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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 stepped into human history and said, I have always been here. Before your
father Abraham, before your nation, before your law, before your temple. I AM.
This is the claim that will get Him killed.
The authorities understand exactly what He is saying. He is not claiming to be
a prophet or a great teacher. He is claiming to be God. And for them, there is
only one response to that claim if it is false: blasphemy, punishable by
stoning. They pick up their stones.
But the claim is not false. And that is the
staggering truth at the heart of every Lent we have ever lived. The man who was
tired at the well. The man who wept at Lazarus's tomb. The man who will be
arrested in a garden and crucified on a hill outside Jerusalem, He is the I AM.
The eternal God in human flesh. Walking toward His own death with full divine
awareness of what He is walking into and why.
Genesis today shows us God making His
covenant with Abraham, the original promise that would unfold across centuries
until it stood at a well, wept at a tomb, and said before Abraham was, I AM.
Everything connects. Nothing is random. The whole story has been building to
this. And we are one week away from its climax.
💭 Reflection Question
The crowd picked up
stones when Jesus said I AM. How do you respond to that same claim today, that
the man who walked to Calvary was and is the eternal God? Does that truth still
have the power to stop you in your tracks, or has familiarity dulled its
staggering weight?
📿 Today's Rosary - The Sorrowful Mysteries
Today's Focus
Mystery: The Carrying of the
Cross
The I AM carried a
cross through the streets of Jerusalem. Eternity walked in sandals on
cobblestones under the weight of wood. As you pray these beads today, let the
full weight of who is carrying that cross land on your heart. This is not just
a good man. This is I AM, the God of Heaven and Earth. Always remember He is
doing this for you, because He loves you.
🌹 Our Lady of Fatima - Today's Connection
Our Lady of Fatima
appeared at a time when the world was systematically trying to eliminate belief
in the I AM, atheism, materialism, and political systems that denied the
existence of God were sweeping across nations. And she came with the most
ancient of prayers, the Rosary, which meditates on the mysteries of the I AM
made flesh. Every time we pray the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, or Glorious
mysteries, we are revisiting the story of the eternal God who stepped into time.
Before Abraham was, He IS. Let that truth fill your Rosary today.
🕊️ Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, I AM. You
are the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the eternal present
tense of God. You walked toward Calvary knowing exactly who You were and what
it would cost. I stand before that truth today in awe and gratitude. Before
Abraham was, You are. And You are always here with me. Amen.
©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS
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