April 13, 2026 Monday of the Second Week of Easter Or Optional Memorial of Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr Gospel: John 3:1-8
Today is Monday of the Second Week of Easter, also the Optional Memorial of Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr. The Gospel passage from Saint John presents us with a dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.
Sometimes, like Nicodemus, we might think of the Kingdom of God that Jesus speaks of as a continuation of all the kingdoms of this world. However, the Kingdom of God that Jesus speaks of is a divine kingdom. In that realm, there is only the God who loves and those loved by God; all are brothers and sisters. There are no longer kings and subjects, nor relationships of leaders and followers.
Sometimes, again like Nicodemus, we might conceive of the new birth spoken of by Jesus as a physical rebirth. Because we do not understand Jesus’ view of life, we imagine rebirth to mean returning to our mother’s womb to be conceived once more and come into this world again. But the new birth Jesus speaks of is receiving His baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, dying with Him, being buried with Him, and beginning a new life in Him. As Saint Paul says: “We know that our old self was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we might no longer be in bondage to sin. For a dead person has been set free from sin” (cf. Rom 6:6-7). This is the view of life that Jesus wants to convey to us.
Dear brothers and sisters: Now that we have received new life in the infinite mercy of Christ, we ought to follow the will of the Holy Spirit, not the will of each of us. The Spirit we follow, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, is like this: “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (cf. Jn 3:8). A person who truly follows the Holy Spirit will, in daily life, put into practice all that Christ taught, as revealed by the Holy Spirit. He will bear witness to the truth in accordance with the Lord’s precepts and for the glory of God’s holy will. This is so that, through all he does, the world may see Christ lifted high on the cross, and that through the One lifted high on the cross, the world may obtain new life, be forever freed from the bonds of sin and death and thus attain the true freedom of God’s children.
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who have been renewed by paschal remedies, transcending the likeness of our earthly parentage, may be transformed in the image of our heavenly maker. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
April 12, 2026 Divine Mercy Sunday Gospel: John 20:19-31
Today is the eighth day of the Octave of the Resurrection of the Lord, and the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday.
In his homily at the canonization Mass of Sr. Faustina Kowalska in St. Peter’s Square on April 30, 2000, Pope St. John Paul II said: “Just as the Apostles did of old, so too today humanity must welcome the risen Christ into the upper room of history—He, showing the sacred wounds of His crucifixion, repeats: ‘Peace be with you!’ Humanity must allow itself to be touched and filled with the Holy Spirit given by the risen Christ. The Holy Spirit heals the wounds of the heart, breaks down the barriers that separate us from God and divide us from one another, and at the same time restores the joy of the Father’s love and the communion of fraternal unity.”
Therefore, it is of great importance that on the Second Sunday of Easter, we receive the message that comes to us from the Word of God, which is now celebrated throughout the Church as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” In the various readings, the liturgy points to the path of mercy, which re-establishes each person’s relationship with God and creates new communion of fraternal love among human beings. Christ taught us: “Man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God, but is also called to practice mercy toward others: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy’ (cf. Mt 5:7)”(cf. Dives in Misericordia, no. 14). He also showed us the many paths of mercy, which not only forgive sins but reach out to all human needs and emergencies. Jesus bent over every form of human poverty, both material and spiritual (cf. Pope St. John Paul II, Homily at the Canonization Mass of Maria Faustyna Kowalska, April 30, 2000, post-paragraph 3, paragraph 4, section 1).
The passage from the Gospel of St. John read today perfectly echoes the teaching of Pope St. John Paul II. St. John tells us: “Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side”(cf. Jn 20:19b-20a). He did not come to accuse the disciples, but to show them the tender love He bears for each of us. Then, to Thomas, called Didymus, Jesus said: “Put your finger here and see My hands; put out your hand and place it in My side. Do not doubt, but believe”(cf. Jn 20:27), to strengthen his faith. In the same way, He invites us to experience His compassion for the world by touching those in need whom we encounter in our lives, and to bring His mercy and love to all through us.
Dear brothers and sisters! On this Divine Mercy Sunday, let us together offer our prayer to God:
God of everlasting mercy, who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast kindle the faith of the people you have made your own, increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed, that all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed, by whose Spirit they have been reborn, by whose Blood they have been redeemed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
April 11, 2026 Saturday of Easter Octave Gospel: Mark 16:9-15
Today is Saturday of the Easter Octave. The Gospel passage from Saint Mark summarizes how, on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and to those who had followed Him from Galilee to Jerusalem in different ways. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections. When we first came to know Jesus, our situation was similar to that of Mary Magdalene. At that time, we too lived under the double bondage of the devil and sin, urgently needing His healing and salvation. The merciful Lord Jesus Christ manifests Himself to us in visible forms: He appears through the parents who gave us life and cared for us, enabling us to experience His love; He appears through the teachers who imparted knowledge to us, teaching us to make good use of the talents He has given us to better care for the world He created. He approaches us so proactively, bestowing upon us the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit of His Son, inspiring in us the desire to receive the sacraments of initiation. Through His chosen ministers (priests), at the Easter Vigil Mass, we received the Sacrament of Baptism and the Anointing with Chrism, becoming new children of the Church. We continually imitate Mary Magdalene and the early disciples of the Church in proclaiming the Good News to the world.
Today, the Risen Lord continues to meet us. He invites us to proactively approach our brothers and sisters who have left the parish and community for various reasons—to accompany them unconditionally, accept them, help them rediscover the beauty in Christ, regain certainty in Christ, and reconcile with God and all His creation.
O God, who by the abundance of your grace give increase to the peoples who believe in you, look with Favor on those you have chosen and clothe with blessed immortality those reborn through the Sacrament of Baptism. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
全属于祢 
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