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1. Pre-Lent Sunday - This is the Sunday right before the beginning of Lent. Lent always starts on a Monday. The Gospel reading for Pre-Lent Sunday is Matthew 6:1-18. The three main themes in this reading are

• Doing charitable deeds and giving alms (tithes)
• Fasting
• Prayer

The Pre-Lent Gospel reading sets the stage for our spiritual life during the period of Lent. The Pre-Lent Gospel reading talks about doing these three things in humility, and in particular, praying and fasting in secret and without recognition as well as doing charitable deeds without being noticed.

2. First Sunday of Lent - The Gospel reading for the first Sunday of lent is a continuation of the Pre-Lent Sunday Gospel reading. It is Matthew 6:19-33. The main themes in this Gospel reading are:


Focus on the heavenly rather than the earthly. We read in Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures in earth, where moth or rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Do not worry (verses 25-33). During the period of lent, we are to focus on heavenly things and not worry about the earthly things. We are to not worry about our troubles, our possessions, our health, our jobs, our nancial security, and our cares of this life. Such worries distract us from fasting, prayer, repentance, and our heavenly goal.

3. Second Sunday of Lent: The Temptation on the Mount- The Gospel reading for the second Sunday of lent is Matthew 4:1-11, where Jesus is tempted by the devil after having fasted 40 days in the wilderness. This Gospel passage teaches us several things:


The importance of fasting in overcoming temptation and sin, and in particular, overcoming the devil (Matthew 4:2). Being filled with the Holy Spirit as a result of fasting. Fasting raises our spiritual awareness, and as a result, the Holy Spirit is active in our life (Matthew 4:1, Luke 4:1).

We see a one on one confrontation between Christ and Satan, in which Christ is victorious. This gives us great comfort and joy in knowing that Satan is defeated, doomed, and his days are numbered. Christ is always victorious and He will be victorious again in His second coming.

This Gospel passage shows us the trickery and deceit of the devil. He twists words and meanings to fit his own definitions. He even twists words and meanings from the Bible.

Satan tempts Jesus three times here: i) he commands Him to turn the stone into bread, ii) he commands Him to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, and iii) he command Him to worship him. The first temptation is an attack on the body, for Jesus was hungry after His fast, and the devil tempted him with food so that Jesus would satisfy His physical needs. The second temptation was an attack on the soul, in which the devil tells Jesus to jump, thus defying the laws of gravity and defying the capability of humanity. The second temptation is more serious than the first. Then the third temptation is the ultimate one, and most serious, in which the devil asks Christ to worship him, thus commanding Him to be in complete submission to him. In these temptations, we see that the devil is not only cunning and deceptive, but we see that he is also a liar. He tells Jesus that he will give Him the kingdoms of the world if He worships him (Luke 4:6). This, of course, is a lie, since the devil does not have authority whatsoever over anything of this world, but rather it is Christ who has the authority over all. This is why Christ calls the devil, "the father of lies" (John 8:44). The temptation of Jesus on the mount is recorded in three of the four Gospels. It is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13.


4. The Third Sunday of Lent: The Parable of the Prodigal Son - The Gospel reading for the third Sunday of Lent is Luke 15:11-32. This is a very spiritually rich parable with so many lessons. It is a parable and thus not an actual event that occurred. The Gospel of Luke contains most of the parables of Jesus. The parable of the prodigal son is only found in the Gospel of St. Luke. This Gospel reading tells us many things:

Confession and Repentance - The prodigal son "comes to himself" (Luke 15:17) and realizes his sins and wrong ways. As a result, he repents and returns home to his father after having lived an immoral life.

Arrogance and Humility - The prodigal son leaves his father's house an arrogant person, who demanded his inheritance (Luke 15:11), and he returns home a humble person only wanting to be a servant in his fathers house (Luke 15:19).

The Loving father - This parable also tells about about a loving father who accepts his son unconditionally without any questions or reservations. He sees him from afar, immediately accepts him, gives him the best of what he has, and prepares a big celebration for him. The father also deals with the elder son in a very loving way.


The Sins of the Tongue - The elder son criticizes and maligns his younger brother to his father, and he is jealous of him. We see here the importance of the sins of the tongue, and the sins of jealousy and hypocrisy. The Catholic Epistle reading for the third Sunday of Lent is James 3:1-12, which talks about the sins of the tongue.


5. The Fourth Sunday of Lent: The Samaritan Woman - The Gospel reading for the fourth Sunday of Lent is John 4:1-42. It is a story of repentance in which Jesus has a one on one personal encounter with a person whose life changes as a result of this encounter. This story is only found in the Gospel of John. This Gospel reading tells us many things:

Repentance - the Samaritan woman, who was a liar, an adulterer, and a person who had lived an immoral life having five husbands, repents and preaches Christ to her own people. Repentance results in freedom from the slavery of sin, and the Samaritan woman demonstrates her freedom by eagerly telling her own people about Christ, as if she had just been freed from jail.

The love of Christ - the way Jesus deals with this woman was critical in her repentance. Jesus is patient, He does not condemn or accuse, but rather He uplifts and encourages. Jesus was a Jew and Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus shows us that He is here to break the barriers of communication in order to win our hearts. It is Jesus who initiates the conversation and our relationship with Him.


Jesus slowly reveals Himself to those who are ready and able to accept Him. He does not tell the Samaritan woman that He is Christ until she is spiritually ready. He gradually builds up to it, educating and teaching her in His loving way until she is prepared to accept Him as the Christ.


In verses 1-9, Jesus initiates dialogue, in verses 10-15, He tries to gently teach and educate and the Samaritan woman is still hostile towards Him. In verses 15-21, Christ's loving ways begin to have an impact on her, as the woman begins to take a hard look at herself and examine herself. In verses 22-26, Christ teaches her about Christianity and she accepts it, and in verse 26, Christ reveals Himself to her.


6. The Fifth Sunday of Lent: The Man at the Pool of Bethesda - The Gospel reading for the fth Sunday of Lent is John 5:1-18. Again, this is a story of repentance that happens after Jesus has a one on one personal encounter with the man at the pool. This story is only found in the Gospel of John. There are several things to note in this Gospel passage.

It illustrates man's emptiness, helplessness, and loneliness without God. The man at the pool says, "I have no man" (John 5:7). The man at the pool was helpless for 38 years because it is only Christ who can help and fill the emptiness in our life. No ordinary man can do it.

Jesus asks the man if he wants to be healed (John 5:6). Jesus always respects our free will and gives us the choice to repent or not. He never imposes or forces His will upon us, regardless of our condition. Before He makes us well, He always asks us if we want to be made well. This tells us that repentance is really a two way street. We have to want it, and when we decide we want it, Christ will give it.

Jesus goes on to tell the man at the pool, "Rise, take up your bed and walk" (John 5:8). It is as if Jesus tells the man, "let's do this together". That is, miracles happen when our will and God's power cooperate to make them possible. The man at the pool could of made up excuses and said that he has been in this condition for 38 years, and so why should things change now? But he didn't. He made the effort to get up and he had faith, and working as a team with Christ, he was able to get up and be made well.

Christ healed the man on the Sabbath (John 5:9). The pharisees could not accept this because they were bound to the laws and were hypocrites. They were completely blind to acts of love and compassion. Their hearts were hardened and they could not understand the compassion and love Christ had for humanity. Jesus heals the man on the Sabbath to show us that a law without love is no law at all, and therefore should be broken. He also shows us that He never stops working for us, and that He is always performing miracles and healing our sickness.

7. The Sixth Sunday of Lent: The Man Born Blind - This Gospel reading is also from the Gospel of John, and again involves another one on one personal encounter with Christ.

It is in John 9:1-38. We therefore see that the fourth, fifth, and sixth Sunday Gospel readings for Lent are all from the Gospel of John and all involve one on one personal encounters with Christ that completely change a person's life. The Gospel readings of the fifth and sixth Sundays involve miracles that Jesus performed. Christ was asked to perform a miracle in the Gospel reading of the second Sunday, but He did not. This story is only found in the Gospel of John. There are several things to note in this passage:

The man born blind had not committed any sin, and so this is not a reading about repentance, as were the readings of the Prodigal son, the Samaritan woman and the man at the pool of Bethesda. The main aim of this reading is that God's glory is revealed and that we see that He is "the light of the world" (John 9:5). Thus, Christ heals the blind man to glorify God (John 9:2-3).  The blind man is a symbol of humanity who are blind to Christ and are in need of illumination from Christ, and this is why Christ says, "I am the light of the world" in John 9:5. The clay and saliva are a reminder that all of humanity was made from the dust of the ground (Genesis 1:26), and that Christ wishes to restore man to a new state. The clay and saliva symbolize the restoration of man to his new state.

The pool of siloam was quite far from the temple, so the blind man had to walk a long way to wash his eyes in order to see. It shows us the great faith that he had, and that he would indeed see if he did as Jesus said.

This Gospel passage also tells us about those who see and those who do not see. It gives us a contrast between the personality of the man born blind (one who sees) and the personality of the pharisees (ones who do not see). The pharisees question the blind man four separate times about this miracle, in John 9:10, 15, 17, 26.

The blind man responds by saying that "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." He is a witness to Christ. The more the blind man is pressed, the stronger he becomes in his witness and faith.

The pharisess try to discredit the miracle by lying and saying that the man was not blind from birth (John 9:18), by discrediting Jesus and saying that He is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath (John 9:16), and by saying blasphemy against Christ by calling Him a "sinner" (John 9:24).

We see here that as the story progresses, the man born blind becomes more aware of who Jesus is and develops a stronger faith and belief, whereas the pharisees criticism of Jesus becomes more sharp and hostile and they lapse into a deeper darkness.

The man born blind becomes a real witness for Christ in this story. He witnessed Christ before his neighbors and the pharisees, and as a result, he was thrown out of the temple (John 9:34). He was a man of faith and courage. His parents, on the other hand, denied Christ out of their fear. They did not witness Christ and put the responsibility on their son. Thus, this Gospel passage is a great lesson on witness and denial of Christ.

As in the parable of the prodigal son, the story of the Samaritan woman, and the man at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus meets the man born blind after his conversion.

The man born blind must of been worshiping in the temple right before Jesus met him, because we read that the pharisees had thrown him out (John 9:34). It is this one on one encounter that Jesus has with the man born blind that parallels the Gospel readings of the two previous Sunday's (the Samaritan woman and the man at the pool of Bethesda). It is here that Jesus reveals to him that He is the Son of God (John 9:37). This only comes after that man's eyes were opened physically and spiritually, and thus he was now ready for spiritual illumination. The man born blind says, "Who is He Lord, that I may believe in Him" (John 9:36). The man, now, seeing His divinity, worshiped Him (John 9:38).

Jesus's coming brought judgment (John 9:39) by increasing the accountability of those who saw and heard Him, but did not believe. The brilliance of Christ's light becomes an illumination to some, bit a blinding glare to others (John 9:41).

8. The Seventh Sunday of Lent: Palm Sunday - Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Holy week, and it is on this day that the highest honor and respect are paid to Jesus. The Psalms are sung in the Singarian tune, and the liturgy is said in the most joyous tune.

The events of Palm Sunday are recorded in all four Gospels. They are given in Matthew 21:1-17, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:29-48, and John 12:12-19. We will talk about Palm Sunday and the Holy Week in a separate lesson.