April 18, 2026 Saturday of the Second Week of Easter Gospel: John 6:16-21
Today is Saturday of the Second Week of Easter. The narrative taken from the Gospel of Saint John tells us the story of Jesus meeting His disciples amid a storm.
I wish to say: After Jesus had fed the five thousand, His disciples saw Him walking on the sea (cf. Jn 6:16-21). Indeed, this is a beautiful image. We know that the sea is the dwelling place of the devil, and the great waters always swallow life. John wants to tell us through this image: Jesus is the Lord of Life, who trampled the sea (the devil’s dwelling place) underfoot, thereby conquering death.
Christian life is often influenced by these technologies. Among the influences they bring, some disturb our innermost being and gradually cause us to lose our discernment of truth, goodness, beauty, and holiness. They lead us into an evil trend of thought, which causes our Church to deviate from the right course and fall into a dangerous situation. At such times, we often feel despair because we cannot perceive the presence of God.
Today, the merciful Lord Jesus Christ personally approaches the disciples amid the storm, comforts us with His Word, joins us willingly, aids us with His power to withstand all storms, and prevents the devil from overcoming us. For we know that where the Gospel of the Savior arrives, the devil cannot stand, but must flee far away.
O God, who willed that through the paschal mysteries the gates of mercy should stand open for your faithful,look upon us and have mercy,that as we follow, by your gift, the way you desire for us,so may we never stray from the paths of life.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 17, 2026 Friday of the Second Week of Easter Gospel: John 6:1-15
Today is Friday of the Second Week of Easter. The narrative taken from the Gospel of Saint John tells us the story of Jesus’ first multiplication of the loaves.
A dialogue between Jesus and Philip holds profound and lasting significance. Jesus said to Philip: “Where can we buy bread for all these people to eat?”Philip replied: “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to get even a little”(cf. Jn 6:5-7). This reminds us that in our daily lives, we should not, in certain matters, focus only on our own feelings without considering the common good, or even seek to solve difficulties arising from insufficient foresight through money.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to Jesus: “Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many?”(cf. Jn 6:8). Andrew spoke according to his fleshly nature, for he longed only for what belongs to this world and did not yearn for the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The merciful Jesus generously accepted the mere five loaves and two fish, blessed them, and distributed them to the crowd through His disciples. He graciously accepts our inadequacies and limitations, filling us with His abundance and infinity. Moreover, this multiplication of the loaves prefigures the Holy Eucharist, when, on the eve of His Passion, He would take bread as His Body for the nourishment of our souls, and wine as His Blood for the drink of our souls.
Every time the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated, when the priest offers bread and wine on the altar, it reenacts the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. When He consecrates the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ on the altar, it reenacts the gift of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ at the Last Supper out of love for us. Whenever we receive the Body and Blood of Christ under the appearances of bread and wine from the hands of the priest, Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to dwell in our hearts, uniting Himself with our mortal flesh, perfectly uniting our mortal bodies with the immortal Mystical Body of Christ. If, after receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, we completely surrender ourselves to God and fulfil His holy will in all things, we shall never hunger or thirst, for we have received from the fountain of Christ’s grace the heavenly Bread of Life, which nourishes our souls to fullness, and thus we remain forever with Christ.
O God, hope and light of the sincere, we humbly entreat you to dispose our hearts to offer you worthy prayer and ever to extol you by dutiful proclamation of your praise. 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 16, 2026 Thursday of the Second Week of Easter Gospel: John 3:31-36
Today is Thursday of the Second Week of Easter. The Gospel for the Mass is taken from the Gospel of St. John, where St. John reflects on the testimony given by St. John the Baptist about Jesus. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.
That which comes from heaven is the Word of God. As St. John says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God”(cf. Jn 1:1-2). His knowledge and experience are all that the Father has revealed to Him. As Jesus Himself said: “The Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing”(cf. Jn 5:19-20).
Those who do not accept His testimony are the Jews of Jesus’ time. The Jews of that era longed not for a religious Messiah, but for a political Messiah who would deliver them from Roman rule and restore their nation. When we judge the words of Jesus by worldly standards, we become like those who do not accept His testimony.
Those who accept His testimony are those born from above, born of water and the Holy Spirit—those who worship God in spirit and truth. As Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above”(cf. Jn 3:3) and “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit”(cf. Jn 3:5). Also, as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth… God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”(cf. Jn 4:23-24).
Today, let us follow the example of St. John, courageously accepting the Word of God and bearing witness to it.
O God, who for the salvation of the world brought about the paschal sacrifice, be favourable to the supplications of your people, so that Christ our High Priest, interceding on our behalf, may by his likeness to ourselves bring us reconciliation, and by his equality with you free us from our sins. 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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