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Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt
On this fifth and final Sunday in Lent, we commemorate Saint Mary of Egypt, the model of penitents.
Please see the article in “Father Quotes” for details of her life.
The Epistle read at the Liturgy today compares the ministry of Christ to that of the High Priest of the Jews. The
Gospel describes Jesus’s ascent to Jerusalem before his Passion. He takes the twelve Apostles aside and tells them that
he will be betrayed, condemned, and put to death, and that he will rise again after three days.
James and John do not understand the significance of what he is saying and it implications for them: do you and I?
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The readings below are Sunday, March 22, 2026
Today's Epistle reading: [Hebrews 9.11-14]
But when Christ appeared
as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that
is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own
blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and
with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
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Today's Gospel reading: [Mark 10.32-45]
And they were on the road,
going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And
taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem;
and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver
him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will
rise.” And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him,
and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, "What do
you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left,
in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that
I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, "We are able."
And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will
be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You
know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over
them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first
among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many."
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