{"id":32330,"date":"2026-02-27T12:51:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/?p=32330"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:21:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:21:34","slug":"striving-for-surpassing-righteousness-first-friday-of-lent-february-27-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/striving-for-surpassing-righteousness-first-friday-of-lent-february-27-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Striving for Surpassing Righteousness, First Friday of Lent, February 27, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Msgr. Roger J. Landry<br \/>\nSacred Heart Minor Seminary, Akure, Nigeria<br \/>\nFriday of the First Week of Lent<br \/>\nFebruary 27, 2026<br \/>\nEzek 18:21-18, Ps 130, Mt 5:20-26<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>To listen to an audio recording of today&#8217;s homily, please click below:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-32330-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3\">https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The outline of the homily was:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The significance of the seminary&#8217;s motto, Adveniat Regnum Tuum, and its dedication to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Jesus today wants to teach us how to make his kingdom come through having a heart like his. The readings today do that in teaching us how to have a righteousness, a holiness, surpassing that of the scribes and Pharisees, who had three main defects: they thought it was their work, not primarily God&#8217;s, that made them righteous; they were focused on external deeds, not a heart that produces good and bad deeds; they didn&#8217;t recognize how much they needed God&#8217;s mercy and how God wanted them to extend that mercy. Today&#8217;s readings are ultimately about the latter.<\/li>\n<li>Ezekiel teaches us about God&#8217;s mercy and justice. His mercy is toward those who turn away from sin and turn toward him for forgiveness. His justice is for those who turned away from him, turn toward sin, and refuse to repent. People find both of these ways &#8220;unfair.&#8221; Those who think they don&#8217;t need God&#8217;s mercy think his mercy toward repentant sinners is unjust \u2014 it is, but God&#8217;s mercy is greater than his justice. Those who think they should be given a pass for sinning based on previous good actions find his ways unjust, but they are just getting what they deserve for the choice they&#8217;ve made to abandon the good life for the bad. Jesus wants us to be those who receive his mercy, who receive the fruits of Jesus&#8217; satisfying the needs of justice by dying to take away our sins.<\/li>\n<li>We see these lessons in the second half of the Gospel when Jesus tells us to reconcile before trying to worship God because he wants us worshipping capable of receiving his mercy by striving to reconcile with our spiritual siblings. That&#8217;s what we&#8217;re doing at Mass, what we do at every Mass, in the symbolic gesture of the sign of peace.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"wr-block b-verse bg-white padding-bottom-m\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"p-wrap col-lg-10 offset-lg-1 col-xl-8 offset-xl-2 col-xxl-6 offset-xxl-3 \">\n<div class=\"innerblock\">\n<div class=\"content-header\">\n<h3 class=\"name\">Reading 1<\/h3>\n<div class=\"address\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bible.usccb.org\/bible\/ezekiel\/18?21\">Ezekiel 18:21-28<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content-body\">\n<p>Thus says the Lord GOD:<br \/>\nIf the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed,<br \/>\nif he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just,<br \/>\nhe shall surely live, he shall not die.<br \/>\nNone of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him;<br \/>\nhe shall live because of the virtue he has practiced.<br \/>\nDo I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked?<br \/>\nsays the Lord GOD.<br \/>\nDo I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way<br \/>\nthat he may live?<\/p>\n<p>And if the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil,<br \/>\nthe same kind of abominable things that the wicked man does,<br \/>\ncan he do this and still live?<br \/>\nNone of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered,<br \/>\nbecause he has broken faith and committed sin;<br \/>\nbecause of this, he shall die.<br \/>\nYou say, &#8220;The LORD&#8217;s way is not fair!&#8221;<br \/>\nHear now, house of Israel:<br \/>\nIs it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?<br \/>\nWhen someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies,<br \/>\nit is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.<br \/>\nBut if the wicked, turning from the wickedness he has committed,<br \/>\ndoes what is right and just,<br \/>\nhe shall preserve his life;<br \/>\nsince he has turned away from all the sins that he committed,<br \/>\nhe shall surely live, he shall not die.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wr-block b-verse bg-white padding-bottom-m\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"p-wrap col-lg-10 offset-lg-1 col-xl-8 offset-xl-2 col-xxl-6 offset-xxl-3 \">\n<div class=\"innerblock\">\n<div class=\"content-header\">\n<h3 class=\"name\">Responsorial Psalm<\/h3>\n<div class=\"address\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bible.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/130?1\">Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content-body\">\n<p>R. (3) <strong>If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?<\/strong><br \/>\nOut of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;<br \/>\nLORD, hear my voice!<br \/>\nLet your ears be attentive<br \/>\nto my voice in supplication.<br \/>\nR. <strong>If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you, O LORD, mark iniquities,<br \/>\nLORD, who can stand?<br \/>\nBut with you is forgiveness,<br \/>\nthat you may be revered.<br \/>\nR. <strong>If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?<\/strong><br \/>\nI trust in the LORD;<br \/>\nmy soul trusts in his word.<br \/>\nMy soul waits for the LORD<br \/>\nmore than sentinels wait for the dawn.<br \/>\nLet Israel wait for the LORD.<br \/>\nR. <strong>If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?<\/strong><br \/>\nFor with the LORD is kindness<br \/>\nand with him is plenteous redemption;<br \/>\nAnd he will redeem Israel<br \/>\nfrom all their iniquities.<br \/>\nR.<strong> If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wr-block b-verse bg-white padding-bottom-m\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"p-wrap col-lg-10 offset-lg-1 col-xl-8 offset-xl-2 col-xxl-6 offset-xxl-3 \">\n<div class=\"innerblock\">\n<div class=\"content-header\">\n<h3 class=\"name\">Verse Before the Gospel<\/h3>\n<div class=\"address\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bible.usccb.org\/bible\/ezekiel\/18?31\">Ezekiel 18:31<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content-body\">\n<p>Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD,<br \/>\nAnd make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wr-block b-verse bg-white padding-bottom-m\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"p-wrap col-lg-10 offset-lg-1 col-xl-8 offset-xl-2 col-xxl-6 offset-xxl-3 \">\n<div class=\"innerblock\">\n<div class=\"content-header\">\n<h3 class=\"name\">Gospel<\/h3>\n<div class=\"address\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bible.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/5?20\">Matthew 5:20-26<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content-body\">\n<p>Jesus said to his disciples:<br \/>\n&#8220;I tell you,<br \/>\nunless your righteousness surpasses that<br \/>\nof the scribes and Pharisees,<br \/>\nyou will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,<br \/>\n<em>You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.<\/em><br \/>\nBut I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother<br \/>\nwill be liable to judgment,<br \/>\nand whoever says to his brother, Raqa,<br \/>\nwill be answerable to the Sanhedrin,<br \/>\nand whoever says, &#8216;You fool,&#8217; will be liable to fiery Gehenna.<br \/>\nTherefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,<br \/>\nand there recall that your brother<br \/>\nhas anything against you,<br \/>\nleave your gift there at the altar,<br \/>\ngo first and be reconciled with your brother,<br \/>\nand then come and offer your gift.<br \/>\nSettle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.<br \/>\nOtherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,<br \/>\nand the judge will hand you over to the guard,<br \/>\nand you will be thrown into prison.<br \/>\nAmen, I say to you,<br \/>\nyou will not be released until you have paid the last penny.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_9099\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-32330-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3\">https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/?powerpress_pinw=32330-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Msgr. Roger J. Landry Sacred Heart Minor Seminary, Akure, Nigeria Friday of the First Week of Lent February 27, 2026 Ezek 18:21-18, Ps 130, Mt 5:20-26 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of today&#8217;s homily, please click below:\u00a0 https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3 &nbsp; The outline of the homily was:\u00a0 The significance of the seminary&#8217;s motto, Adveniat Regnum [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14427,1063,3,12314,4],"tags":[14578,14577,2254,1757,1514,1700,2811,1709,4665],"class_list":["post-32330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-2026-year-ii","category-audio-homily","category-homily","category-podcast","category-year-ii","tag-adveniat-regnum-tuum","tag-ezek-1821-18","tag-forgiveness","tag-mercy","tag-mt-520-26","tag-pope-francis","tag-ps-130","tag-sacred-heart","tag-st-margaret-mary-alacoque"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Striving for Surpassing Righteousness, First Friday of Lent, February 27, 2026 - Catholic Preaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/striving-for-surpassing-righteousness-first-friday-of-lent-february-27-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Striving for Surpassing Righteousness, First Friday of Lent, February 27, 2026 - Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Msgr. Roger J. Landry Sacred Heart Minor Seminary, Akure, Nigeria Friday of the First Week of Lent February 27, 2026 Ezek 18:21-18, Ps 130, Mt 5:20-26 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of today&#8217;s homily, please click below:\u00a0 https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3 &nbsp; The outline of the homily was:\u00a0 The significance of the seminary&#8217;s motto, Adveniat Regnum [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/striving-for-surpassing-righteousness-first-friday-of-lent-february-27-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-27T17:51:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-27T18:21:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DefaultImage-FB.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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Landry Sacred Heart Minor Seminary, Akure, Nigeria Friday of the First Week of Lent February 27, 2026 Ezek 18:21-18, Ps 130, Mt 5:20-26 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of today&#8217;s homily, please click below:\u00a0 https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/2.27.26_Homily_Sacred_Heart_Seminary_Akure_1.mp3 &nbsp; The outline of the homily was:\u00a0 The significance of the seminary&#8217;s motto, Adveniat Regnum [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/striving-for-surpassing-righteousness-first-friday-of-lent-february-27-2026\/","og_site_name":"Catholic Preaching","article_published_time":"2026-02-27T17:51:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-27T18:21:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DefaultImage-FB.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Fr. Roger Landry","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Roger Landry","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/striving-for-surpassing-righteousness-first-friday-of-lent-february-27-2026\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/striving-for-surpassing-righteousness-first-friday-of-lent-february-27-2026\/"},"author":{"name":"Fr. 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