April 12, 2026: 2nd Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday

The Resurrection of Christ is a glorious new reality, and it lives even in us.

We are constantly called to respond to the invitation to open ourselves up to the graces of this reality.

The apostles struggled to embrace it because they were still in great fear in the wake of the Crucifixion, and were in a locked room.  Showing the power of His Resurrection, Christ passed through the locked door and entered the room.  They rejoiced, realizing the great reassurance that He was indeed alive again.  Furthermore, He brought them peace, and the Holy Spirit.

Thomas expressed doubt when the apostles shared the news, reflecting the struggle all of the apostles had in grasping news of the Resurrection.  St. Thomas even want to see and touch the wounds of Christ.  A week later, they were all in a locked room, still struggling with fear.  Christ broke through the locks and their fear to present Himself, and gave Thomas exactly what He sought.  Thomas moved beyond seeing to believing.

As we continue to celebrate the Easter Season, we open ourselves ot the ways that the Risen Christ makes Himself real to us and the power of the Resurrection.  We may not see, but we can still embrace the joy that Christ is Risen and is with us in a powerful new way as we see by faith the ways He presents Himself to us.

His Presence shows how He has overcome evil, sin, and death.  He now bestows mercy in abundance on the Church and the world, so that we can experience forgiveness.  (Today marks the beginning and end of the Sectional War of the 1860s, and today's Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday offers us an opportunity to embrace anew the power of Divine Mercy by which we are forgiven.)

He is present when we gather as Church and when we strive through the struggles of this life with hope that God is bringing us closer to Himself.

April 5, 2026: Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

We rejoice that Christ is no longer in the tomb but is alive, having triumphed over death gloriously, and it's a reality that lives within us.

In the spirit of what St. Paul writes, we now turn our gaze above, becuase we are no longer bound down by sin and evil in the world.  We can now focus upward and seek to join ourselves to God, Who has opened the way to Paradise through Christ.  Even now, we experience Heaven because He lives in us.

Furthermore, in the spirit of what St. Peter said to those gathered in the first reading, God has shared the best news of all with specific witnesses, including us today, who profess this reality.  We now go forth to share this Good News that is working gloriously in us.

We go forth in Christ our Hope and participate in advancing this joy in all the world.

April 4, 2026: Holy Saturday

As the Church once again awaits the Resurrection, so God's people have waited throughout the age for God's redemption.

He created the Earth in goodness, and sought to restore it from a fallen state.  God revealed His works in various ways, ultimately culminating in the Resurrection of Christ.

This event is a reality that lives deep within us as we join ourselves to Christ, seeing in Him the Savior and the One Who makes possible for us newness of Life.

April 3, 2026: God Friday

The Cross was a means of agonizing execution.

Yet God demonstrated how much power He has over evil when Jesus Christ went upon the Cross and transformed it into the means of salvation.

We now seek to join ourselves to Jesus and His Cross with the assurance that suffering, even unto death, has a purpose, as God works His Truth in us to transform us.

April 2, 2026: Maundy Thursday

God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt, and upon freeing them, directed them to keep the Passover perpetually.

We now keep the Passover of the Lord as the Church as we remember Christ offered the sacrifice of His Body and Blood, the Eucharist instituted at the Passover meal.

In this New Covenant, we uphold the command Christ gave us to love one another.

The meal in His Body and Blood sends us forth to be His Body as we show to the world He has shown us in the offering of Himself.

We go forth, giving thanks for the offering that makes us free to be God's presence in the world.

March 29, 2026: Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

There's an irony to Holy Week because Jesus Christ enters Jerusalem with great exultation as the crowds praise Him as savior.  He is rightly acclaimed as Savior becuase of what happens after the crowds turn on Him later in the week, demanding His Crucifixion.

While Jesus struggles in His humanity to face the agony of His Passion in Gethsemane, He ultimately sets Himself steadfastly to fulfilling God's plan for Him.  He remains steadfast when His enemies mistreat Him and His Apostles desert Him.  In the Passion, the worst of the world was on display and so was the best of God's love and power at work to redeem the world that had strayed into sin.

Furthermore, God's power was displayed so immensely during the events of Holy Week because after Christ suffered agony and died on the Cross, God exalted Him.  So now, we are invited to praise Him as our Savior and live devoted to Him Who has saved us as we enter more deeply into the mystery of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

March 25, 2026: Solemnity of the Annunciation

In an exchange between the Angel Gabriel and Mary came a profound moment.

Mary consented to God's plan for her life, and she became the vessel by which God entered into the world and became our Savior.

As she offered herself for God's plan, so Christ offered Himself.

Indeed, God does great wonders as we offer ourselves, even through small gestures, that become part of God's great plan for our world, for His praise and glory.