5 April 2026 (Sunday) / Easter Sunday / The Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

5 April 2026 (Sunday)

Easter Sunday.
The Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Acts 10: 34a, 37-43
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23
Second Reading: Colossians 3: 1-4 or First Corinthians 5: 6b-8
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia: First Corinthians 5: 7b-8a
Gospel: John 20: 1-9 or Matthew 28: 1-10 or, at an afternoon or evening Mass, Luke 24: 13-35
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: White or Gold.

The liturgical color for Easter Sunday and the entire 50-day Easter season in the Catholic Church is white. Often, gold is also used to represent the joy, triumph, and glory of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Gold or silver vestments may be used to replace white on this most solemn and joyful occasion to add to the festive nature of the celebration.

Significance: White represents light, purity, innocence, and the victory of life over death, transitioning from the purple (penance) of Lent and red (passion) of Holy Week. White represents joy, purity, victory, and the glory of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Context: It is worn during the Easter Vigil and all Easter Sunday Masses, extending through Pentecost.

Symbolism: These colors signify the pinnacle of the liturgical year, representing the risen Lord and the joy of salvation. 

Application: White vestments are worn by priests, and white altar cloths are used to signify the triumph over death.

Duration: White is used from the Easter Vigil through Pentecost Sunday.

Key liturgical color details:

1. Easter Sunday/Season: White or gold, signifying the Resurrection, light, and celebration.

2. Pentecost: Red, representing the fire of the Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles.

3. Holy Week: Red is used for Palm Sunday and Good Friday to represent Christ's blood and passion. 

4. White/gold are used on all feasts of the Lord, whereas red is reserved for Pentecost, feasts of martyrs, or to symbolize the Passion. 

Note: White and gold are the primary liturgical colors for Easter Sunday, symbolizing joy, purity, and the glory of the Resurrection. While red is worn later to represent the fire of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, white/gold is used throughout the 50-day Easter season to celebrate Christ's victory. 

First Reading: Acts 10: 34a, 37-43

34a And Peter opening his mouth, said:
37 You know the word which hath been published through all Judea: for it began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached,
38 Jesus of Nazareth: how God anointed him with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 And we are witnesses of all things that he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed, hanging him upon a tree.
40 Him God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made manifest,
41 Not to all the people, but to witnesses preordained by God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he arose again from the dead;
42 And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is he who was appointed by God, to be judge of the living and of the dead.
43 To him all the prophets give testimony, that by his name all receive remission of sins, who believe in him.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23

R. (24) This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or
R. Alleluia.
1 Give praise to Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Let Israel now say that he is good: that his mercy endureth for ever.
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or
R. Alleluia.
16 The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exulted me: the right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength.
17 I shall not die, but live: and shall declare the works of the Lord.
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or
R. Alleluia.
22 The stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner.
23 This is the Lord’s doing: and it is wonderful in our eyes.
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or
R. Alleluia.

Second Reading: Colossians 3: 1-4 or First Corinthians 5: 6b-8

1 Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God:
2 Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
3 For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory.
Or
6b Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump?
7 Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ our pasch is sacrificed.
8 Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Alleluia: First Corinthians 5: 7b-8a
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
7b-8a Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed; let us then feast with joy in the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
(4. When you have gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus, with the presence of my spirit, and in the power of our Lord Jesus,
5. hand such a man over to Satan, to be destroyed as far as natural life is concerned, so that on the Day of the Lord his spirit may be saved.
6. Your self-satisfaction is ill founded. Do you not realise that only a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?
7. Throw out the old yeast so that you can be the fresh dough, unleavened as you are. For our Passover has been sacrificed, that is, Christ;
8. let us keep the feast, then, with none of the old yeast and no leavening of evil and wickedness, but only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.)

Gospel: John 20: 1-9 or Matthew 28: 1-10 or, at an afternoon or evening Mass, Luke 24: 13-35

1 And on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre; and she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
2 She ran, therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith to them: They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
3 Peter therefore went out, and that other disciple, and they came to the sepulchre.
4 And they both ran together, and that other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
5 And when he stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying; but yet he went not in.
6 Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen cloths lying,
7 And the napkin that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but apart, wrapped up into one place.
8 Then that other disciple also went in, who came first to the sepulchre: and he saw, and believed.
9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
Or
1 And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre.
2 And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.
3 And his countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow.
4 And for fear of him, the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men.
5 And the angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
6 He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, and see the place where the Lord was laid.
7 And going quickly, tell ye his disciples that he is risen: and behold he will go before you into Galilee; there you shall see him. Lo, I have foretold it to you.
8 And they went out quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, running to tell his disciples.
9 And behold Jesus met them, saying: All hail. But they came up and took hold of his feet, and adored him.
10 Then Jesus said to them: Fear not. Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, there they shall see me.
Or at an afternoon or evening Mass
13 And behold, two of them went, the same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus himself also drawing near, went with them.
16 But their eyes were held, that they should not know him.
17 And he said to them: What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to him: Art thou only a stranger to Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?
19 To whom he said: What things? And they said: Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people;
20 And how our chief priests and princes delivered him to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
21 But we hoped, that it was he that should have redeemed Israel: and now besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea and certain women also of our company affrighted us, who before it was light, were at the sepulchre,
23 And not finding his body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that he is alive.
24 And some of our people went to the sepulchre, and found it so as the women had said, but him they found not.
25 Then he said to them: O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken.
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things that were concerning him.
28 And they drew nigh to the town, whither they were going: and he made as though he would go farther.
29 But they constrained him; saying: Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent. And he went in with them.
30 And it came to pass, whilst he was at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him: and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to the other: Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in this way, and opened to us the scriptures?
33 And rising up, the same hour, they went back to Jerusalem: and they found the eleven gathered together, and those that were staying with them,
34 Saying: The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way; and how they knew him in the breaking of the bread.

Easter Triduum ends after Evening Prayer.

For our reflection today:

Meditating on the mystery of the Resurrection, we find an answer to our thirst for meaning. Faced with our fragile humanity, the Paschal proclamation becomes care and healing, nourishing hope in the face of the frightening challenges that life presents us with every day on a personal and global level. In the perspective of Easter, the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, is transfigured into the Via Lucis, the Way of Light. We need to savour and meditate on the joy after the pain, to retrace in the new light all the stages that preceded the Resurrection. Easter does not eliminate the cross, but defeats it in the miraculous duel that changed our human history. Even our time, marked by so many crosses, invokes the dawn of Paschal hope. Christ’s Resurrection is not an idea, a theory, but the Event that is the foundation of faith. He, the Risen One, through the Holy Spirit, continues to remind us of this, so that we can be His witnesses even where human history does not see light on the horizon. Paschal hope does not disappoint. To believe truly in the Pasch through our daily journey means revolutionizing our lives, being transformed in order to transform the world with the gentle and courageous power of Christian hope. (Pope Leo XIV - General Audience, 5 November 2025)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Pelayan Atasan Tertinggi / Most High Servant,
Yesus, Maria, Yusuf Pelayanan Kasih / Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love 
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)

My vocation is Blessed and Saints.

"I am the most humble of all the Saints in Heaven" Mary, Mother of God."

"I am the handmaid of the Lord, said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me."

Mother Mary is the most humble Saint in Heaven and she is also the Mother of God for us all
(Luke 1:38)