9 April 2026 (Thursday) / Easter Thursday / Thursday in the Octave of Easter

9 April 2026 (Thursday)

Easter Thursday.
Thursday in the Octave of Easter.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Acts 3: 11-26
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 8: 2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia: Psalms 118: 24
Gospel: Luke 24: 35-48
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: White or Gold.

First Reading : Acts 3:11‐26

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

Everyone came running towards Peter and John in great excitement, to the Portico of Solomon, as it is called, where the man was still clinging to Peter and John. When Peter saw the people he addressed them, ‘Why are you so surprised at this? Why are you staring at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or holiness? You are Israelites, and it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, who has glorified his servant Jesus, the same Jesus you handed over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate after Pilate had decided to release him. It was you who accused the Holy One, the Just One, you who demanded the reprieve of a murderer while you killed the prince of life. God, however, raised him from the dead, and to that fact we are the witnesses; and it is the name of Jesus which, through our faith in it, has brought back the strength of this man whom you see here and who is well known to you. It is faith in that name that has restored this man to health, as you can all see.
  ‘Now I know, brothers, that neither you nor your leaders had any idea what you were really doing; this was the way God carried out what he had foretold, when he said through all his prophets that his Christ would suffer. Now you must repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, and so that the Lord may send the time of comfort. Then he will send you the Christ he has predestined, that is Jesus, whom heaven must keep till the universal restoration comes which God proclaimed, speaking through his holy prophets. Moses, for example, said: The Lord God will raise up a prophet like myself for you, from among your own brothers; you must listen to whatever he tells you. The man who does not listen to that prophet is to be cut off from the people. In fact, all the prophets that have ever spoken, from Samuel onwards, have predicted these days.
  ‘You are the heirs of the prophets, the heirs of the covenant God made with our ancestors when he told Abraham: in your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. It was for you in the first place that God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.’

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

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 8:2,5‐9

How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
How great is your name, O Lord our God,
  through all the earth!
What is man that you should keep him in mind,
  mortal man that you care for him?
How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Yet you have made him little less than a god;
  with glory and honour you crowned him,
gave him power over the works of your hand,
  put all things under his feet.
How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
All of them, sheep and cattle,
  yes, even the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and fish
  that make their way through the waters.
How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
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 : Luke 24:35‐48

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

The disciples told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised Jesus at the breaking of bread.
  They were still talking about all this when Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost. But he said, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet; yes, it is I indeed. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.’ And as he said this he showed them his hands and feet. Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, and they stood there dumbfounded; so he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes.
  Then he told them, ‘This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled.’ He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.’

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

For our reflection today:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, the Third Sunday of Easter, in the Gospel according to Luke we meet the Risen Jesus who presents himself to the disciples (cf. Lk 24:36) who, startled and incredulous, think they are seeing a ghost (cf. Lk 24:37). Romano Guardini wrote: “the Lord has changed. He does not live as he lived previously. His existence cannot be understood. And yet it is corporeal, it encompasses... the whole of the life he lived, the destiny he passed through, his Passion and his death. Everything is reality. It may have changed but it is still tangible reality” (Il Signore. Meditazioni sulla persona e la vita di N.S. Gesù Cristo, Milan 1949, 433). As the Resurrection did not erase the signs of the Crucifixion, Jesus showed the Apostles his hands and his feet. And to convince them, he even asked for something to eat, thus the disciples “gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them” (Lk 24:42-43). St Gregory the Great comments that “the fish grilled on the flame means nothing other than the Passion of Jesus, Mediator between God and men. Indeed, he deigned to conceal himself in the waters of the human race, he accepted to be caught in the net of our death and was placed on the fire, symbolizing the pain he suffered at the moment of the Passion” (Hom. in Evang. XXIV, 5: CCL l 141, Turnhout 1999, 201).

It was by means of these very realistic signs that the disciples overcame their initial doubt and opened themselves to the gift of faith; and this faith enabled them to understand what was written on Christ “in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms (Lk 24:44). Indeed we read that Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.... You are witnesses of these things” (Lk 24:45-48).

The Saviour assures us of his real presence among us through the Word and through the Eucharist. Therefore just as the disciples of Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread (cf. Lk 24:35), so we too encounter the Lord in the Eucharistic celebration. In this regard St Thomas Aquinas explains that “it is absolutely necessary to confess according to the Catholic faith that the entire Christ is in this sacrament... since the Godhead never set aside the assumed body” (Summa Theologiae III, q. 76, a. 1).

Dear friends, it is usual in the Easter season for the Church to administer First Communion to children. I therefore urge parish priests, parents and catechists to prepare well for this feast of faith with great fervour, but also with moderation. “This day continues to be memorable as the moment when... they first came to understand the importance of a personal encounter with Jesus” (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 19). May the Mother of God help us to listen attentively to the Word of the Lord and to take part worthily in the Banquet of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, to become witnesses of the new humanity.

BENEDICT XVI
REGINA CÆLI
Sunday, 22 April 2012

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)