The Sunday Readings for March 2025 and Catholic Doctrine

The meaning of the Sunday Mass Readings for March 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. Even the pope and bishops do not have the authority to contradict doctrine. Much of what they teach is not doctrine, but the application of doctrine. When they teach, they do not always identify what in their teaching is doctrine and what is not 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,[1] as we leave Ordinary Time and enter the season of Lent.

March 2, Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Second Reading connects sin and death. The meaning of this connection is: “Man’s sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death” (CCC 602[2]). In other words, human nature was originally created by God in a state of blessedness without death or any kind of suffering (CCC 374-379). It is now fallen, or “corruptible” as the Second Reading puts it – “wounded in the natural powers proper to it; subject to ignorance, suffering, and the dominion of death; and inclined to sin” (CCC 405). Human nature will put on incorruptibility at the Second Coming of Christ when it is transformed by sharing in the Resurrection of Christ – “the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come,” as we say in the Creed (CCC 988-1060).

• From the Second Reading[3] (1 Corinthians 15:54-58): 1 Cor 15:56 is cited in CCC 602.
• From the Alleluia (Philippians 2:15d, 16a): Phil 2:15 is cited in CCC 1243.

March 9, First Sunday of Lent

From today’s Responsorial Psalm, we should take away the doctrine that “[f]rom its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by [the] watchful care and intercession” of angels, including each person’s Guardian Angel (CCC 336).

In the Second Reading, we have one of the brief formulas by which the Church in the time of the Apostles handed on her faith: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (CCC 186). In order to fully confess and believe this in our hearts, we must agree with all Catholic Doctrine and we must worship, live, and pray in harmony with Catholic Doctrine (CCC 14-18).

Today’s Verse before the Gospel echoes one of Jesus’ responses to the Devil in the Gospel: everyone needs the Word of God in order to fully live. To be without the Word of God is a “hunger from which men are perishing” (CCC 2835). The Word of God, first and foremost, is Christ Himself (CCC 108). Christ is found primarily and equally in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition (CCC 81-82). Scripture and Tradition need to be clarified, and only the pope and bishops have the authority to clarify them (CCC 85, 95). These clarifications are expressed in doctrines (CCC 88, 98) and in worship, actions, and prayer in harmony with Doctrine. “It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery” (CCC 772).

The temptations of Jesus in today’s Gospel “recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert [during the Exodus]” (CCC 538). “Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful . . . Jesus fulfills Israel’s vocation perfectly” (CCC 539).

• From the Responsorial Psalm (Psalms 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15): Ps 91:10-13 is cited in CCC 336.
• From the Second Reading (Romans 10:8-13): Rom 10:9 is cited in CCC 14, 186, and 449; Rom 10:12-13 in CCC 2739; and Rom 10:13 in CCC 2666.
• From the Verse before the Gospel (Matthew 4:4b): Mt 4:4 is cited in CCC 2835.
• From the Gospel (Luke 4:1-13): Lk 4:1 is cited in CCC 695; Lk 4:5-6 in CCC 2855; Lk 4:8 in CCC 2096; and Lk 4:13 in CCC 538.

March 16, Second Sunday of Lent

Abraham is the father of all who believe in God (CCC 146), the model of freely submitting time and again to the Word of God (CCC 144-145). Today’s First Reading depicts how God began His covenant with Abraham (CCC 60, 2571). A covenant is a solemn agreement to mutual commitments.  God renewed and elaborated this covenant with Moses, David, and the prophets (CCC 62-64). With the coming of Jesus, this covenant becomes the Old Covenant, which is fulfilled in the New Covenant instituted by Jesus (CCC 762).

The Transfiguration of Jesus, described in today’s Gospel, is “a foretaste of the Kingdom” (CCC 554). It is a preview of the existence Jesus has had since His Resurrection (CCC 659). It is also a preview of the existence of those who are raised from the dead to share in Christ’s Resurrection, as St. Paul informs us in today’s Second Reading. “When we rise on the last day we ‘also will appear with [Christ] in glory” (CCC 1003). Existence in the Kingdom, which Christ will establish on the Last Day, will include having a transformed, glorified body.

Until the Second Coming of Christ, “we share in the Lord’s Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ” (CCC 556).

• From the First Reading (Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18): Gn 15:5-6 is cited in CCC 762; Gn 15:5 is cited in CCC 146 and 288; and Gn 15:6 is cited in CCC 146 and 2571.
• From the Responsorial Psalm (Psalms 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14): Ps 27:8 is cited in CCC 2730.
• From the Second Reading (Philippians 3:17—4:1): Phil 3:20 is cited in CCC 1003 and 2796; and Phil 3:21 in CCC 556 and 999.
• From the Verse before the Gospel (Matthew 17:5): Mt 17:5 is cited in CCC 444.
• From the Gospel (Luke 9:28b-36): Lk 9:28 is cited in CCC 2600; Lk 9:30-35 in CCC 2583; Lk 9:31 in CCC 554 and 1151; Lk 9:33 in CCC 556; Lk 9:34-35 in CCC 659 and 697; and Lk 9:35 in CCC 516 and 554.

March 23, Third Sunday of Lent

In the event in Moses’ life which is described in today’s First Reading, God reveals that He is “the One who had called and guided the patriarchs [Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph] in their wanderings. He is the faithful and compassionate God” (CCC 205).

God also reveals His name. “God, who reveals his name as ‘I AM,’ reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them” (CCC 207), even though He is “beyond space and time” (CCC 205) and “infinitely above everything that we can understand or say” (CCC 206).

The Catechism makes two important points about Jesus in relation to God’s revelation of His name to Moses. First, “I AM” is the English translation of the Hebrew “YHWH” which is also translated as “Lord” (CCC  446). “By attributing to Jesus the divine title ‘Lord,’ the first confessions of the Church’s faith affirm from the beginning that the power, honor, and glory due to God the Father are due also to Jesus” (CCC 449). Second, “Jesus” means “YHWH saves,” and so ”the name ’Jesus’ contains all: God and man and the whole economy of creation and salvation” (CCC 2666).

Today’s Second Reading is an example of “the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments [of the Bible] . . . God’s works of the Old Covenant [are] prefigurations of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son” (CCC 128). “Covenant” is basically another word for “Testament.” The “New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New” (CCC 129).

• From the First Reading (Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15): Ex 3:5-6 is cited in CCC 208; Ex 3:5 in CCC 2777; Ex 3:6 in CCC 205 and 207; Ex 3:7-10 in CCC 1867; Ex 3:13-15 in CCC 205; and Ex 3:14 in CCC 446, 2666, and 2810.
• From the Second Reading (1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12): 1 Cor 10:1-6 is cited in CCC 1094; 1 Cor 10:1-2 in CCC 697; 1 Cor 10:2 in CCC 117; 1 Cor 10:4 in CCC 694; 1 Cor 10:6 in CCC 128; and 1 Cor 10:11 in CCC 117, 128, and 2175.
• From the Verse before the Gospel (Matthew 4:17): Mt 4:17 is cited in CCC 1720 and 1989.

March 30, Fourth Sunday of Lent

The Catechism refers to today’s Second Reading five times to teach that the Church has the power to forgive sins (CCC 859, 981, twice in 1442, 1461) in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confession (and Anointing of the Sick when Confession cannot be made).

The Second Reading is also quoted by the Catechism to teach about grace. Grace is the “gift that God makes to us of his own life” (CCC 1999). Sanctifying grace is “a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul to enable it to live with God” whereas actual graces are “God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification” (CCC 2000).

The last line of the Second reading that God made Jesus “to be sin” means that Jesus took on “the form of a fallen humanity” (CCC 602). Jesus is God the Son, “truly man while remaining truly God” (CCC 464). Jesus experienced human life as it has been since Original Sin – subject to suffering and death and temptation. Jesus “in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning” (CCC 540).

The Parable of the Prodigal Son, in today’s Gospel, describes “the process of conversion and repentance” of all sinners: “the [son’s] fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of [his father]; [his] extreme misery . . . [and] deep humiliation; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father’s generous welcome . . . [and] joy” (CCC 1439). Yes, when we sin, we should entrust ourselves “as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven” (CCC 1700); but it is conversion that “enables us to return to the Father” (CCC 2795). Jesus invites sinners “to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom” (CCC 545). We are fully converted when we agree with all Catholic Doctrine and worshipping, praying, and acting in harmony with all Catholic Doctrine.

• From the Responsorial Psalm (Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7): Ps 34:3 is cited in CCC 716.
• From the Second Reading (2 Corinthians 5:17-21): 2 Cor 5:17 is cited in CCC 1214 and 1265; 2 Cor 5:17-18 in CCC 1999; 2 Cor 5:18-21 in CCC 2844; 2 Cor 5:18 in CCC 981, 1442, and 1461; 2 Cor 5:19 in CCC 433 and 620; 2 Cor 5:20 in CCC 859, 1424, and 1442; and 2 Cor 5:21 in CCC 602.
• From the Verse before the Gospel (Luke 15:18): see below.
• From the Gospel (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32): Lk 15:1-2 is cited in CCC 589; Lk 15:11-32 in CCC 545 and 2839; Lk 15:11-31 in CCC 1700; Lk 15:11-24 in CCC 1439; Lk 15:18 in CCC 1423 and 2795; Lk 15:21 in CCC 2795; Lk 15:23-32 in CCC 589; and Lk 15:32 in CCC 1468.

[1] 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.

[2] CCC abbreviates Catechism of the Catholic Church. Any number after it is the number of a paragraph in the Catechism. For example, “CCC 602” means paragraph 602 of the Catechism.

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