18 May 2026 (Monday) | Monday of the 7th week of Eastertide or Saint John I, Pope, Martyr | Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter | Easter Weekday | Saint John I, Pope, Martyr

18 May 2026 (Monday)

Monday of the 7th week of Eastertide or Saint John I, Pope, Martyr.

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter.
Easter Weekday/ Saint John I, Pope, Martyr.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Acts 19: 1-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:2-3ab, 4-5acd, 6-7ab ℟. 33a or: ℟. Alleluia.
Gospel acclamation: Alleluia: Colossians 3: 1
Gospel: John 16: 29-33
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: White or Red.

First Reading : Acts 19:1‐8

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

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul made his way overland as far as Ephesus, where he found a number of disciples. When he asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ they answered, ‘No, we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit.’ ‘Then how were you baptised?’ he asked. ‘With John’s baptism’ they replied. ‘John’s baptism’ said Paul ‘was a baptism of repentance; but he insisted that the people should believe in the one who was to come after him – in other words, Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the moment Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came down on them, and they began to speak with tongues and to prophesy. There were about twelve of these men.
  He began by going to the synagogue, where he spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. He did this for three months.

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

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:2-3ab, 4-5acd, 6-7ab ℟. 33a or: ℟. Alleluia.

Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
or
Alleluia!
Let God arise, let his foes be scattered.
  Let those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is blown away so will they be blown away;
  like wax that melts before the fire,
  so the wicked shall perish at the presence of God.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
or
Alleluia!
But the just shall rejoice at the presence of God,
  they shall exult and dance for joy.
O sing to the Lord, make music to his name;
  rejoice in the Lord, exult at his presence.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
or
Alleluia!
Father of the orphan, defender of the widow,
  such is God in his holy place.
God gives the lonely a home to live in;
  he leads the prisoners forth into freedom.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
or
Alleluia!

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia: Colossians 3: 1
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
(6. We are always full of confidence, then, realising that as long as we are at home in the body we are exiled from the Lord, 7. guided by faith and not yet by sight; 8. we are full of confidence, then, and long instead to be exiled from the body and to be at home with the Lord.9. And so whether at home or exiled, we make it our ambition to please him. 10. For at the judgement seat of Christ we are all to be seen for what we are, so that each of us may receive what he has deserved in the body, matched to whatever he has done, good or bad (2 Cor 5:6-10)

Gospel: John 16: 29-33

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

His disciples said to Jesus, ‘Now you are speaking plainly and not using metaphors! Now we see that you know everything, and do not have to wait for questions to be put into words; because of this we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them:
‘Do you believe at last?
Listen; the time will come – in fact it has come already –
when you will be scattered,
each going his own way and leaving me alone.
And yet I am not alone,
because the Father is with me.
I have told you all this
so that you may find peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but be brave: I have conquered the world.’

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

For our reflection today:

The words of the Popes.

To endure is more than simply being patient; it is to carry the burden on one’s shoulders, to bear the weight of trials. And the Christian life, too, has such moments. But Jesus tells us: “Take courage in such times. I have overcome; you too will be victorious”. These first words give us the strength to face life’s most difficult moments, those moments that cause us to suffer. Entrusting something to the Lord, entrusting this difficult moment to the Lord, entrusting myself to the Lord, entrusting our faithful – we priests, bishops – entrusting our families and our friends to the Lord, and saying to the Lord: “Take care of these people, they are yours”. It is a prayer that we do not always say, the prayer of entrustment: “Lord, I entrust this to you, carry it forward yourself”. It is a beautiful Christian prayer. It is the attitude of confidence in the power of the Lord, and also in the tenderness of the Lord who is the Father. Three words: tribulations, entrustment and peace. In life we must walk paths of tribulation, but it is the law of life. But in those moments, if we entrust ourselves to the Lord, He responds with peace. This Lord, who is our Father, loves us so much and never disappoints. (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, 5 May 2015)

POPE FRANCIS
MORNING MEDITATION IN THE CHAPEL OF THE
DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE
Three loves for one wedding
Monday, 2 June 2014

(by L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly ed. in English, n. 23, 6 June 2014)

In his homily at Santa Marta Pope Francis offered a reflection on love, which came primarily from Jesus’ farewell address to the apostles, from today’s reading from the Gospel of John (16:29-33). For fifteen married couples celebrating their wedding anniversaries, this Mass was a small anniversary party. Taking the experience of these families as his starting point, the Pope indicated the essential elements of the Sacrament of Marriage and “of Jesus’ spousal love for the Church”, that is, “for all of us”: fidelity, perseverance and fruitfulness.

Jesus, Pope Francis explained, “reflected on the same topic: the world, the spirit of the world, which really hurts us, and the Spirit that he brings, the Spirit of the Beatitudes, the Spirit of the Father”. He stated expressly: “The Father is with me”, and for this reason he overcame the world. “The Father sent Jesus to us”, the Bishop of Rome stated, because “he loved the world so much that he sent his Son to save it, out of love”. Thus “Jesus was sent out of love, and Jesus loves”. But what is the love of Jesus? The Pope noted that “many times we read nonsense about the love of Jesus! But Jesus’ love is great”. And, in particular, he indicated “three loves of Jesus”. First of all, Jesus “truly loved the Father in the Holy Spirit”. It is a “mysterious” and “eternal” love.

Such that “we cannot imagine how great, how beautiful this love is”; we can “only ask for the grace to be able to see it once, when we are there”. The “second love of Jesus is his Mother”. We see him “at the end: in so much pain and with so much suffering, from the Cross he thought of his mother and said, “Take care of her!”. Lastly, “the third love of Jesus is the Church, his beloved bride: beautiful, holy, sinful, yet he loves her just the same”. The presence of the 15 couples inspired the second part of the Pope’s meditation. “St Paul”, he explained, “when referring to the sacrament of marriage, he called it the great sacrament, because Jesus is married to his Church, and every Christian marriage is a reflection of Jesus’ marriage to the Church”.

The Pope then confided that he would like to ask each couple to tell “what transpired in this time, in these 60 years, 50 years, 20 years”. But, he quickly added, “we would not even finish by noon: so we will leave it be!”. However, he continued “we can say something about the spousal love of Jesus for the Church”. A love that has “three features: it is faithful; it perseveres — he never tires of loving his Church; and it is fruitful”. Above all, “it is a faithful love”. Jesus is the faithful one”, as St Paul also reminds us. “Fidelity — said the Pope — is the very being of Jesus’ love. And Jesus’ love for his Church is faithful. This fidelity is like a light on the marriage: the fidelity of love, always!”. The Pope recognized that “there are hard times, many times you argue. But in the end you return, you ask for forgiveness and the matrimonial love goes forward, like the love of Jesus for the Church. Married life, then, is “also a persevering love”, because, if this dedication is missing “love cannot go forward”. “Perseverance” is necessary “in love, in good times and in difficult times, when there are problems with the children, economic problems”. 

Even in these predicaments “love perseveres, it always moves forward, seeking to resolve things in order to save the family”. Once again addressing the couples present, most of all those celebrating 60 years of married life, the Bishop of Rome remarked on the beauty of this experience of perseverance, witnessed by “the man and woman who get up every morning and bring their family forward”. The Pontiff then talked about fertility, “the third trait of Jesus’ love for his bride, the Church. The love of Jesus makes his bride fruitful, renders the Church fruitful with new children and baptisms. And the Church grows with this nuptial fruitfulness of Jesus’ love”. But “sometimes the Lord does not send children: it is a test”. And “there are other tests: when a sick child arrives, many problems”. And “these tests bring the marriage forward, when they look at Jesus, and take strength from the fruitfulness that Jesus has with his Church, from the love that Jesus has for his Church”. Pope Francis bore in mind “that Jesus does not like marriages in which couples do not want children, in which they want to remain fruitless”. 

They are the product of “the well off culture of 10 years ago”, according to which “not having children is better, this way you can travel and see the world, you can have a house in the country and relax!”. It is a culture that suggests “it is more comfortable to have a little dog and two cats”, this way “love is given to the two cats and the little dog”. But living this way “in the end of this marriage old age arrives in solitude, with the bitterness of awful loneliness: it is fruitless, it does not do what Jesus does with his Church”. The Pope concluded with a prayer for the married couples, asking “the Lord that your marriage be beautiful, with crosses to bear but beautiful, like that of Jesus and his Church: faithful, persevering and fruitful”.

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)