Third Sunday of Lent
Also Read: Mass Readings for 08 March 2026
First Reading: Exodus 17: 3-7
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. (6)
The people complained against Moses and he pleaded with the Lord God for a solution. The Lord asked him to lead those complaining souls! But the Lord also gave him the staff for his power to flow through Moses. He also asked him to take with him the elders, who be His witnesses.
Today, the rock we have is Jesus Christ, his life-giving grace flows out to us through his Holy Eucharist, the Church and his faithful. Where is our Massah or Meribah? What is our complaint, most of the time? Why have we not gone to Jesus yet? Where is the Lord commanding us to strike at? How is HE directing us to lead? Let us hear HIS voice and not be afraid! In our hands we hold Christ’s Body at the Holy Communion! The faithful around us, are the elders we need! Let us drink from the living waters that our Rock, Jesus provides! Let us practice our faith and not be conformed to this world. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 95: 1-2, 6-9
O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. (6-9)
Amen!
Second Reading: Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8
Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (5)
Through faith in Christ Jesus, we have Hope. We have an advocate and an intercessor in Jesus Christ, therefore we will not be troubled in our spirit! The Rock that saved the Israelites at Massah and Meribah will lead us out of the wilderness we may face. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Verse Before the Gospel: John 4: 42, 15
They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
Amen!
Gospel: John 4: 5-42
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” (13-15)
“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (23-24)
When we worship the Lord in our spirit, the Holy Spirit joins in our praise. It is the Holy Spirit that leads us to true worship, we must remain open to receiving Him. Christ has poured His Holy Spirit on us through the Church at our Baptism.
Let us ask the Lord for us to remain in the Holy Spirit. Even when we are occupied with daily life we can make it a practice to keep drawing our minds inward where the Spirit guides and talks to us. Jesus gives us this grace when we ask Him for it. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Leave a Reply