
I AM - 26-03-2026
Thursday of the Fifth week of Lent
Readings Responsorial Psalm Gospel YOUCAT Reflection
First Reading
Gen 17,3-9.
When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:
"My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham,
for I am making you the father of a host of nations.
I will render you exceedingly fertile;
I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you throughout the ages
as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."
God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you
and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 105(104),4-5.6-7.8-9.
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations.
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
Gospel
John 8,51-59.
Jesus said to the Jews: "Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death."
(So) the Jews said to him, "Now we are sure that you are possessed.
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,
'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.'
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?"
Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing;
but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.'
You do not know him, but I know him.
And if I should say that I do not know him,
I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word.
Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.
So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old
and you have seen Abraham?"
Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM."
So they picked up stones to throw at him;
but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.
YOUCAT Reflection
39 Is Jesus God? Does he belong to the Trinity?
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son, the second divine person mentioned when we pray, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28,19).
Jesus was either an imposter who made himself Lord of the Sabbath and allowed himself to be addressed with the divine title "Lord"—or else he was really God. The scandal came when he forgave sins. In the eyes of his contemporaries, that was a crime deserving death. Through signs and miracles, but especially through the Resurrection, his disciples recognized who Jesus is and worshipped him as Lord. That is the faith of the Church.
