Saturday of the first week of Lent

February 28, 2026

Mass Readings

Today, as we find ourselves in Saturday of the First Week of Lent, we continue our spiritual journey through this sacred season marked by prayer, penance, and almsgiving in preparation for the joy of Easter. It's a time for reflection and renewal, inviting us to grow closer to God.

First Reading

Deuteronomy 26:16-19

Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms 119(118):1-2,4-5,7-8

Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who observe his decrees, Who seek him with all their heart. You have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept. Oh, that I might be firm in the ways of keeping your statutes! I will give you thanks with an upright heart, when I have learned your just ordinances. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.

Gospel

Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Readings provided by Evangelizo. Scripture texts used with permission.

Metanoia

Metanoia

A quiet daily companion that takes today's Mass readings and reflects them back through what you're actually living.