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🌿 Friday, March 27, 2026 They Picked Up Stones Jesus Escapes Their Anger Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent • Day of Abstinence • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Jeremiah 20:10-13 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 5-6, 7 Gospel: John 10:31-42 📖 The Gospel - John 10:31-42 They picked up stones to throw at Jesus. He asks them, for which good work are you stoning me? They say, not for any good work but for blasphemy. Jesus reasons with them, quotes Scripture, and invites them to look at the evidence of His works. They try to arrest Him. Jesus escapes and goes back across the Jordan, where many came to believe in Him. 🙏 Gospel Reflection Jeremiah opens today with an honest and raw prayer. He has been mocked, threatened, and denounced by his own friends. He hears whispering on every side, denounce him, let us denounce him. And he pours it all out before God without softenin...
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🌿 Thursday, March 26, 2026 Before Abraham Was - I AM Photo created by James Dacey, Jr using Co-Pilot. Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Genesis 17:3-9 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 Gospel: John 8:51-59 📖 The Gospel - John 8:51-59 Jesus makes the most extraordinary claim in the entire Gospel of John, before Abraham came to be, I AM. The crowd is outraged. Abraham is dead. The prophets are dead. Who do you make yourself out to be? And Jesus says, " Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. And then, before Abraham was, I AM." And they picked up stones to throw at Him. 🙏 Gospel Reflection Before Abraham was, I AM. Two words that contain all of eternity. Not I was. Not I existed before Abraham. I AM, the same divine name God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. The great I AM who has no beginning and no end. The eternal present tense of God...
Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA
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🌿 Wednesday, March 25, 2026 Behold, I am The Handmaid of the Lord The Annunciation of the Lord Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord • Year A • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:7-8, 8-9, 10, 11 Second Reading: Hebrews 10:4-10 Gospel: Luke 1:26-38 📖 The Gospel - Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel comes to Mary in Nazareth. Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Mary is troubled and ponders what this greeting means. Gabriel tells her, " You will conceive and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, Son of the Most High. His kingdom will have no end." Mary says, “How can this be?” And then Mary says the words that changed all of human history: Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. 🙏 Gospel Reflection Stop and think about what day this is. March 25th. The ...
Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA
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🌿 Tuesday, March 24, 2026 When You Lift Up the Son of Man He Will Draw All People to Himself Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent • Memorial of St. Oscar Romero • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Numbers 21:4-9 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21 Gospel: John 8:21-30 📖 The Gospel - John 8:21-30 Jesus tells the Pharisees; I am going away, and where I am going you cannot come. He says, " When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM. And that He does nothing on His own, He speaks only what the Father has taught Him. And as He spoke these words, many came to believe in Him. 🙏 Gospel Reflection Today we remember St. Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, who was shot dead while celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980. He was killed because he refused to stop speaking the truth to power, refused to stop defending the poor, refused to be silent...
Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA
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🌿 Monday, March 23, 2026 “Neither Do I Condemn You Go and Sin No More” Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6 Gospel: John 8:1-11 📖 The Gospel - John 8:1-11 The scribes and Pharisees drag a woman before Jesus, caught in adultery, they say, the law demands she be stoned. They are setting a trap. And Jesus bends down and writes in the dirt. Then He stands and says, let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone. And one by one they walk away. And Jesus looks at her and says, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. 🙏 Gospel Reflection There is so much happening in this story that we could spend an entire Lent here. But what strikes me most today is what Jesus does not do. He does not minimize what she did. He does not pretend the sin didn...
Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA
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🌿 Sunday, March 22, 2026 Jesus Cried Out In A Loud Voice “Lazarus, Come Out!” Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot. Fifth Sunday of Lent • Year A • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7, 7-8 Second Reading: Romans 8:8-11 Gospel: John 11:1-45 📖 The Gospel - John 11:1-45 Lazarus is dead. Four days in the tomb. His sisters are devastated. Jesus arrives late. Martha runs to meet Him and says, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Jesus says, " Your brother will rise." I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? Then He goes to the tomb and cries out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. 🙏 Gospel Reflection I AM the resurrection and the life. The statement is staggering in its directness. Jesus is not pointing to something outside Himself. He is the answer. He is what Martha is...
Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA
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🌿 Saturday, March 21, 2026 Never Has Anyone Spoken Like This Man Photo created by James Dacey, Jr using Co-Pilot. Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II ✝️ Today's Mass Readings First Reading: Jeremiah 11:18-20 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 7:2-3, 9-10, 11-12 Gospel: John 7:40-53 📖 The Gospel - John 7:40-53 The crowd is divided over Jesus. Some say He is the Prophet. Some say He is the Messiah. Some want to arrest Him. The guards who were sent to arrest Him came back empty-handed. The chief priests demand, why did you not bring Him? And the guards say simply, never has anyone spoken like this man. 🙏 Gospel Reflection Never has anyone spoken like this man. That is one of the most extraordinary testimonies in all of the Gospels, and it comes not from a disciple, not from a believer, but from the guards who were sent to arrest Him. When they heard Him speak, they just couldn't do it. They came back empty-handed and reported that the...
Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA
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