So, let us look at the Sunday Gospels of this coming Holy Season of Lent:

First Sunday of Lent - the Temptations of Jesus in the Wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)
Prayer - Fasting - Almsgiving, following on from these themes which we hear in the Gospel of Ash Wednesday.

It is good to note that the account of the Temptations of Jesus is always proclaimed on the First Sunday of Lent, from the Gospel cycle for that year (so this year, Year A, is from the Gospel of Matthew). 

Second Sunday of Lent - the Transfiguration of the Lord (Matthew 17:1-9)

In the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer in today’s Mass we hear something of the meaning of this mountaintop experience and why this Gospel forms part of the Sunday Gospel pattern every year on this Sunday of Lent:

For after he had told the disciples of his coming Death,
on the holy mountain he manifested to them his glory,
to show, even by the testimony of the law and the prophets,
that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.

As for the Gospel of the Temptations of Christ, so the Gospel of the Transfiguration is always proclaimed on the Second Sunday of Lent, and from the Gospel cycle for that year.

The Gospels for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays of Lent are different based on the year:

In Year A, the themes of Baptism are made clear through quite long Gospels relating to Jesus’ encounters with the Samaritan Woman at the Well, the Man who was born blind, and the Raising of Lazarus.

Don’t be confused that these Gospels are all from St John’s Gospel, even though it is Year A (traditionally associated with St Matthew’s Gospel).

It is also noticeable in the three Gospels that follow that In Jesus’s encounters with the various people, there appear to be cross-purposes. Jesus speaks of heavenly things while the people he meets are more preoccupied with the here and now. Of course, both are important, but in Baptism, while living in the here and now, we are invited to become citizens of heaven.

Third Sunday of Lent - Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4: 5-42)

The conversation between Jesus and the Woman of Samaria centres on reaching the water in the well (the woman) and satisfying thirst for the waters of eternal life (Jesus).

So the Baptismal theme here is Water. 

Jesus answered her,
‘If you knew the gift of God,
and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”,
you would have asked him,
and he would have given you living water.’

Fourth Sunday of Lent - the Man who was born blind (John 9:1-41)

The truth of the man’s cure by Jesus is a cause for dispute, those who doubt that he was born blind in the first place, and those wished to find fault in Jesus for performing a cure (which constituted work which is forbidden for Jewish people in the Sabbath).

A poignant passage from this Gospel follows people asking whose sin led to the man’s blindness, an Old Testament understanding of illness as punishment).

Jesus answered,
‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents,
but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day;
night is coming, when no one can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’

The Baptismal theme here is Light. 

Fifth Sunday of Lent - the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead (John 11:1-45)

In this passage, both of the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, close friends of Jesus, express impressive faith in Jesus and in the Resurrection, but still do not understand fully that Jesus himself is the Resurrection and the Life.

Martha said to Jesus,
‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask from God,
God will give you.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’
Martha said to him,
‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’
Jesus said to her,
‘I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

The Baptismal theme here is Resurrection.

It is generally good to know that there is usually a link between the Gospel at Sunday Mass and the First Reading, chosen specially to reflect something found in the Gospel. This is certainly true of the First Readings this Lent. Do look out for that connection. 

To conclude this digest of the Sunday Gospels of Lent, 
Palm Sunday which begins Holy Week has two Gospel passages:
The short Gospel which forms part of the Blessing of Palm Branches and Procession (Matthew 21:1-11). This Gospel Passage is from the Gospel of any given year and commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

On Palm Sunday, the long Passion Gospel is taken from the Sunday of the given year, this year Matthew 26:14-27, & 66. Please note that the long Passion Gospel proclaimed on Good Friday is always from St John’s Gospel (John 18:1- 19:42).