ENTRANCE ANTIPHON Cf. Ps 24: 15-16
My eyes are always on the Lord,
for he rescues my feet from the
snare. Turn to me and have mercy
on me, for I am alone and poor.

Priest: In the name of the Father and
of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
People: Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And with your spirit.

SIT

Praise my soul the King of heaven,
to his feet your tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored,
forgiven,
Who am I his praise to sing?

Praise him. Praise him.
Praise him. Praise him.
Praise the everlasting King.

Praise him for his grace and favour
To our fathers in distress:
Praise him still the same for ever,
Slow to chide and swift to bless.

Praise him. Praise him.
Praise him. Praise him.
Glorious in his faithfulness.

Angels, help us to adore him:
You behold him face to face:
Sun and moon bow down before him.
Ev’ry thing in time and space.

Praise him. Praise him.
Praise him. Praise him.
Praise with us the God of grace.

PENITENTIAL RITE
You raise the dead to life in the Spirit:
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

You bring pardon and peace to the
sinner: Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

You bring light to those in darkness:
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The absolution by the Priest follows:
May almighty God have mercy on us,
forgive us our sins
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

COLLECT
O God, author of every mercy and of
all goodness,
who in fasting, prayer and almsgiving
have shown us a remedy for sin,
look graciously on this confession of
our lowliness, that we, who are bowed
down by our conscience,
may always be lifted up by your mercy.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your
Son, who lives and reigns with you in
the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

8th March 2026

The Liturgy of the Word

Entrance Hymn

Third Sunday of Lent

FIRST READING 17:3-7
A reading from the book of Exodus

Tormented by thirst, the people
complained against Moses. “Why did
you bring us out of Egypt?” they said.
“Was it so that I should die of thirst,
my children too, and my cattle?”
Moses appealed to the Lord. “How am
I to deal with this people?” he said. “A
little more and they will stone me!”
The Lord said to Moses. “Take with
you some of the elders of Israel and
move on to the forefront of the people;
take in your hand the staff with which
you struck the river, and go. I shall be
standing before you there on the rock,
at Horeb. You must strike the rock,

RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Ps94:1-2.6-9.R.v.8
R. O that today you would listen to his
voice!
Harden not your hearts.

1. Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Let us come before him, giving thanks,
with songs let us hail the Lord. R.

2. Come in; let us bow and bend low;
let us kneel before the God who made us
for he is our God and we
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand. R.

3. O that today you would listen to his voice!
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day Massah in the desert
when your fathers put me to the test;
when they tried me, though they
saw my work.” R.
SECOND READING 5:1-2.5-8
A reading from the letter of St Paul
to the Romans
Through our Lord Jesus Christ by
faith we are judged righteous and at
peace with God, since it is by faith
and through Jesus that we have
entered this state of grace in which
we can boast about looking forward
to God’s glory. This hope is not
deceptive, because the love of God
has been poured into our hearts by
the Holy Spirit which has been given
us. We were still helpless when at
his appointed moment Christ died
for sinful men. It is not easy to die
even for a good man – though of
course for someone really worthy, a
man might be prepared to die – but
what proves that God loves us is
that Christ died for us while we were
still sinners.

The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

and water will flow from it for the
people to drink.” This is what Moses
did, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
The place was named Massah and
Meribah because of the grumbling of
the sons of Israel and because they
put the Lord to the test by saying, “Is
the Lord with us, or not?”

The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

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PROFESSION OF FAITH

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial
with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
(All bow during the next three lines)
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under
Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,

Raising the host, the priest says:
Blessed are you, Lord, God of all
creation, for through your goodness
we have received the bread we offer
you: fruit of the earth and work of
human hands,
it will become for us the bread of life.
Blessed be God for ever.
The priest pours wine and a little water
into the chalice, saying quietly:
By the mystery of this water and wine
may we come to share in the divinity
of Christ,
who humbled himself to share in our
humanity.
Raising the chalice, the priest says:
Blessed are you, Lord, God of all
creation, for through your goodness
we have received the wine we offer
you: fruit of the vine and work of
human hands,
it will become our spiritual drink.
Blessed be God for ever.
Bowing the priest says quietly:
With humble spirit and contrite heart
may we be accepted by you, O Lord,
and may our sacrifice in your sight
this day be pleasing to you, O Lord.

Then the priest washes his hands, saying
quietly:
Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquity;
and cleanse me from my sin.

SIT

PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL

and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of
the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord,
the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and
the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is
adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the
prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and
apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the
forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the
resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

GOSPEL 4:5-15 19-26 39-42
Shorter form
The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
A reading from the holy
Gospel according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus came to the Samaritan town
called Sychar, near the land that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well is there and Jesus, tired
by the journey, sat straight down by
the well. It was about the sixth hour.
When a Samaritan woman 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. “What?
You are a Jew and you ask me, a
Samaritan, for a drink?” – Jews, in
fact, do not associate with
Samaritans. Jesus replied:
“If you only knew what God is offering
and who it is that is saying to you:
Give me a drink,
you would have been the one to ask,
and he would have given you living
water.”
“You have no bucket, sir,” she
answered, “and the well is deep: how
could you get this living water? Are
you a greater man than our father
Jacob who gave us this well and
drank from it himself with his sons and
his cattle?”
Jesus replied:
“Whoever drinks this water
will get thirsty again;
but anyone who drinks the water that I
shall give
will never be thirsty again:
the water that I shall give
will turn into a spring inside him,
welling up to eternal life.”
“Sir,” said the woman, “give me some
of that water, so that I may never get
thirsty and never have to come here
again to draw water.” “I see you are a
prophet, sir” said the woman. “Our
fathers worshipped on this mountain,

while you say that Jerusalem is the
place where one ought to worship.”
Jesus said:
“Believe me, woman, the hour is
coming when you will worship the
Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem.
You worship what you do not know;
we worship what we do know;
for salvation comes from the Jews.
But the hour will come – in fact it is
here already – when true worshippers
will worship the Father in spirit and
truth: that is the kind of worshipper
the Father wants.

God is spirit, and those who worship
must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that
Messiah – that is, Christ – is coming;
and when he comes he will tell us
everything.” “I who am speaking to
you,” said Jesus “I am he.”
Many Samaritans of that town had
believed in him on the strength of the
woman’s testimony so, when the
Samaritans came up to him, they
begged him to stay with them. He
stayed for two days, and when he
spoke to them many more came to
believe; and they said to the woman,
“Now we no longer believe because of
what you told us; we have heard him
ourselves and we know that he really
is the saviour of the world.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

ACCLAMATION Jn4:42.15
Glory to you, O Christ,

you are the Word of God!
Lord, you are really the saviour

of the world;
give me the living water,

so that I may never get thirsty.
Glory to you, O Christ,

you are the Word of God!

PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Be pleased, O Lord, with these
sacrificial offerings,
and grant that we who beseech
pardon for our own sins, may take
care to forgive our neighbour.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
PREFACE: The Samaritan Woman
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER II

The Lord be with you.
And with your Spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right and just.

It is truly right and just, our duty and
our salvation, always and everywhere
to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and
eternal God, through Christ our Lord.

For when he asked the Samaritan
woman for water to drink,
he had already created the gift of
faith within her and so ardently did he
thirst for her faith, that he kindled in
her the fire of divine love.

And so we, too, give you thanks
and with the Angels
praise your mighty deeds,
as we acclaim:

The mystery of faith

When we eat this Bread and
drink this Cup,
we proclaim your death, O Lord,
until you come again.

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your
glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Then the Priest, with hands extended, says:
Therefore, as we celebrate the
memorial of his Death and
Resurrection,
we offer you, Lord,
the Bread of life and the Chalice of
salvation, giving thanks that you have
held us worthy
to be in your presence and minister to
you.

Humbly we pray that, partaking of the
Body and Blood of Christ,
we may be gathered into one by the
Holy Spirit.
Remember, Lord, your Church,
spread throughout the world,
and bring her to the fullness of charity,
together with Leo, our Pope, N. our
Bishop, his assistant Bishop(s),
and all the clergy.
Remember also our brothers and
sisters who have fallen asleep in the
hope of the resurrection,
and all who have died in your mercy:
welcome them into the light of your
face.
Have mercy on us all, we pray,
that with the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of God, with blessed Joseph,
her Spouse, with the blessed Apostles
and with all the Saints who have
pleased you throughout the ages,
we may merit to be coheirs to eternal
life, and may praise and glorify you
through your Son, Jesus Christ.

The Priest takes the chalice and the paten
with the host and, elevating both, he says:
Through him, and with him, and in
him,
O God, almighty Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honour is yours,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

You are indeed Holy, O Lord,
the fount of all holiness.
The Priest joins his hands and, holding them
extended over the offerings, says:
Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we
pray,
by sending down your Spirit upon
them like the dewfall,
so that they may become for us
the Body X and Blood of our Lord,
Jesus Christ.

At the time he was betrayed
and entered willingly into his Passion,
he took bread and, giving thanks,
broke it,
and gave it to his disciples, saying:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT
OF IT,
FOR THIS IS MY BODY,
WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

In a similar way, when supper was
ended,
he took the chalice
and, once more giving thanks,
he gave it to his disciples, saying:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND
DRINK FROM IT,
FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY
BLOOD,
THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND
ETERNAL COVENANT,
WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR
YOU AND FOR MANY
FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

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Facing the people the priest says:

Pray, brethren (brothers and sisters),
that my sacrifice and yours
may be acceptable to God,
the almighty Father.

May the Lord accept the sacrifice at
your hands
for the praise and glory of his name,
for our good, and the good of all
his holy Church.

At the Saviour’s command
and formed by divine teaching,
we dare to say:
Our Father, who art in heaven . . .
Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil,
graciously grant peace in our days,
that, by the help of your mercy,
we may be always free from sin
and safe from all distress,
as we await the blessed hope
and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus
Christ.
For the kingdom, the power and the
glory are yours, now and for ever.
Lord Jesus Christ,
who said to your Apostles:
Peace I leave you, my peace I give
you, look not on our sins,
but on the faith of your Church,
and graciously grant her peace and
unity in accordance with your will.
Who live and reign for ever and ever.
Amen.

Communion Rite

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PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
As we receive the pledge of things yet
hidden in heaven and are nourished
while still on earth with the Bread that
comes from on high,
we humbly entreat you, O Lord,
that what is being brought about in us
in mystery may come to true
completion.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

How lovely on the mountains
are the feet of him
who brings good news, good news,
announcing peace,
proclaiming news of happiness:
Our God reigns, Our God reigns.
Our God reigns, Our God reigns.
Our God reigns, Our God reigns.

Ends of the earth, see
the salvation of our God!
Jesus is Lord, is Lord!
Before the nations,
he has bared his holy arm.
Our God reigns, Our God reigns.
Our God reigns, Our God reigns.
Our God reigns, Our God reigns.

Eat this bread, drink this cup.
come to me and never be hungry.
Eat this bread, drink this cup
trust in me and you will not thirst.

I am the Bread of Life,
the true bread sent from the Father.

Your ancestors ate manna in the
desert,
but this is the bread come down
from heaven.

Eat my flesh, and drink my blood,
and I will raise you up on the last day.

Anyone who eats this bread
will live forever.

If you believe and eat this bread
you will have eternal life.

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE
Direct, O Lord, we pray, the hearts of
your faithful,
and in your kindness grant your
servants this grace:
that, abiding in the love of you and
their neighbour, they may fulfil the
whole of your commands.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

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The peace of the Lord be with you
always.
And with your Spirit.
The priest may add these or similar words.
Let us offer each other the sign of peace.

The priest places a small piece of the host in
the chalice saying quietly:
May this mingling of the body and
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
bring eternal life to us who receive it.
Meanwhile the people sing or say:
Lamb of God, you take away the
sins of the world:
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the
sins of the world
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the
sins of the world
grant us peace.

May the Body of Christ
keep me safe for eternal life.

The Priest reverently consumes the Body of
Christ.
Then he takes the chalice and says quietly:
May the Blood of Christ
keep me safe for eternal life.

The Priest raises a host slightly and shows it
to each of the communicants, saying:
The Body of Christ.
Amen.

The priest says quietly:
May the receiving of your Body and
Blood,
Lord Jesus Christ,
not bring me to judgement and
condemnation,
but through your loving mercy
be for me protection in mind and
body, and a healing remedy.

Raising the host the priest says:

Behold the Lamb of God,
behold him who takes away the sins of
the world.
Blessed are those called to the supper
of the Lamb.

And together with the people he says once:
Lord, I am not worthy
that you should enter under my roof,
but only say the word
and my soul shall be healed.

Imprimi Potest: Concordat Cum Originali: @ Most Rev. Alan McGuckian SJ, Bishop of Down and Connor. Nihil Obstat: Excerpts from the
English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy corporation. Origination and printing
by Shanway Press, email: info@shanway.com T: 028 9022 2070

COMMUNION ANTIPHON Jn 4: 13-14
For anyone who drinks it, says the
Lord, the water I shall give will
become in him
a spring welling up to eternal life.

Communion Hymn

Private Prayer after Communion

Concluding Rites

Recessional Hymn

Lord Jesus, Messiah and Saviour of
the world,
give me that water which will turn into
a spring inside me
welling up to eternal life.
Participating with your people in the
eucharistic sacrifice
may I, in spirit and truth, worship the
Father
whom you have revealed.
Father, may your kingdom come.

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Bow head for the blessing – short silence
And may the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, X and the
Holy Spirit, come down on you and
remain with you for ever.
Amen.

Go and announce the Gospel of
the Lord.
Thanks be to God.