Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection March 15, 2026

15th March 2026 (Sunday)

Psalter: Week 4

Readings of the Day

First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a

In those days: The Lord said to Samuel, “Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” And Jesse made seven of his sons pass. before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen. these” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.

Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (R. 1)

R/. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Fourth Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14

Brethren: At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Gospel Acclamation

V/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ

R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ

V/. I am the light of the world, says the Lord whoever follows me will have the light of life.

R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ

Gospel: John 9:1-41

At that time: As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when. no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed. my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, “How can al man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, ” What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet. The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents. answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask. him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give. glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will, God listens to him, Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered. him, “You were bom in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast. him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe”, and he worshipped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees. near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt, but now that you say, ‘We see’, your guilt remains.

Daily Gospel Reflection

Sunday – Fourth Sunday of Lent

Main Point: We pretend ourselves always to be holy, but to get real healing spiritually is when we sincerely admit to the Lord that we are deeply blind.

1. It is always tempting to focus only on the Pharisees whenever you read this Gospel. We typically think of them as only the bad people in the Bible. But if we are really honest, we act like they do when we’re self-righteous more often than we want to.

2. They knew the Law by heart. They followed all of the rituals. And because their outward devotion was so perfect, they were sure they had the whole truth from God.

3. That is a huge spiritual trap for everyone who wants to live a faithful Catholic life. We go to Mass, say the right prayers, and attempt to be good role models. This makes it quite easy to feel secretly proud that we don’t require deep, daily conversion anymore. But pride in people is a very misleading vice.

4. This happened to even the great prophet Samuel when he first read it. He looked at Jesse’s strong sons and thought he knew who God had chosen. He just judged by how things looked.

5. But, the Lord corrected him, saying, “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” This is very true.

6. Think about how often we do this sin in our own churches and communities. We quickly judge someone when we witness them doing something wrong in public or when they annoy us. We think we know how their spirit is doing merely by watching them struggle.

7. It is far easier to point out the flaws in our neighbors than to look at the pride and lack of charity that are deep in our own hearts.

8. Now look at the man who was born blind. He doesn’t have a lot of advanced training in theology. He just goes to the Lord with an open heart and lets Jesus wash him in the pool of Siloam and anoint his eyes.

9. The Pharisees are furious at this act of kindness. They kicked the healed guy out of the synagogue because his miraculous healing went against their strict rules for salvation.

10. Jesus tells the religious leaders that their immorality will stay with them because they are proud of their “true vision.” That statement should fill us with holy fear.

11. If we keep pretending that we are perfectly virtuous, the grace of sanctification cannot reach our souls. The Divine Physician cannot mend a spiritual wound that we obstinately refuse to acknowledge.

12. Without God’s daily forgiveness and mercy, we are all poor beggars. And to be honest, realizing that deep spiritual poverty is the exact time we ultimately meet Jesus.

My Practice: Today, give up the sin of spiritual pride. The next time you want to condemn someone else’s moral flaws, stop right away, sincerely confess your own hidden sins, and beg the Lord to give you true spiritual sight.