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Gospel Reading for April 05, 2026 – John 20: 1-9
FINAL AND DEFINITIVE ACT OF DELIVERANCE
The Resurrection of the Lord
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
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Many of us think that Christmas Day is the greatest feast of the Catholic Church—perhaps because of the abundance of celebrations, from malls to homes to churches. Yet Christmas is only a foretaste of the greater glory that was to come. No feast surpasses EASTER, for it is the day Christ triumphed over all evil. It is the FINAL AND DEFINITIVE ACT OF DELIVERANCE for all humankind.
However, we must not think that because this victory has already been won, we are free to simply drift through life doing whatever we please. The challenge of Easter is this: to make Christ victorious in us—by allowing him to reign in our lives, by turning away from occasions of sin, and by living out his command to love one another as he has loved us.
Let us always remember John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for your great sacrifice of love. Help us to share in your victory by remaining faithful to you until the end of our days on earth!
