Saturday within Octave of Easter, 11-04-2026

Acts 4:13-21 / Mark 16:9-15  

Waking up in the morning can be like fighting magnetic forces.

The bed is like a big magnet pulling us in and not letting go of us.

More so if we didn’t sleep well and are running under the weather.

So, we will want to give ourselves just 5 or 10 more minutes, and then we oversleep.

The alarm might just go on and on, but somehow we don’t seem to hear a thing.

In a sense, the disciples in the gospel were like in a morning wake-up call.

For whatever reason, they just don’t want to wake up to the reality that Jesus has risen.

Witnesses might say all they want about having encountered the Risen Lord, but still it would be more comfortable and even safer to shut their ears and sleep on.

In the end, Jesus had to show Himself and this time the disciples had to wake up.

They were reproached for refusing to believe those who had seen the Risen Lord Jesus.

But when the disciples finally woke up, then it was time to get moving and working.

We see that in the 1st reading when Peter and John were interrogated by the rulers, elders and scribes.

And when those in power wanted Peter and John to stop proclaiming Jesus, Peter and John retorted:

You must judge whether in God’s eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God.

So the next time we hear the alarm going off, God is calling out to us to get up.

Yes, let us rise from our slumber and go forth to do what God wants of us.

Friday within Octave of Easter, 10-04-2026

Acts 4:1-12 / John 21:1-14   

The mystery of the Incarnation is a deep belief of our faith.

We believe that God became man in Jesus Christ and lived as a human being.

Jesus was like us in all aspects as a human being except that He did not sin.

And even after He rose from the dead, He did not distance from His disciples.

In the gospel, when Peter and the rest of the disciples were kind of lost in life, they went back to what they were familiar with, and that is fishing.

Maybe the disciples wanted to go back to their previous ordinary way of life.

Yet, in the ordinary, Jesus showed Himself again to His disciples.

They had caught nothing until Jesus appeared and told them where to catch the fish.

Then they remembered that once upon a time they too had a miraculous catch of fish when Jesus was around.

And now, this Jesus who rose from the dead, is with them, but they were still trying to come to terms that this Risen Jesus is still so near with them.

Indeed, the Risen Lord Jesus is always so near to us and He is always with us.

Let us call out to Him when we are lost in life and finding life boring and without direction.

Jesus our Risen Lord will show us the way, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Thursday within Octave of Easter, 09-04-2026

Acts 3:11-26 / Luke 24:35-48   

Normally speaking, when everything is under control, we would be able to think calmly and clearly.

But life is not always calm and under our control.

When something unexpected happens, chaos explodes and we may not think calmly and clearly.

Even what we are supposed to know and remember can just be a black-out for us.

For example, when the fire alarm goes off, the sharp ringing is enough to throw us off-balance, as calm turns to chaos.

For the disciples in the gospel, as they shared their encounters of the Risen Lord, they were also not sure if they were seeing visions or suffering from the trauma of the deep shock of seeing Jesus dead on the Cross.

And in all this chaos and fear, Jesus comes to them and His first words to them are “Peace be with you”.

Jesus came to calm their fears and to give them the peace that would heal their broken minds and hearts.

Life is rough and we get injured with bruises and cuts here and there.

And when life becomes chaotic, then our minds and hearts can get broken and cracked.

But the Risen Lord Jesus comes to give us a peace that the world cannot give.

His peace will calm and heal our minds and hearts.

And when we become calm and peaceful again, let us also share this peace of Jesus with others.

Wednesday within Octave of Easter, 08-04-2026

Acts 3:1-10 / Luke 24:13-35    

As we journey along in life, we gain many things at the beginning.

From infancy to early adulthood, it was quite a growth in almost every aspects of life.

We gain knowledge, we grow physically, we build relationships and, of course, we also work for our financial security.

But in the later part of life, we begin to lose bit by bit.

Our health slowly weakens, some of our loved ones and friends pass on, and we are also worried if we will lose our financial security.

As for the two disciples of Jesus, it seems that they have lost their inspiration and motivation.

They had put their hope in Jesus, but that hope was shattered on the Cross.

Their hope was shattered, but they did not know that Jesus rose from the dead.

And He came along to journey with them in their desolation, and at the breaking of bread, He re-ignited their hope and consolation.

In life we gain and we lose, but Jesus will always stay with us.

And in life, we may not have silver or gold to give to others.

But like Peter who shared with the crippled man the healing power of the love of Jesus, we too can do that.

And that is also our mission, because there is nothing that we can give or share with others, except the presence and love of Jesus.

Tuesday within Octave of Easter, 07-04-2026

Acts 2:36-41 / John 20:11-18   

In Church, we see many signs of the presence of God.

There is the Blessed Sacrament in the Adoration Room, the Crucifix, holy pictures and statues, among many others.

We also hear God speaking to us in the reading of the Scriptures at Mass and at prayer.

But when God speaks to us in a personal way, how would we know it?

In the 1st reading, Peter spoke to the Jews in these words: The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.

Those words are the truth, but they may not seem to be that moving or inspiring or motivating.

Yet, when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart.

And that is because God used the simple and straight-forward words of Peter to speak to the people.

Similarly in the gospel, the Risen Lord Jesus called out to Mary by her name, and she knew then it was Jesus.

And from her heart, Mary responded in Hebrew, a language that is close to her heart.

God speaks to us in simple and ordinary ways, and when we hear the voice of the Lord, we will respond like Mary and the people.

And when we hear the voice of the Lord, let us respond with all our heart and be ready to do His will.

Monday within Easter Octave, 06-04-2026

Acts 2:14, 22-33 / Matthew 28:8-15  

Two persons looking at the same thing will have different opinions.

That is simply because they have different perceptions.

Individual perceptions are shaped and influenced by a person’s knowledge, presumptions, preferences and other factors.

In the gospel, two groups of people encountered the same phenomenon.

The women, as well as the soldiers, saw the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone at the tomb and sat on it.

The soldiers were so shaken, so frightened of him, that they were like dead men.

But the angel spoke and he told the women that Jesus had risen from the dead.

The women went quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples, and they also met Jesus along the way.

The soldiers, however, went to tell the chief priests about what happened.

The soldiers eventually succumbed to a lie, because there it was too risky to admit the truth.

But the truth is the truth even if no one believes in it.

And a lie is a lie even if everyone believes in it.

May Jesus who is the Truth deepen our faith in His Resurrection.

And the Truth will set us free from whatever presumptions or preferences to succumbing to falsehood.

Easter Sunday, Year A, 05.04.2026

Acts 10:34, 37-43 / Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6-8 / John 20:1-9 

The past three days were days that was filled with prayer as we came for Mass. 

On Thursday morning, there was the Chrism Mass at our parish. 

At the Chrism Mass, the Archbishop and the priests of the Archdiocese gathered for the renewal of priestly promises and the blessing of the Holy Oils. 

Then in the evening was the Mass of the Lord’s Supper followed by Holy Hour. 

On Good Friday, there was the recalling of the suffering and death of Jesus and the veneration of the Holy Cross. 

Last evening, was the Easter vigil where we witnessed 28 adults being baptised and joining our parish family. 

In all these Masses and moments of prayer, God is calling out to us, the Church, and telling us this: 

Through the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, God is sending His blessings on us, on the Church and on the world. 

That was also the message at the beginning of Lent, and that is also the message as we begin Easter. 

As we reflect and meditate on the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross, God is telling us that our sins are forgiven and we are saved from the snares of the devil and the fires of hell. 

As we reflect and meditate on the Resurrection of Jesus, God is telling us that He wants to restore us back into the image of Christ, which is an image of love.

Later, we will renew our baptismal promises, where we declare that we reject the devil, and profess our faith in God. 

We will also be sprinkled with Holy Water as a reminder of our baptism in Christ. 

God is calling us out of the empty tombs of our sinfulness to rise with Jesus to a new life of holiness. 

Yes, we will still have our resentment and frustrations, our anger and greed, our desires and fantasies, our unfaithfulness and our weakness. 

The devil will use all that to draw us back into the tomb of sin and to die there in the darkness. 

But God is calling out to us through the Resurrection of Jesus, and to follow the light of life. 

As the 2nd reading, (Colossians 3:1-4) say:

Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, and not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. 

To die to sin is to come back to life and to be truly human, and to be restored back into the image of love, which is the image of Christ. 

A child was asked, “Do you like to come to church?” 

She answered “Yes.” When asked why, she replied, “Because the aunties and uncles in church talk to me and they are nice to me.” 

That is as basic as being human can be, and that is to be childlike, to be kind and gentle, to be loving and welcoming.

To be truly human, we don’t look at the things of earth, but we look at the things of above, where Christ is sitting at God’s right hand. 

And as we look at Jesus Christ our Risen Lord, let us ask Him for His blessings, so that we can be truly human and be an image of love to others.