3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER - 2026

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Lord Jesus, explain the Scriptures to us.
Make our hearts burn within us as you talk to us. LK 24:32

ACTS 2:14,22-33

My Soul's Beloved,

God, our Father, placed You in our midst. Incarnate in the womb of Your Blessed Mother and ours, He sent You, His only Son, among us to prepare us to enter into eternal life with Him. For He so loved us that He sent You into the world not to condemn but to redeem our fallen race. It was not only the men of Israel whom St. Peter addressed, saying:  

‘Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades.’

All of us are culpable for the murder of the Son of God. We are sinners, every one of us, in need of redemption. We must know this, and we must receive salvation through Baptism for the forgiveness of our sins, so that we may receive the new life that You give us. Having died to sin, Beloved, we must be alive in You. Salvation is not a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, but every day we are invited to pick up our cross anew and follow the narrow way that leads to life. Concupiscence is the inheritance we received from our first parents. The gift of life offered by Your Resurrection, we inherit from You, Lord. You are the Father's gift to us, and the Holy Spirit is Your gift to us. 

Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for not abandoning us after the sin of Adam and Eve, even though we deserved it. You do not treat us as our sins deserve, or treat us according to our iniquities, but You heal and save us and lead us on the way to eternal life. Thank You. 

On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd in a loud voice: ‘Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since, as David says of him:
I saw the Lord before me always,
for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me.
So my heart was glad
and my tongue cried out with joy;
my body, too, will rest in the hope
that you will not abandon my soul to Hades
nor allow your holy one to experience corruption.
You have made known the way of life to me,
you will fill me with gladness through your presence.
‘Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, what he foresaw and spoke about was the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not experience corruption. God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that. Now raised to the heights by God’s right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.’

PSALM 15(16):1-2,5,7-11

Show us, Lord, the path of life.

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.
O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;
it is you yourself who are my prize.’

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;
even my body shall rest in safety.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead,
nor let your beloved know decay.

You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness for ever.

Show us, Lord, the path of life.

1 PETER 1:17-21

My Soul's Beloved, 

Peter, the Vicar of Christ on earth, teaches and preaches the Good News. We are reminded that God has no favorites and we are all judged according to what we have done. No indication in this exhortation that we are judged on faith alone. This is a lie trumpeted by spiritually lazy and ignorant preachers and teachers who vociferously and insistently teach this abomination to the detriment of the souls that listen to them and believe them. 

For as long as today lasts, my Lord and my God, grant me the grace to persevere in the way that leads from this life to eternity. You bore my cross, and you entered into my death, true. Still, unless I drink from the cup you drank and die to myself as You did, I will never share the prize of eternal life nor understand what You endured so I may receive the inheritance that God through You has so graciously prepared for me. Thank You, Lord.

If you are acknowledging as your Father one who has no favourites and judges everyone according to what he has done, you must be scrupulously careful as long as you are living away from your home. Remember, the ransom that was paid to free you from the useless way of life your ancestors handed down was not paid in anything corruptible, neither in silver nor gold, but in the precious blood of a lamb without spot or stain, namely Christ; who, though known since before the world was made, has been revealed only in our time, the end of the ages, for your sake. Through him you now have faith in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory for that very reason – so that you would have faith and hope in God.

LUKE 24:13-35

My Soul's Beloved,

We have this assurance from You that where two or three are gathered in Your Name, You are there in our midst. You proved this when the two disheartened disciples walked disconsolately on the road to Emmaus. All they could focus on was the recent event leading up to Your crucifixion, death, and burial, so lost were they in their grief and disappointment of shattered hopes, it wiped out from their memory all that You had taught them about the necessity of Your dying so that we may live. 

One of the reasons they did not recognize You was because they least expected to see You again this side of heaven. You looked at their wobegone faces and inquired what was wrong. You notice how we feel. You understand. You console. And You encourage us and open our minds to comprehend truths that may sometimes be bitter, which are necessary for us to accept and act upon. They explained why they were sad. The narrated the recent events to You and commented,  ‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.’ You must have smiled inwardly as You responded, ‘What things?’ No one can say You do not have a sense of humor, my Lord, when the go on to tell You all about Yourself, saying, ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free.’ They even go on to tell You that this Jesus, they were told, had risen from the dead, as witnesses said the tomb was empty, but they still did not believe. 

You then begin to break the Bread of the Word to them. Tenderly scolding them, calling them foolish men, You gently and patiently explained all that Scripture had foretold about You and how every one of those texts was fulfilled perfectly by You. By the end of the journey, they invited You to spend the night with them since it was late. You agreed, and while You all sat down at the table to eat, something wonderful happened, and this happens at every Eucharistic celebration: he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’

Thank You, Beloved, for the Gospels, for Sacred Tradition, for Sacred Scripture, for Your Church, for the Vicar of Christ and the Bishops and priests and all men and women of goodwill who teach, preach, and spread the Good News. Grant me the grace to be numbered among those who do their part in carrying out the mission entrusted to all the faithful.

Two of the disciples of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising him. He said to them, ‘What matters are you discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped short, their faces downcast.

Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.’ ‘What things?’ he asked.  And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.’
Then he said to them, ‘You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?’ Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.
When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on; but they pressed him to stay with them. ‘It is nearly evening’ they said ‘and the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’
They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, who said to them, ‘Yes, it is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’ Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.