The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today declare the commitment of Christ to love those suffering from brokenness in society.
In the Reading from the Book of Wisdom, the wicked deny survival after death.
* [2:1–20] In this speech the wicked deny survival after death and indeed invite death by their evil deeds.
* [2:12–5:23] From 2:12 to 5:23 the author draws heavily on Is 52–62, setting forth his teaching in a series of characters or types taken from Isaiah and embellished with additional details from other texts. The description of the “righteous one” in 2:12–20 seems to undergird the New Testament passion narrative.
* [2:12] Law: the law of Moses; “training” has the same meaning.
* [2:22] This verse announces the subject of the next section. (Wisdom, CHAPTER 2 |, n.d.)
Psalm 34 declares God gives protection to the poor.
* [Psalm 34] A thanksgiving in acrostic form, each line beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In this Psalm one letter is missing and two are in reverse order. The psalmist, fresh from the experience of being rescued (Ps 34:5, 7), can teach the “poor,” those who are defenseless, to trust in God alone (Ps 34:4, 12). God will make them powerful (Ps 34:5–11) and give them protection (Ps 34:12–22). (Psalms, PSALM 34 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of John, Jesus attends The Feast of Tabernacles.
* [7:26] The authorities: the members of the Sanhedrin (same term as Jn 3:1). (John, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)
Amy Turbes comments that having a broken heart is a very real part of the human condition. We have all experienced heartbrokenness at some time... When we feel helpless to fix things or guilty when we have so much.
“Lord, I am brokenhearted.”
“Amy, I watch over you, take refuge in me.”
Sharing these feelings with God is not to ask for them to be taken away, but to accept them as a true part of my humanity and God’s presence in my life. Even with my own brokenness, I accept this pain and share it with God.
From one human (aka child of God) to another, I invite you, at this midpoint in Lent, to be open to a new way of encountering God. Perhaps use your favorite psalm as a conversation starter. Or spend time with a psalm or passage you find difficult and tell God how those words really make you feel. God wants to be a part of your life—all of it—and is simply waiting for the invitation.
In this Lenten season, may you discover new ways to communicate with God and savor the graces it gives. (Turbes, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “Christ our physician,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every day. We learn something from commandments, something from examples, and something from sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and materials for study." (excerpt from Sermon 218c,1) (Schwager, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that in the passage from the Book of Wisdom the wicked will array themselves against the good people They will plot to defeat the good people. In the Gospel Jesus comes to Jerusalem where the leaders are trying to kill Him as He proclaims to be from God not Nazareth. They respond by trying Him for blasphemy but Friar Jude declares that it is where Jesus really is from.
The Word Among Us Meditation on Wisdom 2:1, 12-22 comments that without the help of a loving God, we risk coming to the conclusion that “nothing really matters, anyone can see,” as Freddie Mercury lamented in the song “Bohemian Rhapsody.” We may wonder, “Why bother pursuing goodness? What is to be gained by suffering or sacrifice?”
Jesus, the innocent victim, has revealed to the world “the hidden counsels of God” (Wisdom 2:22). He has shown that our highest calling is to imitate him by setting aside glory, by washing each other’s feet, and by enduring even betrayal and death for the sake of the gospel. Jesus has revealed the true answer to the question “Why bother?” And that answer is as simple as it is profound, as comforting as it is challenging: because Jesus has loved us, even to the point of his own death, and all who want to live in him must love as he did.
“Jesus, thank you for revealing to us the wisdom of God!” (Meditation on Wisdom 2:1, 12-22, n.d.)
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces psychotherapist James Finley who found himself retraumatized by an abusive priest as a young man, after living with a violent father. Finley shares how Jesus met him in his deep shame and suffering.
Then suddenly, looking this way and that, I saw Jesus sitting alone in the moonlight at the edge of a clearing. I walked across the clearing and knelt at his feet. I could feel his hand on my shoulder as I leaned in close to whisper in his ear, revealing the burdens of my shame-based weakness and fear.
Having poured out all that my wounded and hurting heart was moved and able to say, Jesus drew me in close and whispered in my ear three words that set me free, words that still echo inside me to this day. I heard him whisper: “I love you!”
Dazed and amazed in being so unexplainably loved, the spirit within me let me know what both Jesus and I were waiting to hear me say. So I leaned in close and whispered my secret “I love you” to Jesus. And there in that instant there was the realization between us that the matter was settled once and for all. The matter being that the good news of God’s love for us is never measured by our ability to be true to who we know in our heart God is calling us to be. For the sole measure of God’s love for us is the measureless expanse of God’s merciful love, permeating us and taking us to itself in the midst of our faltering and wayward ways. (Rohr, n.d.)
We contemplate the promise of Jesus to meet us in our brokenness and rejection by the forces that seek to control our world by coercion and corruption with an invitation to replace hate with love and aggression with cooperation.
References
John, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/7?
Meditation on Wisdom 2:1, 12-22. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/03/20/1521806/
Psalms, PSALM 34 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/34?17
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Jesus Heals Our Shame. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/jesus-stills-heals-our-shame/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). His Hour Had Not yet Come. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/
Turbes, A. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-march-20-2026
Wisdom, CHAPTER 2 |. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/wisdom/2?1
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