The Sunday Readings for March 2024 and Catholic Doctrine

The meaning of the Sunday Mass Readings for March 2024 is made clearest by Catholic Doctrine. Doctrines are the Magisterium’s authoritative, essentially unchangeable clarifications of Revelation and Faith that, in order to be Catholic, must be accepted as objectively true. Doctrines describe reality. Much of what the Magisterium (the pope and bishops) teach is not doctrine; much of what they teach is the application of Revelation and Faith, not clarification of Revelation and Faith. The Magisterium does not have the authority to contradict doctrine. Let’s learn the always-true doctrines in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that we should especially take away from this March’s Readings.[i]

March 3, The Third Sunday of Lent

The Ten Commandments “are preeminently the words of God” (CCC 2056[ii]), “God’s revelation of himself and . . . his holy will” (CCC 2059). “They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere” (CCC 2072). Their full meaning is revealed “in the New Covenant in Jesus Christ” (CCC 2056). The Ten Commandments “must be interpreted in light of [the] twofold command” (CCC 2055) of Christ to love God and love our neighbor. The first three Commandments state what is required in the love of God, and the other seven the love of neighbor (CCC 2067). Catholic moral doctrine is presented in terms of each of the Ten Commandments in CCC 2083-2557.

In today’s Gospel, we see that Jesus used force.  CCC 2263-2267 covers the legitimate use of force.

In these times of antisemitism, it is important to clarify that when St. John refers to “the Jews” who were antagonistic to Jesus, he means “religious authorities in Jerusalem” (CCC 575), not all Jews of His time and not even all religious authorities in Jerusalem.

• From the First Reading[iii] (Exodus 20:1-17): Ex 20:1-17 is cited in CCC 2056; Ex 20:2-5 in CCC 2083; Ex 20:2 in CCC 2061; Ex 20:7 in CCC 2141; Ex 20:8-10 in CCC 2167; Ex 20:11 in CCC 2169; Ex 20:12 in CCC 2196, 2200, and 2214; Ex 20:13 in CCC 2257; Ex 20:14 in CCC 2330; Ex 20:15 in CCC 2400; Ex 20:16 in CCC 2463 and 2504; and Ex 20:17 in CCC 1456, 2513, and 2533.
• From the Second Reading (1 Corinthians 1:22-25): 1 Cor 1:24-25 is cited in CCC
• From the Verse before the Gospel (John 3:16): Jn 3:16 is cited in CCC 219, 444, 454, 458, and 706.
• From the Gospel (John 2:13-25): Jn 2:13-14 is cited in CCC 583; Jn 2:16-17 in CCC 584; Jn 2:18-22 in CCC 586; Jn 2:18 in CCC 575; Jn 2:19-22 in CCC 994; Jn 2:21 in CCC 586; and Jn 2:25 in CCC

March 10, The Fourth Sunday of Lent

In today’s Second Reading, we hear that we have been saved by God’s merciful grace (Eph 2:4-5). Similarly, we hear in today’s Gospel that God sent His Son into the world not condemn it but to save it (Jn 3:17). This means that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross cannot earned, deserved, or merited. It frees any person from the consequence of Original Sin and personal sin – separation from God – but only if that person responds and cooperates (CCC 2062-2063). “By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one’s works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love” (CCC 679).

• From the First Reading (2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23): 2 Chr 36:21 is cited in CCC
• From the Second Reading (Ephesians 2:4-10): Eph 2:4-5 is cited in CCC 654; Eph 2:4 in CCC 211 and 1073; and Eph 2:6 in CCC 1003 and 2796.
• From the Verse before the Gospel (John 3:16): see below.
• From the Gospel (John 3:14-21): Jn 3:14-15 is cited in CCC 2130; Jn 3:16 in CCC 219, 444, 454, 458, and 706; Jn 3:17 in CCC 679; Jn 3:18 in CCC 444, 454, and 679; and Jn 3:20-21 in CCC

March 17, The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Today’s Second Reading has several important meanings. First, “Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead” (CCC 632). Jesus really did experience death, which is “the separation of the soul from the body” (CCC 997).

This Reading also means the same thing as the Apostles Creed (“I believe in . . . the resurrection of the body”) and the Nicene Creed (“We look for the resurrection of the dead”): “not only that the immortal soul will live on after death, but that even our mortal body will come to life again” (CCC 990). “God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus’ Resurrection” (CCC 997) on the Last Day when Christ comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

Today’s Gospel has the magnificent and moving account of Jesus raising Lazarus from death. Jesus raised Lazarus, as he raised others, as “a sign and a pledge” of His Resurrection and the resurrection of all the dead on the Last Day. However, it is crucial to know that when Jesus rose from the dead, He “had not simply returned to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus” (CCC 640). Whereas Lazarus would once again grow older, get sick, be prone to injury, get tired, need food and water, need clothing and shelter, and eventually die, Jesus’ Resurrection is “of another order” (CCC 994). The Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter will give us a clearer picture of this other order, both for Jesus and for us.

There is another difference between the experience of Lazarus and the experience of Jesus. Although Jesus really died, His body did not corrupt, as Lazarus’ body had begun to corrupt. “Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, ‘Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days’” (John 11:39). “Jesus’ Resurrection ‘on the third day’ was a sign” that Jesus’ body was preserved from corruption “because bodily decay was held to begin on the fourth day after death” (CCC 627). “But because of the union which the person of the Son retained with his body, his was not a mortal corpse like others” (CCC 627).

• From the First Reading (Ezekiel 37:12-14): Ez 37:1-14 is cited in CCC
• From the Second Reading (Romans 8:8-11): Rom 8:9 is cited in CCC 693; and Rom 8:11 in CCC 632, 658, 695, 989, and 990.
• From the Verse before the Gospel (John 11:25a, 26): Jn 11:25 is cited in CCC
• From the shorter form of the Gospel (John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45): Jn 11:24 is cited in CCC 993 and 1001; Jn 11:25 in CCC 994; Jn 11:27 in CCC 439; Jn 11:28 in CCC 581; Jn 11:34 in CCC 472; Jn 11:39 in CCC 627; Jn 11:41-42 in CCC 2604; and Jn 11:44 in CCC
• From the longer form of the Gospel (John 11:1-45): Jn 11 is cited in CCC 994; and Jn 11:28 in CCC

March 24, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

The previous column in this series pointed out in its commentary on the First Sunday of Lent that we have a deficient understanding of Jesus unless we understand the Kingdom of God. So let’s realize that in today’s Gospel “the Lord himself directed his disciples’ attention toward the fulfillment of the Passover [which He celebrated at the Last Supper] in the kingdom of God” (CCC 1403). “Therefore we celebrate [every] Eucharist awaiting the blessed hope and coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ,” on the Last Day when He completes the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth (CCC 1404).

See CCC 557-637 for Catholic doctrine related to the Christ’s Passion.

Again given recent widespread antisemitism, it is important to note that “Jews are not collectively responsible for Jesus’ death” (CCC 597). “All sinners were the authors of Christ’s Passion” (CCC 598).

• From the First Reading (Isaiah 50:4-7): Is 50:4-10 is cited in CCC 713; and Is 50:4 in CCC
• From the Responsorial Psalm (Psalms 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24): Ps 22 is cited in CCC
• From the Second Reading (Philippians 2:6-11): Phil 2:6-11 is cited in CCC 2641 and 2667; Phil 2:6-9 in CCC 1850; Phil 2:6 in CCC 449; Phil 2:7 in CCC 472, 602, 705, 713, 876, and 1224; Phil 2:8-9 in CCC 908; Phil 2:8 in CCC 411, 612, and 623; Phil 2:9-11 in CCC 449 and 2812; Phil 2:9-10 in CCC 434; Phil 2:10-11 in CCC 201; and Phil 2:10 in CCC 633 and 635.
• From the Verse before the Gospel (Philippians 2:8-9): see above.
• From the Gospel (Mark 14:1-15:47): Mk 14:12-25 is cited in CCC 1339; Mk 14:18-20 in CCC 474; Mk 14:22 in CCC 1328; Mk 14:25 in CCC 1335 and 1403; Mk 14:26-30 in CCC 474; Mk 14:33-34 in CCC 1009; Mk 14:36 in CCC 473 and 2701; Mk 14:38 in CCC 2849; Mk 14:57-58 in CCC 585; Mk 14:61-62 in CCC 443; Mk 15:11 in CCC 597; Mk 15:34 in CCC 603 and 2605; Mk 15:37 in CCC 2605; and Mk 15:39 in CCC

March 30, Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil

Verses from this evening’s Readings are cited in so many CCC paragraphs (forty-one in the First Reading alone) that there are too many citations to be included in this column.

March 31, Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of the Lord

Easter is “the Feast of feasts” (CCC 1169) since “[t]he Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ” (CCC 638). Although today’s Gospel is only about the empty tomb (John 20:1-9) and there is much more to the Resurrection, ‘[t]he first element we encounter in the framework of the Easter events is the empty tomb,” from which we should realize, like “the other disciple,” “that the absence of Jesus’ body could not have been of human doing and that Jesus had not simply returned to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus” (CCC 640). The Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter will give us a clearer picture of both Jesus’ Resurrection and thus the transformation of the bodies of the living and the dead on the Last Day.

• From the First Reading (Acts 10:34a, 37-43): Acts 10:38 is cited in CCC 438, 453, 486, and 1289; Acts 10:39 in CCC 597; Acts 10:41 in CCC 659 and 995; and Acts 10:42 in CCC
• From the Responsorial Psalm (Psalms 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23): Ps 118:22 is cited in CCC 587 and 756.
• From the Second Reading (Colossians 3:1-4): Col 3:1-3 is cited in CCC 655; Col 3:1 in CCC 1002; Col 3:3 in CCC 665, 1003, 1420, and 2796; Col 3:4 in CCC 1003 and 2772. OR from the Second Reading (1 Corinthians 5:6b-8): 1 Cor 5:6-8 is cited in CCC 129; and 1 Cor 5:7 in CCC 608, 610, and 613.
• From the Alleluia (1 Corinthians 5:7b-8a): see above.
• From the Gospel (John 20:1-9): Jn 20:1 is cited in CCC 2174; Jn 20:2 in CCC 640; Jn 20:5-7 in CCC 640; Jn 20:6 in CCC 640; Jn 20:7 in CCC 515; and Jn 20:8 in CCC

[i] There are too many citations, or references, in the Catechism to the verses in a month of Sunday Mass readings to identify all the pertinent doctrines, so I will use my best judgment to select which verses and doctrines to cover in a column that may not exceed 2,000 words. The bullet points allow you to explore further the Biblical basis of Catholic Doctrine.

[ii] CCC abbreviates Catechism of the Catholic Church. Any number after it is the number of a paragraph in the Catechism. For example, “CCC 2056” means paragraph 2056 of the Catechism.

[iii] If a Reading is not listed, then none of its verses is cited by the CCC.