7 April 2026 (Tuesday) / Easter Tuesday / Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

7 April 2026 (Tuesday)

Easter Tuesday.
Tuesday in the Octave of Easter.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Acts 2: 36-41
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32(33):4‐5,18‐20,22
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia: Psalms 118: 24
Gospel: John 20:11‐18.
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: White or Gold.

First Reading : Acts 2:36‐41

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

On the day of Pentecost, Peter spoke to the Jews: ‘The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.’
  Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the apostles, ‘What must we do, brothers?’ ‘You must repent,’ Peter answered ‘and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is for you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God will call to himself.’ He spoke to them for a long time using many arguments, and he urged them, ‘Save yourselves from this perverse generation.’ They were convinced by his arguments, and they accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their number.

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

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 32(33):4‐5,18‐20,22

The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord is faithful
  and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right
  and fills the earth with his love.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord looks on those who revere him,
  on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
  to keep them alive in famine.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
  The Lord is our help and our shield.
May your love be upon us, O Lord,
  as we place all our hope in you.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia: Psalms 118: 24
Alleluia: Psalms 118: 24
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
24 This is the day the LORD has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
(1. Alleluia! Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, for his faithful love endures for ever.
2. Let the House of Israel say, 'His faithful love endures for ever.'
3. Let the House of Aaron say, 'His faithful love endures for ever.'
4. Let those who fear Yahweh say, 'His faithful love endures for ever.'
5. In my distress I called to Yahweh, he heard me and brought me relief.
6. With Yahweh on my side I fear nothing; what can human beings do to me?
7. With Yahweh on my side as my help, I gloat over my enemies.
8. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to rely on human beings;
9. better to take refuge in Yahweh than to rely on princes.
10. Nations were swarming around me, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down;
11. they swarmed around me, pressing upon me, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down.
12. They swarmed around me like bees, they flared up like a brushwood fire, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down.
13. I was pushed hard, to make me fall, but Yahweh came to my help.
14. Yahweh is my strength and my song, he has been my Saviour.
15. Shouts of joy and salvation, in the tents of the upright, 'Yahweh's right hand is triumphant 16. Yahweh's right hand is victorious, Yahweh's right hand is triumphant!'
17. I shall not die, I shall live to recount the great deeds of Yahweh.
18. Though Yahweh punished me sternly, he has not abandoned me to death.
19. Open for me the gates of saving justice, I shall go in and thank Yahweh.
20. This is the gate of Yahweh, where the upright go in.
21. I thank you for hearing me, and making yourself my Saviour.
22. The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
23. This is Yahweh's doing, and we marvel at it 24. This is the day which Yahweh has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad.
25. We beg you, Yahweh, save us, we beg you, Yahweh, give us victory!
26. Blessed in the name of Yahweh is he who is coming! We bless you from the house of Yahweh 27. Yahweh is God, he gives us light. Link your processions, branches in hand, up to the horns of the altar.
28. You are my God, I thank you, all praise to you, my God. I thank you for hearing me, and making yourself my Saviour.
29. Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, for his faithful love endures for ever.)

Gospel : John 20:11‐18

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

Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him. Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.’ Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ – which means Master. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and find the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.

(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)