Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Easter, Year A, 26 April 2026

 

The Good Shepherd

Marten van Cleve the Elder [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) 

Gospel John 10:1-10  (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

At that time: Jesus said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.’ This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So Jesus again said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’

 Léachtaí i nGaeilge

 

Brother Richie Fernando SJ

27 February 1970 - 17 October 1996

I remember vividly reading of the death in Cambodia on 17 October 1996 of Brother Richard Michael R. Fernando SJ, known as ‘Richie’. As a missionary priest in the Philippines I felt both pride and sorrow that a young Filipino preparing for the priesthood had given his life for others without a moment’s hesitation at the Jesuit-run Banteay Prieb, 'Centre of the Dove', in Phnom Penh where the residents were young Cambodians who had lost limbs from the many landmines scattered around the country.

A young man named Sarom, who had been asked to leave the Centre, came that day to a meeting. He entered a classroom where there were many young people and took a hand-grenade out of his bag, intending to throw it. Brother Richie, who had been assigned to Cambodia for two years as part of his preparation for the priesthood, grabbed Sarom from behind. But the grenade fell on the floor. Brother Richie covering it with his body. He died instantly but nobody else was even injured.

The one word used by those who knew Brother Richie well was ‘joy’, the joy that Jesus spoke about the night before he died: I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete (John 15:11). These words echo those at the end of today’s Gospel: I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).

On 12 October, five days before his death, Brother Richie wrote this letter to his friend, Fr Totet Banaynal SJ, who was then a brother:

I only have the will to cause things to happen. Maybe my will is powerful enough. I know where my heart is...it is with Jesus Christ, Jesus who gave His all for the poor, the sick, the orphan. I feel as if I’m beginning to understand more when I say: I want to be like Christ; I will follow Jesus; I’m Jesus’ friend and companion; I am a Jesuit; I know where my heart is.

I remember you shared before that ‘I can die for Cambodia.’ I honestly believe that to die for our poor friends here will be the greatest gift that God can give us. And I continually pray for that grace every day.

I discovered my life is not a project nor a program. I know I can choose and will things to happen. But in the end, my life is a grace, filled with surprises. It becomes sweeter when I accept and appreciate my life as it is... and our friendship... it wasn’t a project. It was grace and we build on that grace.

Brother Richie wrote in his retreat diary on 3 January 1996: I wish, when I die people remember Not how great, powerful, or talented I was But that I served and spoke for the truth, I gave witness to what is right, I was sincere with all my works and actions, in other words I loved and I followed Christ. Amen.

The Jesuits in the Philippines have now initiated the process that may lead to the beatification and canonisation of Brother Richie. There is quite an amount of material about Brother Richie on the internet.

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Regina Caeli / Queen of Heaven

Regina Caeli / Queen of Heaven

Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia. /Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia. / Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia. /Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia. /Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia. /Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. / For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia. / Has risen, as he said, alleluia. / Pray for us to God, alleluia.

Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. [The prayer is not sung in either version here but is included in private recitation.]

The ancient Latin hymn Regina Caeli replaces the Angelus during the Easter Season and is sung at the end of Compline (Night Prayer). Above it is sung by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain.

Below is a setting by Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548 - 1611) sung by Voces8 from England.

Traditional Latin Mass

Third Sunday After Easter

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 04-26-2026 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Peter 2:11-19. Gospel: John 16:16-22.

Apostle St John the Evangelist

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy (John 16:20; Gospel). 

                                                                  

Honouring the Queen of Heaven during the Easter Season

 

The Coronation of the Virgin

Blessed Fra Angelico, Musée du Louvre, Paris [Web Gallery of Art]

Compline, the official Night Prayer of the Church ends with an anthem  of antiphon to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In monasteries this is sung. In the traditional liturgical calendar there are four of these, all in Latin.

Alma Redemptoris Mater is sung from Saturday before the 1st Sunday of Advent through February 1.

The anthem from 2 February, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, through Wednesday of Holy Week is Ave, Regina caelorum.

Regina caeli is the Easter anthem, sung from Easter Sunday through Friday within the Octave of Pentecost.

The best known anthem, sung on many occasions apart from Compline, is Salve, Regina. It is the anthem for Compline from Saturday after the Octave of Pentecost through Friday before the 1st Sunday of Advent.

Regina Caeli

Sung by Schola Gregoriana Medioalanensis, under Giovanni Vianini

V. Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia. 

R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia. 

V. Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia. 

R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia. 

R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

[Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus; ut per eius Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.]

V. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. 

R. For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia. 

V. Has risen, as he said, alleluia. 

R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia. 

R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

[Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.]

The original text is in Latin. The Regina Caeli, with the prayer in square brackets, replace the Angelus during the Easter Season.

Regina caeli

Setting by Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)

Sung by Voces8

Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.

Pope Benedict XVI meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel, 21 November 2009.

'Our time needs Christians who have been grasped by Christ.' Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Easter, Year A

 

The Incredulity of St Thomas

Caravaggio [Web Gallery of Art]

Second Sunday of Easter, Year A

Divine Mercy Sunday

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel: John 20:19-31 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

  

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

The Incredulity of St Thomas

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

The closing words of today’s Gospel give us the reason why the four gospels were written: these [signs] are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

In his general audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday 24 October 2012 Pope Benedict asked The Year of Faith: What is Faith? 

In trying to answer that question the Pope said [emphases added]:  Indeed, God has revealed that his love for man, for each one of us, is boundless: on the Cross, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God made man, shows us in the clearest possible way how far this love reaches, even to the gift of himself, even to the supreme sacrifice. With the mystery of Christ’s death and Resurrection, God plumbs to the depths of our humanity to bring it back to him, to uplift it to his heights. Faith is believing in this love of God that is never lacking in the face of human wickedness, in the face of evil and death, but is capable of transforming every kind of slavery, giving us the possibility of salvation. Having faith, then, is meeting this 'You', God, who supports me and grants me the promise of an indestructible love that not only aspires to eternity but gives it.

Benedict points out to us the painful reality that we can reject God's love: However, we see around us every day that many remain indifferent or refuse to accept this proclamation. At the end of Mark’s Gospel we heard harsh words from the Risen One who says: 'He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned' (Mk 16:16), loses himself. I would like to invite you to reflect on this.

This side of Jesus and of his Gospel has been largely sidelined, forgotten, in our times. Jesus is not a fuzzy teddy bear and following him is not like cuddling one, as the families of nearly 100 Christians killed in Nigeria last week can tell us.

The closing words of Pope Benedict in his talk are both challenging and uplifting: Dear friends, our time needs Christians who have been grasped by Christ, who grow in faith through their familiarity with Sacred Scripture and the sacraments. People who are, as it were, an open book that tells of the experience of new life in the Spirit, of the presence of that God who supports us on our way and opens us to everlasting life. Many thanks.

The Pope may well have had in mind today's First Reading (Acts 2:42-47): And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers . . . And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need . . . And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people.

That passage from the Acts of the Apostles probably gives an idealised description of the early Christians, but it shows us what we are called to as followers of Jesus Christ, what we can be by the grace of the Holy Spirit. 

Fr Ralph Beiting

1 January 1924 – 9 August 2012 [photo]

I remember while spending a good part of the summer of 1969 in a large rural parish in eastern Kentucky where there were few Catholics but where the parish priest, the late Fr Ralph Beiting had many projects involving mainly college and some high school students from all over the USA, along with some adult volunteers. A college student who has remained a friend ever since remarked to me before he went back home to New York that we had had a wonderful experience of Christian community, something like that in the First Reading. This particular group may never have this experience together again - but we know that such an experience is possible, said my friend Brendan.

The yearly observance of Lent, Holy Week and Easter, ending with Pentecost, is what renews our hope and enables us, with the grace of God, to build and experience Christian community throughout our lives if we are, to use the words of Pope Benedict, People who are, as it were, an open book that tells of the experience of new life in the Spirit.

Regina Caeli / Queen of Heaven

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. / For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia. / Has risen, as he said, alleluia. / Pray for us to God, alleluia.

The ancient Latin hymn Regina caeli replaces the Angelus during the Easter Season and is sung at the end of Compline (Night Prayer). Above it is sung by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain.

Below is a setting by Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548 - 1611) sung by Voces8 from England.

Traditional Latin Mass

The Octave Day of Easter

Low Sunday

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 04-16-2023 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 John 5:4-10. Gospel: John 20:19-31.

Apostle St Thomas

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

'A fire with many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light.' Sunday Reflections, Easter Sunday

 

The Resurrection of Christ

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

At the Mass during the Day

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel John 20:1-9  (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

John 20:1-9 in Filipino Sign Language

Be glad, let earth be glad as glory floods her,

ablaze with light from her eternal King,

let all corners of the earth be glad,

knowing an end to gloom and darkness . . .

Therefore, dearest friends,

standing in the awesome glory of this holy light . . .

that he, who has been pleased to number me,

though unworthy, among the Levites,

and pour into me his light unshadowed . . .

This is the night

that with a pillar of fire

banished the darkness of sin . . .

This is the night 

that even now, throughout the world,

sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices

and from the gloom of sin . . .

This is the night

of which it is written:

The night shall be as bright as day,

dazzling is the night for me,

and full of gladness . . .

But know we know the praises of this pillar,

which glowing fire ignites for God's honour,

a fire with many flames divided,

yet never dimmed by sharing of its light . . .

Therefore, O Lord,

we pray you that this candle,

hallowed to the honour of your name,

may persevere undimmed,

to overcome the darkness of this night.

Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,

and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.

May this flame be found still burning

by the Morning Star:

the one Morning Star who never sets,

Christ your Son,

who, coming back from death's domain,

has shed his peaceful light on humanity,

and lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Above are extracts from the Exsultet, the Easter Proclamation, sung at the beginning of the Easter Vigil after the newly-lit Paschal Candle is brought into the church. I have highlighted the passages dealing with light, the great symbol of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rembrandt's painting at the top, The Resurrection of Christ, captures the light breaking through the darkness. And his painting below, Christ on the Cross, shows our Saviour on the Cross to be The Light that conquers the darkness. Rembrandt was a master in his play of light with darkness.

Christ on the Cross

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

Fr Pádraig Ó Croiligh is a priest of the Diocese of Derry. Some years ago he published a book of religious poetry in Irish with the title Brúitíní Creidimh, which could be translated as 'Mashed Potatoes of Faith'. In his short poems he helps the reader digest aspects of our faith and religious practices. 

His poem Fód na Cásca (The Sod of Easter) refers to what seems to have been a custom in parts of rural Ireland where the hearth was the heart of the home, with a fire made from turf (peat) 24/7 as we say now, for cooking and for heat in the winter. The family and visitors gathered around it for the family rosary, for telling stories and singing. In many parts of Ireland people would cut their own turf in local bogland during the summer.

The poem for me is a reflection of these lines in the Exsultet: glowing fire ignites for God's honour, a fire with many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light. One of the most beautiful moments in the Easter Vigil is when the light of the Paschal Candle is shared, those who have lit their candles from it passing on the light to others until the whole church is ablaze with the light of Easter. Not only is the light never dimmed but it is multiplied by sharing. 

The newly-lit fire in the hearth on Holy Saturday is to be shared with those who live in the house and with those who visit, giving heat and light and nourishment through the food cooked and baked over it. And it recognises our need for constant renewal and forgiveness in the last line: go cionn bliana eile ar a laghad (at least for another year).

Turf (peat) fire

[Wikipedia, photographer]

Fód na Cásca / The Easter Sod

Le / by Pádraig Ó Croiligh 

Ghlanaidís an simléir fadó

Aoine an Chéasta,

Agus d’fhágaidís gan tine é

Go dtí an lá dár gcionn

Go bhfuair siad aibhleog bheannaithe

Ó thine na Cásca

Ar an Sathairn Naofa.

Aiséírí an Tiarna

a thugann lasadh don tine teallaigh

go cionn bliana eile ar a laghad.

 

They would clean the chimney long ago

On Good Friday,

And would leave it without a fire

Till the following day

When they would be able to light a sod

Blessed by the Easter fire

On Holy Saturday.

The Resurrection of the Lord

Is what lights the fire in the hearth

At least for another year.

Deacon proclaiming the Exsultet at Paschal Candle

[Wikipedia, photographer]

Just before preparing this I read an article in the April 2021 issue of Pioneer magazine by James Shevlin, whom I know, about a wake and funeral in rural Ireland during the Covid winter when neighbours could not visit the home of the deceased or attend the funeral Mass. The remains were brought home at night. But as the family of the deceased came within a few miles of their village, the glow could be seen in the night sky. In the cold and frost, people stood outside their houses, along the roadway, at the end of roads, at crossroads holding all sorts of lighted candles and making makeshift altars and shrines to guide them all the way back home. 

The family later said that there were no words to explain the uplifting of spirits they experienced with the show or support they received . . . What was done was done with real love and kndness and support for them by people closest and dearest to them.

This truly was a Christian community expressing the truth of the words of the Easter Proclamation: a fire with many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its  light. 

An Easter Song from Beirut, Lebanon, 2011

I don't know of a more joyful expression of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ than this Easter song in Arabic.

May the people of Lebanon, who are undergoing times of difficulty and uncertainty, experience the consolation of the Risen Lord and find support from the international community in their vocation to be a land of encounter, coexistence and pluralism (Pope Francis, Urbi et Orbi, Easter Sunday 2021).

Extraordinary Form of the Mass

Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) 

Easter Vigil

The complete celebration in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 04-03-2021 if necessary).

Easter Sunday Mass 

The Complet Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 04-04-2021 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8.  Gospel: Mark 16:1-7.

 

Authentic Beauty

Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.

Pope Benedict XVI meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel, 21 November 2009.

Regina Caeli

Sung at a Vigil for Life in Notre-Dame de Paris, 22 May 2012

Regina Caeli is one of four seasonal Marian anthems sung or recited at the end of Compline (Night Prayer) in the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours, Breviary). It is sung from the Easter Vigil through Pentecost Sunday.

Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia; 
quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia; 
resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia; 
ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice. Alleluia.
For He, whom thou wast worthy to bear. Alleluia.
Has risen as He said. Alleluia.
Pray for us to God. Alleluia.

[Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia,

For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray.

God of life, you have given joy to the world

by the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through the prayers of his mother, the Virgin Mary,

bring us to the happiness of eternal life.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.]

The Regina Caeli replaces the Angelus during the Easter season, with the prayer in square brackets above added.

For me, the beauty of the traditional Gregorian chant in Notre-Dame de Paris above is that the Regina Caeli is sung by a congregation of believers praying that all of us will respect every human life, especially life in the womb. 

The setting below by Tomás Luis de Victoria is surely an expression of the beauty of the Risen Lord and of his - and our - Blessed Mother, the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Regina Caeli

Setting for eight voices by Tomás Luis de Victoria

Sung by The Sixteen / Harry Christopher