23 May 2026 (Saturday) | Saturday of the 7th week of Eastertide | Easter Weekday | Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter

23 May 2026 (Saturday)

Saturday of the 7th week of Eastertide.

Easter Weekday.
Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Acts 28: 16-20, 30-31
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 11:4, 5 and 7 ℟. 7b or: ℟. Alleluia.
Gospel acclamation: Alleluia: John 16: 7, 13
Gospel: John 21: 20-25
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: White or Gold.

First Reading : Acts 28:16‐20,30‐31

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

On our arrival in Rome Paul was allowed to stay in lodgings of his own with the soldier who guarded him.
  After three days he called together the leading Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, ‘Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and would have set me free, since they found me guilty of nothing involving the death penalty; but the Jews lodged an objection, and I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation to make against my own nation. That is why I have asked to see you and talk to you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear this chain.’
  Paul spent the whole of the two years in his own rented lodging. He welcomed all who came to visit him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete freedom and without hindrance from anyone.

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

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 11:4, 5 and 7 ℟. 7b or: ℟. Alleluia.

The upright shall see your face, O Lord.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord is in his holy temple,
  the Lord, whose throne is in heaven.
His eyes look down on the world;
  his gaze tests mortal men.
The upright shall see your face, O Lord.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord tests the just and the wicked;
  the lover of violence he hates.
The Lord is just and loves justice;
  the upright shall see his face.
The upright shall see your face, O Lord.
or
Alleluia!

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia: John 16: 7, 13
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
7, 13 I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
(9. 'Be on your guard: you will be handed over to sanhedrins; you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as evidence to them, 10. since the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.11. 'And when you are taken to be handed over, do not worry beforehand about what to say; no, say whatever is given to you when the time comes, because it is not you who will be speaking; it is the Holy Spirit - Mark 13:9-11)

Gospel : John 21:20‐25

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

Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them – the one who had leaned on his breast at the supper and had said to him, ‘Lord, who is it that will betray you?’ Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘What about him, Lord?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.’ The rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, ‘He will not die’, but, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come.’
  This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true.
  There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.

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

For our reflection today:

The words of the Popes.

This conversation between Jesus and Peter contains a valuable teaching for all disciples, for all of us believers beginning with the temptation — very human, undoubtedly, but also very insidious — to preserve our protagonism. And at times the protagonist has to diminish, has to lower him or herself. But you will have another way of expressing yourself, another way of participating in the family, in society, in a group of friends. And it is the curiosity that comes to Peter: “What about him?”, says Peter, seeing the beloved disciple following them (cf. vv. 20-21). Sticking your nose in other people’s lives. But no: Jesus says: “Shut up!”. Does he have to be part of “my” following [of Jesus]? Does he have to occupy “my” space? Will he be my successor? These are questions that do no good, that don’t help. Must he outlive me and take my place? Jesus’ answer is frank and even rude: “What is that to you? Follow me” (v. 22). As if saying: You worry about your own life, about your present situation, and don’t stick your nose into the lives of others. You follow me. This is important: following  Jesus, to follow Jesus in life and in death, in health and in sickness, in life when it is prosperous with many successes, and in life even when it is difficult with many bad moments of failing. And when we want to insert ourselves into other people’s lives, Jesus answers, “What is that to you? Follow me”. Beautiful. (Pope Francis, General Audience, 22 June 2022)

BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Wednesday, 19 April 2006
Pastor of God's Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the beginning of today's General Audience which is taking place in the joyful atmosphere of Easter, I would like to thank the Lord together with you. After calling me, exactly a year ago, to serve the Church as the Successor of the Apostle Peter - thank you for your joy, thank you for your applause - he never fails to assist me with his indispensable help.

How quickly time passes! A year has already elapsed since the Cardinals gathered in Conclave and, in a way I found absolutely unexpected and surprising, desired to choose my poor self to succeed the late and beloved Servant of God, the great Pope John Paul II. I remember with emotion my first impact with the faithful gathered in this same Square, from the central Loggia of the Basilica, immediately after my election.

That meeting is still impressed upon my mind and heart. It was followed by many others that have given me an opportunity to experience the deep truth of my words at the solemn concelebration with which I formally began to exercise my Petrine ministry:  "I too can say with renewed conviction:  I am not alone. I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone" (L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 27 April 2005, p. 2).

And I feel more and more that alone I could not carry out this task, this mission. But I also feel that you are carrying it with me:  thus, I am in a great communion and together we can go ahead with the Lord's mission. The heavenly protection of God and of the saints is an irreplaceable support to me and I am comforted by your closeness, dear friends, who do not let me do without the gift of your indulgence and your love. I offer very warm thanks to all those who in various ways support me from close at hand or follow me from afar in spirit with their affection and their prayers. I ask each one to continue to support me, praying to God to grant that I may be a gentle and firm Pastor of his Church.

The Evangelist John says that precisely after his Resurrection Jesus called Peter to tend his flock (cf. Jn 21: 15, 23). Who could have humanly imagined then the development which was to mark that small group of the Lord's disciples down the centuries?

Peter, together with the Apostles and then their successors, first in Jerusalem and later to the very ends of the earth, courageously spread the Gospel message, whose fundamental and indispensable core consists in the Paschal Mystery:  the Passion, the death and the Resurrection of Christ.

The Church celebrates this mystery at Easter, extending its joyous resonance in the days that follow; she sings the alleluia for Christ's triumph over evil and death.

The celebration of Easter in accordance with a date on the calendar, Pope St Leo the Great remarked, reminds us of the eternal feast that surpasses all human time. Today's Easter, he noted further, is the shadow of the future Easter. For this reason we celebrate it, to move on from an annual celebration to a celebration that will last for ever.

The joy of these days extends throughout the liturgical year and is renewed especially on Sunday, the day dedicated to the memory of the Lord's Resurrection. On Sunday, as it were, the "little Easter" of every week, the liturgical assembly gathered for Holy Mass proclaims in the Creed that Jesus rose on the third day, adding that we wait for "the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come".

This shows that the event of Jesus' death and Resurrection constitutes the centre of our faith and that it is on this proclamation that the Church is founded and develops.

St Augustine recalled incisively:  "Let us consider, dear friends, the Resurrection of Christ:  indeed, just as his Passion stood for our old life, his Resurrection is a sacrament of new life.... You have believed, you have been baptized; the old life is dead, killed on the Cross, buried in Baptism. The old life in which you lived is buried:  the new life emerges. Live well:  live life in such a way that when death comes you will not die (Sermo Guelferb. 9, 3).IThe Gospel accounts that mention the appearances of the Risen One usually end with the invitation to overcome every uncertainty, to confront the event with the Scriptures, to proclaim that Jesus, beyond death, is alive for ever, a source of new life for all who believe in him.

This is what happened, for example, in the case of Mary Magdalene (cf. Jn 20: 11-18), who found the tomb open and empty and immediately feared that the body of the Lord had been taken away. The Lord then called her by name and at that point a deep change took place within her:  her distress and bewilderment were transformed into joy and enthusiasm. She promptly went to the Apostles and announced to them:  "I have seen the Lord" (Jn 20: 18).

Behold:  those who meet the Risen Jesus are inwardly transformed; it is impossible "to see" the Risen One without "believing" in him. Let us pray that he will call each one of us by name and thus convert us, opening us to the "vision" of faith.
Faith is born from the personal encounter with the Risen Christ and becomes an impulse of courage and freedom that makes one cry to the world:  "Jesus is risen and alive for ever".

This is the mission of the Lord's disciples in every epoch and also in our time:  "If, then, you have been raised with Christ", St Paul exhorts us, "seek the things that are above.... Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Col 3: 1-2). This does not mean cutting oneself off from one's daily commitments, neglecting earthly realities; rather, it means reviving every human activity with a supernatural breath, it means making ourselves joyful proclaimers and witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ, living for eternity (cf. Jn 20: 25; Lk 24: 33-34).

Dear brothers and sisters, in the Pasch of his Only-begotten Son, God fully revealed himself, his victorious power over the forces of death, the power of Trinitarian Love. May the Virgin Mary, who was closely associated with the Passion, death and Resurrection of the Son and at the foot of the Cross became the Mother of all believers, help us to understand this mystery of love that changes hearts and makes us experience fully the joy of Easter, so that we in turn may be able to communicate it to the men and women of the third millennium.

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)