flaws they have committed, yet we are reluctant to first reflect on whether we ourselves share similar shortcomings.
We often seek various reasons and excuses for the sins we commit, unwilling to confront the sins we have committed or accept who we are in the present moment. With eyes filled with hatred and jealousy, we drive out of our lives those sacred ministers of God’s Church who preach the Gospel of the Kingdom and set a holy example through their personal practice, as well as those brothers and sisters sent by the Lord to manifest His infinite mercy. We even report everything about them to their adversaries, hoping to ensure they never appear in our faith life again—just as the Jews did who came from Bethany (cf. John 11:45-46). For their hearts were so hardened that they refused to accept all that God revealed to them through His only Son and tried every means possible to prevent others from turning to God.
Therefore, if we are unwilling to first examine our faith, accept who we are in the present, and follow Christ’s example by practicing charity in daily life—imitating Christ and attracting others to God through our acts of love—we will be like the chief priests and Pharisees who resolved to put Jesus to death (cf. John 11:47-50). They pursued all worldly power, refusing to completely surrender themselves to God to fulfil His will in all things.
As we draw nearer to Holy Week, let us now offer this prayer to God:
O God, who have made all those reborn in Christ a chosen race and a royal priesthood, grant us, we pray, the grace to will and to do what you command, that the people called to eternal life may be one in the faith of their hearts and the homage of their deeds. 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. Amen.
©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica
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