Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for March 19, 2026
Here is the video of today’s reflection.
The YouTube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the US outside the new and under construction cathedral of the twelve apostles in Abuja. Uh this is a sign that the church is always taking shape that it’s always being built. It’s always being reformed or reshaped just like this cathedral is under construction. So in Lent, we’re re we’re undergoing that rebuilding project with the grace of the Holy Spirit. And in today’s Gospel, we see one of the ways that Jesus is giving us the solid building materials. We begin with the same conversation that we pondered yesterday in which there was great controversy when Jesus went up to Jerusalem into the temple area at the time of the Passover as to whether he was the long-awaited prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15 that Moses had said would come after him, whether he was the Messiah, the long-awaited one. And people were claiming that because they knew he was from Nazareth. So they thought that he could be the Messiah because there was this understanding, not biblical, that they wouldn’t know where the Messiah was from. And so Jesus again said, “You do not know where I am from.” But many were working behind the scenes to try to have him arrested. So they sent guards to try to arrest Jesus. And the guards couldn’t arrest him. And when they asked the guards, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” They said, ‘n no one has ever spoken like this man.’ And then they began to say, whom do you trust? Do you trust us, the Pharisees, or do you trust this carpenter from Nazareth who was an impostor? And they insisted about the way he would speak, unlike anybody else. And then finally, Nicodemus, the disciple who came to Jesus by night, the one who was too afraid to be seen with Jesus in the light. Again, a half tried to defend Jesus, saying, “Shouldn’t we hear him first?” And they accused him of being one of Jesus’ disciples. Little did they know that he was fascinated by Jesus, but he was too cowardly at this point. The question for you and me is how much do we appreciate where Jesus is from? We talked about that yesterday. But also Jesus’s words. Do we recognize his authority like these pagan guards? Are we fascinated hearing Jesus speak every day? Do we approach him with that sense of awe? Do we recognize how lucky we are even to be his disciple? As we go more deeply into Lent, this is what we’re being called to experience. This new cathedral here of the twelve apostles. We remember that the 11 faithful apostles as well as St. Mathias who replaced Judas were those who were fascinated by Jesus’s words so much that they left everything to follow him. They weren’t perfect in their discipleship and their apostolate. They betrayed Jesus on several occasions. We know that very clearly and we’re going to be seeing that the rest of Lent. But ultimately they came back and they were faithful because they never really lost that awe. This Lent, let’s ask for that awe.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based on:
Gospel
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.