April 5, 2026
Easter Sunday
FOCUS: We are a resurrection people who follow the risen Christ.
The empty tomb is a sign of hope. Death does not have the final word. If our life with Christ can overcome even the seeming finality of death, God’s mercy can also overcome all pain and sorrow. If we bind ourselves to Christ, earthly suffering will be vanquished. We can rejoice and be glad with hearts full of peace.
What's in Your Heart
When it comes to the truth of Jesus' life, death, and Resurrection, Jack Nicholson's oft-quoted line from the movie A Few Good Men comes to mind: "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"
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What do I find most difficult to accept about Jesus? What words offer me the most assurance of the truth about Jesus? Whose life, of people I know or have known, offers the most inspiring witness?
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Where in my own life have I experienced a sense of death and resurrection? (Keep looking for empty tombs; there may be more than you realize.)
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Where is Jesus now in my life? Where do I feel his presence most? When do I feel most like his disciple? Do others see me as such?
Homily Stories
Scripture gives us four different versions of the Resurrection, a different account for each gospel. And yet all four agree that the first to discover the empty tomb was Mary Magdalene, by herself or with “the other Mary,” or these two Marys joined by other women. Of all these Marys mentioned, none is the one we’d half expect: Mary, the Sorrowful Mother, who’d remained with her beloved son throughout the terrible agony of crucifixion.
Turns out, the early church had an answer: it simply assumed that Jesus appeared to his mother first—as a dutiful son filled with love, and in comforting reassurance after Friday’s anguish. Saints Ignatius of Loyola, Ambrose, and Bridgit of Sweden all shared their belief in this tender reunion of mother and resurrected son.
But it was Saint Vincent Ferrer, the great Dominican teacher and preacher of the 1400s, who vividly articulated the handed-down tradition of this encounter. In sermons, Vincent painted a picture of Mary keeping confident vigil during all of Holy Saturday, praying unceasingly from her psalter, yearning for daybreak to see her son again. Vincent describes Jesus sending the Angel Gabriel ahead of him to announce his arrival—the same angel who visited Mary at the Annunciation. We hear of Mary’s joyful tears, of how Jesus sits with her to recount all that happened to him in the underworld. We even hear that it was Mary who encouraged her son to visit Mary Magdalene next, so great were her faithfulness and despair.
This reunion of mother and son is beautifully captured in the Filipino Easter tradition of the Salubong—which means “meeting”—a reenactment that happens at dawn. Mary’s joy is also captured in the Regina Coeli prayer, used in the Liturgy of the Hours during Easter season:
Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
For He whom you were chosen to bear, alleluia.
Has risen as He said, alleluia.
Pray to God for us, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad, Virgin Mary, alleluia.
For the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.
—from the Regina Coeli
First Reading
Second Reading
Gospel
Quotes
He has risen. This is the heart of our faith. Mary was a silent witness of all these events. Let us ask her to help us also to receive the fullness of this Easter message.
—Saint John Paul II
Let all things seen and unseen their notes of gladness blend, For Christ the Lord hath risen, our Joy that hath no end!
—Saint John of Damascus