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 10:34,37‐43
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 117(118):1‐2,16‐17,22‐23
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1‐4
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia: First Corinthians 5: 7b-8a
Gospel: John 20:1‐9
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 10:34,37‐43

(Reader) A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: ‘You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Now I, and those with me, can witness to everything he did throughout the countryside of Judaea and in Jerusalem itself: and also to the fact that they killed him by hanging him on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead – and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.’

(Reader) The Word of the Lord.
(All) Thanks be to God.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 117(118):1‐2,16‐17,22‐23

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
  for his love has no end.
Let the sons of Israel say:
  ‘His love has no end.’
This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord’s right hand has triumphed;
  his right hand raised me up.
I shall not die, I shall live
  and recount his deeds.
This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The stone which the builders rejected
  has become the corner stone.
This is the work of the Lord,
  a marvel in our eyes.
This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Second Reading : Colossians 3:1‐4

(Reader) A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans Colossians.

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

(Reader) The Word of the Lord.
(All) Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation: 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

(Reader) A reading from the holy Gospel according to John.
(All) Glory to you, O Lord.

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’
  So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

(Reader) The Gospel of the Lord.
(All) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

For our reflection today:

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good Morning!

In the last few weeks, our reflection has been moving, so to speak, within the orbit of the Paschal Mystery. Today we meet the one who, according to the Gospels, was the first to see the Risen Christ: Mary Magdalene. The Sabbath had ended not long before. On the day of the Passion, there had not been enough time to complete the funeral rites. For this reason, at that sorrow-filled dawn, the women went to Jesus’ tomb with aromatic oils. The first to arrive was Mary Magdalene. She was one of the disciples who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee, putting herself at the service of the burgeoning Church. Her walk to the sepulchre mirrors the fidelity of many women who spend years in the small alleyways of cemeteries remembering someone who is no longer there. The most authentic bonds are not broken even in death: there are those who continue loving even if their loved one is gone forever.

The Gospel describes Magdalene by immediately highlighting that she was not a woman easily given to enthusiasm (cf. Jn 20:1-2, 11-18). In fact, after her visit to the sepulchre, she returns disappointed to the Apostles’ hiding place. She tells them that the stone has been removed from the entrance to the sepulchre, and her first hypothesis is the simplest that one could formulate: someone must have stolen Jesus’ body. Thus, the first announcement that Mary makes is not the one of the Resurrection, but of a theft perpetrated by persons unknown while all Jerusalem slept.

The Gospels then tell of Magdalene’s second visit to Jesus’ sepulchre. She was stubborn! She went, she returned ... because she was not convinced! This time her step is slow and very heavy. Mary suffers twice as much: first for the death of Jesus, and then for the inexplicable disappearance of his body.

It is as she is stooping near the tomb, her eyes filled with tears, that God surprises her in the most unexpected way. John the Evangelist stresses how persistent her blindness is. She does not notice the presence of the two angels who question her, and she does not become suspicious even when she sees the man behind her, whom she believes is the custodian of the garden. Instead, she discovers the most overwhelming event in the history of mankind when she is finally called by her name: “Mary!” (v. 16).

How nice it is to think that the first apparition of the Risen One — according to the Gospels — took place in such a personal way! To think that there is someone who knows us, who sees our suffering and disappointment, who is moved with us and calls us by name. It is a law which we find engraved on many pages of the Gospel. There are many people around Jesus who search for God, but the most prodigious reality is that, long before that, in the first place there is God, who is concerned about our life, who wants to raise it, and to do this, he calls us by name, recognizing the individual face of each person. Each person is a love story that God writes on this earth. Each one of us is God’s love story. He calls each of us by our name: he knows us by name; he looks at us; he waits for us; he forgives us; he is patient with us. Is this true or not true? Each of us experiences this.

And Jesus calls her: “Mary!”: the revolution of her life, the revolution destined to transform the life of every man and every woman begins with a name which echoes in the garden of the empty sepulchre. The Gospels describe Mary’s happiness. Jesus’ Resurrection is not a joy which is measured with a dropper, but a waterfall that cascades over life. Christian life is not woven of soft joys, but of waves which engulf everything. You too, try to imagine, right now, with the baggage of disappointments and failures that each of us carries in our heart, that there is a God close to us who calls us by name and says to us: ‘Rise, stop weeping, for I have come to free you!”. This is beautiful.

Jesus is not one who adapts to the world, tolerating in it the persistence of death, sadness, hatred, the moral destruction of people.... Our God is not inert, but our God — allow me to say — is a dreamer: he dreams of the transformation of the world, and accomplished it in the mystery of the Resurrection.

Mary would like to embrace her Lord, but he is already oriented towards the heavenly Father, whereas she is sent to carry the news to the brethren. And so that woman, who, before encountering Jesus, had been at the mercy of evil (cf. Lk 8:2) now becomes the Apostle of the new and greatest hope. May her intercession also help us live this experience: in times of woe and in times of abandonment, to listen to the Risen Jesus who calls us by name and, with a heart full of joy, to go forth and proclaim: “I have seen the Lord!” (v. 18). I have changed my life because I have seen the Lord! I am now different than before. I am another person. I have changed because I have seen the Lord. This is our strength and this is our hope. Thank you.

POPE FRANCIS
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Wednesday, 17 May 2017

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)