Throughout the first half of Lent, the Church covers a wide range of events that happened during Jesus' three years of public ministry. The Gospels do not put any dates to these events, but it becomes clear when Jesus is nearing his final year of earthly ministry.
During this final year of ministry, Satan began to move people toward plotting Jesus' death and at one point, there is even the threat to stone him (cf. John 10:31-42).
Final year of ministry
The Church has always chosen this Fifth Week of Lent to focus our attention on this final year, by going through such events in the Gospel passages selected for daily Mass.
Often the Gospel of John is read at daily Mass during the Fifth Week of Lent, starting with chapter eight and then continuing through subsequent verses and chapters that build the tension of Jesus' final year of ministry. By Saturday of this week, the Gospel passage selected transitions to Holy Week:
Now the Passover of the Jews was near,
and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to one another
as they were in the temple area, “What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast?”
John 11:55-56
For parishes of the Ordinariate, as well as those who follow the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Fifth Week of Lent is begun with Passion Sunday, which signals to those who attend such Masses that the Passion of Christ is near at hand.
If we are unable to attend daily Mass during these last days of Lent, it is advisable to read through the Gospels presented by the Church, which can be easily accessed on the USCCB website.
This was, in fact, the Pope's invitation in his Lenten message for 2023:
How does [God] speak to us? First, in the word of God, which the Church offers us in the liturgy. May that word not fall on deaf ears; if we cannot always attend Mass, let us study its daily biblical readings, even with the help of the internet.
Whatever you do, the final two weeks of Lent provide a perfect opportunity to become familiar again with the events that pave the way for Jesus Christ's passion, death, crucifixion and resurrection.
