Tria Via: A Catholic Journey of Heart, Mind, and Spirit

This Week’s Post:

Third Sunday of Lent (Year A)

March 6, 2026
Jump to: Lens | Reflection Prompts | Weekly Practice

First Reading: Exodus 17: 3-7
Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

Gospel: John 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty

or have to keep coming here to draw water.

“I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

Anchor Verse

“If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” – John 4: 10

Photo by Michael Morse on Pexels.com

🔎 Lens: The Well You Keep Returning To

She came alone. At noon. When no one else would be there.

What truly seemed to touch her was not simply that Jesus knew all about her past, but that within the context of knowing everything—all the broken relationships, all the weight of her history—he still treated her with the greatest respect and dignity. This was a new experience for her.

St. Augustine saw in this unnamed woman a symbol of the Church not yet made righteous—coming in ignorance, finding Christ, and being transformed through conversation. He wrote that in her words and her person, “we must recognize ourselves.”

That’s a disarmingly honest lens. Augustine isn’t sentimentalizing her. He’s saying: you are her. Not because you’ve had five husbands, but because you have come to draw from wells that don’t satisfy, and you may not yet know who is sitting at the edge of the one that does.

Jesus progressively reveals himself through encounter—not proposition, not lecture, not law. He begins with a request: give me a drink. He asks for something before he offers anything. That small asymmetry matters. It means even God comes to us needing something. And in that shared thirst, everything can change.

The question isn’t whether you are thirsty. You are. The question is: what are you going to the well for?

Reflection Prompts
1. “Give me a drink.” Jesus asks before he offers. Is there someone in your life you’ve been waiting to help—without first asking what they actually need? What would it look like to begin with a request rather than a solution?
2. She came alone, at noon. Where do you go when you’re avoiding being known? The 3 AM phone scroll. The second glass of wine. The busyness that leaves no room for quiet. What is the “noon hour” habit that keeps you circling without arriving?
3. Five attempts to redirect. Zero condemnation. Jesus stays curious through all of it. Where in your relationships—with God, with others—do you tend to lecture rather than ask? Where do you need to become more patient with the person who keeps deflecting?
4. She left the jar. What would it mean, this week, to leave behind one thing you came to this Lent with—one strategy, one self-sufficient habit, one way of managing your own thirst—and run toward someone else instead?
Weekly Practice

At Mass

This Sunday, as the Gospel is proclaimed, notice the moment when the conversation shifts—when she stops arguing and starts wondering. Something in her posture changes. Something in yours might too.

Pay attention to your body during that moment. Does something soften? Tighten? Go very still?

That’s the place to sit with this week.

After Mass: The Practice of the Left Jar

Identify one thing you have been “drawing water” from that doesn’t actually satisfy—a habit, a distraction, a source of comfort you return to again and again without it ever being quite enough.

You don’t have to give it up this week. Just name it. Write it down if you’re able.

Then, once named, do one small thing for someone else instead—something that costs you a few minutes or a small inconvenience. Nothing dramatic. Just the direction of outward rather than inward.

She left her jar. She ran toward people she’d been hiding from. She became the messenger precisely because she stopped hoarding.

You don’t have to transform this week. Just put down the jar for an hour.

If Tria Via has been meaningful to you: pause after your 8th week or support our work.
First Sunday of Lent (Year A)

February 20, 2026
Jump to: Lens | Reflection Prompts | Weekly Practice

First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Psalm: 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19

Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written: One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.“

Then the devil took him to the holy city,
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.“
Jesus answered him,
“Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.“

Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan!
It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.“

Then the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him.

Anchor Verse

“One does not live on bread along, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” – Matthew 4: 4

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🔎 Lens: Where Adam Failed, Jesus Prevails

Pope Francis teaches that Satan wanted to divert Jesus from “the way of obedience and humiliation—because he knows that in this way, on this path, evil will be conquered.” So the devil offers false shortcuts: success, spectacle, power. But Jesus blocks every temptation with “the shield of God’s Word,” responding not with his own arguments but with Scripture itself.

The Catechism reveals the deeper pattern: “Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel’s vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God’s Servant, totally obedient to the divine will” (CCC 539).

Notice what Jesus doesn’t do. He doesn’t negotiate. He doesn’t explain. He doesn’t defend his identity by performing miracles. He simply speaks God’s Word back to the one who twists it.

This is the pattern we’re invited into during Lent—not a season of self-improvement projects, but forty days of learning to recognize where we’re being diverted from obedience and humiliation toward shortcuts that promise glory without the cross.

Reflection Prompts
1. “Command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
  Where are you tempted to use your gifts or resources to satisfy immediate need rather than trust God’s timing? What does it look like to wait for “every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” instead of solving things your way?
2. “Throw yourself down…angels will support you.” When have you tested God—demanding he prove himself on your terms, in your timeline? What would it mean to trust without requiring spectacular evidence?
3. “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
  What kingdoms, what forms of power or success, tempt you to compromise? Where are you offered influence, comfort, or security—at the cost of obedience?
4. Jesus responds to every temptation with Scripture, not his own wisdom.
  How familiar are you with God’s Word? When temptation comes, what do you reach for—your own reasoning, or the truth already given?
Weekly Practice

At Mass

During the Gospel proclamation, notice which of the three temptations makes your stomach tighten or your mind start defending.

That’s the one speaking to you this Lent.

Don’t analyze it during Mass. Just notice.

After Mass: The Practice of One Verse

TChoose one verse from Deuteronomy that Jesus used to answer Satan:
- Deuteronomy 8:3 – “One does not live on bread alone”
- Deuteronomy 6:16 – “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test”
- Deuteronomy 6:13 – “The LORD your God shall you worship”
Write it on a notecard. Put it where you’ll see it daily: mirror, dashboard, phone lock screen.

Each time you see it this week, pause for three seconds and say it out loud once. That’s it.

Not as magic. Not as performance. But as practice—training your reflexes to reach for God’s Word instead of your own arguments when temptation comes.

Jesus didn’t invent new responses in the desert. He knew Scripture so well it was already there, ready.

This Lent, start building that readiness.
If Tria Via has been meaningful to you: pause after your 8th week or support our work.
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

February 13, 2026
Jump to: Lens | Reflection Prompts | Weekly Practice

First Reading: Sirach 15: 15-20
Psalm: 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 2: 6-10

Gospel: Matthew 5:17-37 (or shorter form 5:20-22, 27-28, 33-34, 37)

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you,
whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment.”

Anchor Verse

“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” – Matthew 5: 17

Photo by Olivia on Pexels.com

🔎 Lens: The Heart Beneath the Rule

Pope Francis, in his 2017 Angelus, taught that what was said in the Old Covenant was true, but incomplete. Jesus came to fulfill the law “down to the last iota”—not by adding bureaucracy, but by revealing the law’s original purpose. He manifests its authentic meaning, animating it with “love, charity, mercy.” Without these, we fall into the trap of formalism: following rules while our hearts remain untouched.

St. Augustine saw this clearly in his On the Sermon on the Mount. The Pharisees’ righteousness was that they did not kill. Fine. But the righteousness of those entering God’s kingdom? They’re not angry without cause. The commandment “You shall not murder” is the baseline—the least requirement. But to be great in the kingdom means attending to what Jesus teaches now: the interior disposition that precedes the act.

The Catechism echoes this: Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law but to reveal its ultimate meaning and redeem our transgressions against it (CCC 592). He calls for “a transformation of the heart, emphasizing that sin begins not only with actions but also with thoughts and feelings” (CCC 1968, 1853). This is the “justice superior” to that of the scribes and Pharisees—one that doesn’t settle for external compliance but pursues interior conversion.

You’ve heard “Do not murder.” Jesus says, “What about the anger that would drive you there in the first place?”

Reflection Prompts
1. Where do you perform righteousness externally while your interior remains untouched?
  Think about your behavior at Mass, in your relationships, at work. Are there places where you keep the letter of the law—showing up, saying the right things—while your heart is somewhere else entirely?
2. “Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”
  This week, when did you feel anger rise? Not rage—just anger. The kind you justify because the other person was actually wrong. What would it look like to take that seriously, as Jesus does here?
3. Jesus doesn’t lower the bar. He raises it.
  How does that make you feel? Relieved (“I can stop pretending”)? Exhausted (“I’ll never measure up”)? Curious (“What is He actually offering me”)?
4. What’s one area where your righteousness needs to “surpass” external compliance?
  Not by trying harder, but by inviting God deeper. Where do you need interior transformation, not just better behavior management?
Weekly Practice

At Mass

During the Gospel proclamation, notice your reaction when you hear: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Does your body tighten? Do you feel defensive? Exhausted? Curious?

Don’t try to fix the reaction. Just notice it. Your body is telling you something about how you relate to God’s law.

After Mass: The Practice of Interior Attention

This week, choose one commandment or moral teaching you already follow externally. Maybe it’s:
- Not lying (but what about the small manipulations?)
- Honoring your parents (but what about the resentment you carry?)
- Going to Mass (but what about the boredom or sense of obligation?)
Each day, pause for 60 seconds and ask: What’s happening in my heart around this?

Don’t try to change it yet. Don’t spiritualize it. Don’t perform repentance. Just notice.

The Pharisees kept the law externally and never looked inward. Jesus invites you to do the opposite: look inward first, and let transformation begin where performance can’t reach.
If Tria Via has been meaningful to you: pause after your 8th week or support our work.