Sundays of Lent
Cycle of Readings
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A: Mt | Temptation of Jesus | Transfiguration | Jn 4: Woman at the Well | Jn 9: Man Born Blind | Jn 11: Lazarus |
| B: Mk | Jn 2: Cleansing of Temple | Jn 3: Nicodemus | Jn 12: Grain of Wheat | ||
| C: Lk | Lk 13: Parable of the Fig Tree | Lk 15: Merciful Father | Jn 8: Woman Caught in Adultery |
General Lenten Prefaces
Preface I of Lent
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.
For by your gracious gift each year
your faithful await the sacred paschal feasts
with the joy of minds made pure,
so that, more eagerly intent on prayer
and on the works of charity,
and participating in the mysteries
by which they have been reborn,
they may be led to the fullness of grace
that you bestow on your sons and daughters.
Preface II of Lent
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God.
For you have given your children a sacred time
for the renewing and purifying of their hearts,
that, freed from disordered affections,
they may so deal with the things of this passing world
as to hold rather to the things that eternally endure.
Preface III of Lent
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God.
For you will that our self-denial should give you thanks,
humble our sinful pride,
contribute to the feeding of the poor,
and so help us imitate you in your kindness.
Preface IV of Lent
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God.
For through bodily fasting you restrain our faults,
raise up our minds, and bestow both virtue and its rewards,
through Christ our lord.
First Sunday: The Temptation of Jesus
"This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel."
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
By abstaining forty long days from earthly food,
he consecrated through his fast
the pattern of our Lenten observance and,
by overturning all the snares of the ancient serpent,
taught us to cast out the leaven of malice,
so that, celebrating worthily the Paschal Mystery,
we might pass over at last to the eternal paschal feast.
- Prayer Over the People
May bountiful blessing, O Lord, we pray,
come down upon your people,
that hope may grow in tribulation,
virtue be strengthened in temptation,
and eternal redemption be assured.
Through Christ our Lord.
Second Sunday: Transfiguration
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
On Your holy mountain He revealed Himself in glory
in the presence of His disciples.
He had already prepared them for His approaching death.
He wanted to teach them through the law and the Prophets
that the promised Christ had first to suffer
and so come to the glory of His resurrection.
- Prayer Over the People
Bless your faithful, we pray, O Lord,
with a blessing that endures forever,
and keep them faithful
to the Gospel of Your Only Begotten Son,
so that they may always desire and at last attain
that glory whose beauty He showed in His own Body,
to the amazement of His Apostles.
Through Christ our Lord.
Third Sunday: The Woman at the Well (A)
- Year B: Cleansing of the Temple in the Gospel of John (Jn 2:13-25).
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When He asked the woman of Samaria for water to drink,
Christ had already prepared for her the gift of faith.
In His thirst to receive her faith
He awakened in her heart the fire of Your love.
- Prayer Over the People
Direct, O Lord, we pray, the hearts of your faithful,
and in Your kindness grant Your servants this grace:
that, abiding in love of You and their neighbor,
they may fulfill the whole of Your commands.
Through Christ our Lord.
Fourth Sunday (Laetare): The Man Born Blind (A)
- Year B: Jesus speaks to Nicodemus. "God so loved the world ..." (Jn 3:14-21).
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.
By the mystery of the Incarnation,
he has led the human race that walked in darkness
into the radiance of the faith
and he brought those born in slavery to ancient sin
through the waters of regeneration
to make them your adopted children.
- Prayer Over the People
Look upon those who call to you, O Lord,
and sustain the weak;
give life by Your unfailing light
to those who walk in the shadow of death,
and bring those rescued by Your mercy from every evil
to reach the highest good.
Through Christ our Lord.
Fifth Sunday: Lazarus (A)
- Year B: The Grain of Wheat (Jn 12:20-33) — John's commentary on Agony in the Garden?
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.
For as true man he wept for Lazarus his friend
and as eternal God raised him from the tomb,
just as, taking pity on the human,
he leads us by sacred mysteries to new life.
- Prayer Over the People
Bless, O Lord, Your people,
who long for the gift of Your mercy,
and grant that what, at your prompting, they desire
they may receive by Your generous gift.
Through Christ our Lord.
Passion Sunday
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.
For through the saving Passion of your Son
the whole world has received a heart
to confess the infinite power of your majesty,
since by the wondrous power of the Cross
your judgment on the world is now revealed
and the authority of Christ crucified.