March 2026: Thought for the Day

Second Sunday of Lent

1 March 2026

‘Lent is like a long “retreat” during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One.

     It is a period of spiritual “combat” which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance.

     In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism.’

Pope Benedict XVI

* * *

Third Sunday of Lent

8 March 2026

‘The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.’

Pope St Gregory the Great

‘There are three elements that are almost always part of Lent: prayer, giving something up, and giving something back.’

Elizabeth Hyndman

‘Everything in life has its own time. There is time to celebrate and there is time to mourn. This is the time for reflection and transformation. Let us look within and change into what we ought to be.’

Aaron Saul

* * *

Third Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)

15 March 2026 • Mother’s Day

‘Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.’

St Catherine of Siena

‘Do you wish your prayer to fly toward God? Make for it two wings: fasting and almsgiving.’

St Augustine of Hippo

‘My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice; these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience.’

St Thérèse of Lisieux

‘Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give.’

Saint Francis of Assisi

* * *

St Patrick, Bishop, Principal Patron of Ireland

17 March 2026 • Day of Prayer for Emigrants

‘It was not any grace in me, but God who conquereth in me, and He resisted them all, so that I came to the heathen of Ireland to preach the Gospel and to bear insults from unbelievers, to hear the reproach of my going abroad and to endure many persecutions even unto bonds, the while that I was surrendering my liberty as a man of free condition for the profit of others. And if I should be found worthy, I am ready to give even my life for His name’s sake unfalteringly and gladly, and there (in Ireland) I desire to spend it until I die, if our Lord should grant it to me.’

St Patrick

* * *

Fifth Sunday of Lent

22 March 2026

The best fertiliser stinks. But it is out of that very real stink that something amazing grows. So it is with us: it is the dead and decaying parts of our lives, the rotting resentments, blistering wounds of old hurts, and the festering fears that are the points where we are most likely to be able to experience something new. The only way that happens is to bring them into the light of day, unbind them, and set them free – just as Lazarus was unbound and set free. Doing that takes faith in the process, a faith that Martha confessed, doubted, and then lived out – a faith in resurrection and life.

blog.loukavar.com

* * *

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

29 March 2026

As we accompany Jesus through these highs and lows of holy week, we’re meant to find ourselves in his life and to see Christ in our life too. Each year we read the exact same readings, and yet, we don’t read them the same way. Why? Because although the stories from Scripture don’t change, we ourselves are not the same people reading them. Since last year’s Holy Week, we’ve had a whole year of growth and change and new joys and sorrows. There may be a piece of this familiar story that we hear in a different way, a new insight that we gain, a new way that this time in Jesus’s life resonates with our own life.

Godspacecommunity.com

* * *