TUESDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK IN LENT - 2026

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion. JOEL 2:12-13

DANIEL 3:25,34-43

My Soul's Beloved, 

You are our Covenant between God and His people. We, the Church, You founded on the Rock of Peter with You as its Cornerstone, are the New Israel, the new people of God. We begin as a grain of wheat that died and gave life in abundance to all who believe in You, hope in You, adore You, and love You. We are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You, O Lord, as willed by Your Father, have become the means by which every man, woman, and child across nations, cutting across all barriers, cultures, and languages, invite us to become members of Your Body, children of the Father, and co-heirs with You to the Kingdom of God. Every prophecy of Azariah as he sang Your praises in the midst of the fire that did not burn nor even singe them, is by the power of the Holy Spirit, and all the prophecies of Daniel and every one of the prophets in the Old Testament is realized in You, O Lord, our God.

We are Your people. We are the sheep of Your pasture. It is we whom You feed with Your Flesh and quench our thirst on Your Blood. Out of Your side pours life-giving water, and in this wonderful tide of unending grace, we are baptized, confirmed, healed, forgiven, and raised to new life. Sacramental grace accompanies us until we close our eyes on earth and are awakened in Your glorious Presence in heaven. You, O Lord, are our prize and our joy. In You alone is our peace, our hope, our reconciliation with the Father, and in You we will find our final and eternal home.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for all You have done for us who are the new people of God. Thank You for laying down Your life for us, entering into our death, and for raising us up to new life in You. 

Azariah stood in the heart of the fire, and he began to pray:
Oh! Do not abandon us for ever,
for the sake of your name;
do not repudiate your covenant,
do not withdraw your favour from us,
for the sake of Abraham, your friend,
of Isaac your servant,
and of Israel your holy one,
to whom you promised descendants as countless as the stars of heaven
and as the grains of sand on the seashore.
Lord, now we are the least of all the nations,
now we are despised throughout the world, today, because of our sins.
We have at this time no leader, no prophet, no prince,
no holocaust, no sacrifice, no oblation, no incense,
no place where we can offer you the first-fruits
and win your favour.
But may the contrite soul, the humbled spirit be as acceptable to you
as holocausts of rams and bullocks,
as thousands of fattened lambs:
such let our sacrifice be to you today,
and may it be your will that we follow you wholeheartedly,
since those who put their trust in you will not be disappointed.
And now we put our whole heart into following you,
into fearing you and seeking your face once more.
Do not disappoint us;
treat us gently, as you yourself are gentle
and very merciful.
Grant us deliverance worthy of your wonderful deeds,
let your name win glory, Lord.

PSALM 24(25):4-6,7a-9

Remember your mercy, Lord.

Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.

Remember your mercy, Lord,
and the love you have shown from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth.
In your love remember me.

The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the poor.

Remember your mercy, Lord.

MATTHEW 18:21-35

My Soul's Beloved, 

Peter posed this question to You and expected You to concur with him. Your response is nothing short of flabbergasting. ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ You replied, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.’ You then went on to give us a parable about forgiveness that reveals to us the heart of our merciful God towards sinners.

The servant in the parable represents every sinner. He owed his master the astronomical sum of ten thousand talents. It was an amount that he could not pay back in his lifetime. Our sins are a grave offence against the goodness of God, and yet when we approach the throne of mercy and grace with repentant, contrite, and humble hearts, You O Lord, readily forgive our sins and throw our sins in the vast ocean of Your mercy, never to remember them again. We, in turn, ought to treat those who sin against us with the same mercy and compassion; sadly, we don't. And this is why, over and over again, You remind us, especially in the Lord's Prayer, that in the measure that we forgive, we will be forgiven. Lord, grant us this grace today, to forgive the offences caused to us, both real and imagined, then we will be confident that You will remember our sins no more. Thank You, Lord.

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.
‘And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’

MONDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF LENT - 2026

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word,
because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption. PS 129:5, 7

2 KINGS 5:1-15

My Soul's Beloved, 

There is much You say to us through this passage in Sacred Scripture. Naaman was not a Jew; he had leprosy; he was a man who enjoyed his king's favor; he was successful in war, and this was because the Lord granted him victory. He enjoyed the king's favor only because God had blessed him with success in battle. You, O Lord our God, work in mysterious ways, and while we may not always view the crosses sent our way as a blessing, You have the power to draw immense good from them. The little Jew girl was taken as a slave, and young though she was, she knew the power of the God of Israel and made it known to her mistress that if her master would only go there, he would be healed. 

Naaman not only believed what the girl said but also acted on it. Loading himself with money and gifts, he went to Israel, the king of Israel, however, was unhappy, for unlike the slave girl, he had forgotten the God he worshipped had power to heal. He was afraid that the king of Aram was spoiling for a fight with him and tore his garments. When the prophet Elisha heard of it, he reminded the king that God was alive and His power to perform miracles was given to His prophet. So the proud and haughty Naaman was sent to the prophet, and when he sent a messenger to meet him, saying, ‘Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will become clean once more,’ he was affronted and angry. He expected to be treated with pomp and circumstance; instead, his pride was wounded, and he felt insulted and dismissed after receiving instructions on what he should do. Ranting and raving before his servants, he was gently reminded by them,  ‘My father, if the prophet had asked you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? All the more reason, then, when he says to you, “Bathe, and you will become clean.”’ Reason and common sense won the day; he did as he was told, and humility and obedience obtained for him the healing he longed for.

Beloved Jesus, our souls are scarred with the sin of leprosy, yet so many of us refuse, like Naaman, to receive the simple and effective remedy of healing in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They lack the humility to do as You ask and show themselves to the priest and hear those consoling words after showing him our wounds, "I absolve you from your sins. Go in peace." 

Naaman was healed completely, and he returned home determined to worship the God of Israel, the true God, and Him alone. Thank You, Beloved, for the gift of faith in the Church You founded, for salvation is found in her alone.

Naaman, army commander to the king of Aram, was a man who enjoyed his master’s respect and favour, since through him the Lord had granted victory to the Aramaeans. But the man was a leper.
Now on one of their raids, the Aramaeans had carried off from the land of Israel a little girl who had become a servant of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my master would approach the prophet of Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy.’
Naaman went and told his master. ‘This and this’ he reported ‘is what the girl from the land of Israel said.’
‘Go by all means,’ said the king of Aram ‘I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’
So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten festal robes. He presented the letter to the king of Israel. It read: ‘With this letter, I am sending my servant Naaman to you for you to cure him of his leprosy.’ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his garments. ‘Am I a god to give death and life,’ he said ‘that he sends a man to me and asks me to cure him of his leprosy? Listen to this, and take note of it and see how he intends to pick a quarrel with me.’
When Elisha heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king, ‘Why did you tear your garments? Let him come to me, and he will find there is a prophet in Israel.’
So Naaman came with his team and chariot and drew up at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent him a messenger to say, ‘Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will become clean once more.’
But Naaman was indignant and went off, saying, ‘Here was I thinking he would be sure to come out to me, and stand there, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprous part. Surely Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are better than any water in Israel? Could I not bathe in them and become clean?’ And he turned round and went off in a rage.
But his servants approached him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had asked you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? All the more reason, then, when he says to you, “Bathe, and you will become clean.”’
So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, as Elisha had told him to do. And his flesh became clean once more like the flesh of a little child.
Returning to Elisha with his whole escort, he went in and stood before him. ‘Now I know’ he said ‘that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.’

PSALM 41(42):2-3,42:3-4

My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life: when can I enter and see the face of God?

Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God.

My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?

O send forth your light and your truth;
let these be my guide.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

And I will come to the altar of God,
the God of my joy.
My redeemer, I will thank you on the harp,
O God, my God.

My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life: when can I enter and see the face of God?

LUKE 4:24-30

My Soul's Beloved, 

People define us by what they knew of us a long time ago. While we have grown, evolved, and are now quite different, their view of us is frozen, and more often than not, they refuse to change their perspective and accept us for who we are in the here and now. Often, when we change for the better, our lives become an irritant to them; they dislike what their conscience is telling them, hence they lash out at the one who reminds them of who and what they really are. This is just what You experienced when You returned to Your hometown in Nazareth.  

The people who came to the synagogue watched You grow from a child to manhood, working alongside Your father, Joseph. They knew Your mama Mary. Some of the women in the area were her friends, and now that You had returned, even though they heard of the miracles You were performing in the neighboring towns, they still refused to really see You. 

This is true of our own experiences, Lord. We freeze people in their past sinful lives, we recall their past when we see them again, perhaps decades later, and we refuse to see them as they have now evolved into the saintly and godlike people they have grown to be. We spread calumny and ostracise them, and like Your townsfolk were prepared to do, drag them to the top of a high cliff, throw them off, and destroy them. You slipped away. It was, perhaps to their eternal loss, that they rejected You.

Jesus came to Nazara and spoke to the people in the synagogue: ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.
‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’
When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.