April 19, 2026
Third Sunday of Easter
Lectionary: 46
Reading 1: Acts 2:14, 22-33
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
You who are Israelites, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:
I saw the Lord ever before me,
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
my flesh, too, will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.
“My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father
and poured him forth, as you see and hear.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
R. (11a) Lord, you will show us the path of life.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
Reading 2: 1 Pt 1:17-21
Beloved:
If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially
according to each one’s works,
conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning,
realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct,
handed on by your ancestors,
not with perishable things like silver or gold
but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a spotless unblemished lamb.
He was known before the foundation of the world
but revealed in the final time for you,
who through him believe in God
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
so that your faith and hope are in God.
Alleluia: Cf. Lk 24:32
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
make our hearts burn while you speak to us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Lk 24:13-35
That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
Reflection
Please note that in the First Reading, St. Peter “took the stage” by speaking to congregation of the first Christians on the planet, excluding them. Meanwhile, in the Second Reading, it is St. Peter again who takes the stage because of his authorship of the epistle that we read today. In the Gospel, St. Peter is again mentioned when St. Clopas and friend run to Jerusalem to report to Peter and the Apostles the episode that just transpired in Emmaus, when they recognized our Lord Jesus in the “breaking of the bread.”
This is one of those Sundays in Easter that the prominence of St. Peter, our first Pope, comes forth because he indeed is the Prince of Apostles and the Vicar of Christ, and all those who succeed him inherit both titles and the office of Pope who is primus inter pares or the first among equals, in reference to the bishops—he is the first among all bishops of the Church. It is no wonder that in the Gospels, whenever the Apostles of our Lord are mentioned, Peter was always mentioned first and Judas was always mentioned last to show that the synoptic evangelists were deliberate in their writing in presenting the preeminence of Peter among the other Apostles.
First Reading: “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.” (1 Peter 2:32)
We just like to emphasize the fact that our faith is also based on the witnesses of people who had the great privilege to be with Jesus when He was on earth, as St. Peter proudly declares in the verse quoted.
We do not believe for the sake of just believing. On the contrary, we believe because our faith in God is anchored on the declarations of Jesus and of those who were there with Him. They have written about it with the specific intention of spreading the faith, based on what they saw and heard. This verse from the first epistle of St. Peter declares that he was with our Lord Jesus and he saw the things he is now writing about. Our faith is based on the truth, a truth which is based on the account of witnesses who have been in the thick of it all, the Apostles.
Sadly, in today’s world, there are those who claim to be from God and they have been called “to call” God’s people once again, as if Jesus failed in what He did when He established the Church upon Peter. What is sadder is that there are people on the face of the planet who are gullible enough to believe these claims simply because they sound new and novel. They simply don’t realize that these things, heresies in fact, have to be presented as novel and new because that is the only way to make their claims indefensible and fool-proof that only they can explain it. They often espouse arguments critical to what the Church has already established and taught for centuries because it would make them look brilliant and therefore attractive to people who never bothered to delve into critical thinking or refer to history, particularly the Church’s history.
The Catholic Church has been in existence since the time of the Apostles. Earthly kings, empires and despotic leaders have all come and gone but it still exists and is growing. It is intact and alive not because those who run it are always holy but it is because the founder is holy, faithful and true. Remember, our present Pope Leo XIV can trace his office and succession back to St. Peter, the Prince of Apostles. This is proof that the Church established by Christ is real and is here to stay until the end because Jesus promised that “the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
These ‘wannabe’ prophets of our times claim to be Bible-based but never acknowledge that it was by virtue of the authority of the Catholic Church that the books of the Bible were compiled and canonized, the very same Bible they preach from and interpret sadly according to what fits their teaching and some of what they teach are against the Catholic faith. We can go on and on and on.
In the end, it is really about believing Jesus when He said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:16).
The Eucharist: The power to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread because He is the Bread of Life.
Note: In the Bible, the phrase “in the breaking of the bread” in Acts 2, Verse 46 and others, technically refers to what we know now as the Liturgy of the Eucharist and therefore, the precursor of the Mass as we know it today. Today’s Gospel story, together with other verses in the Bible, including what we call “sacred tradition”, form our bases for the celebration of the Mass and why we believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.
In today’s Gospel, St. Clopas (also spelled “Cleopas”) and companion recognized that their guest was our Lord only at table, while saying a blessing, breaking the bread and distributing the bread. After going through all these, our Lord Jesus vanishes before their eyes as if to say: You don’t need to see me in person. Just believe and do what I told you to at the Last Supper in remembrance of me. I am the Eucharist.
The sequence at the Last Supper, as contained in the Gospels, together with the Walk to Emmaus account are, the same and therefore, necessary for our belief in re-presenting what happened at the Last Supper in remembrance of our Lord during Mass. Also, please note that the dedicated altars or altar of sacrifice in all the churches throughout the world are also called ‘Eucharistic Tables’ or Altars of Thanksgiving. It is called as such because on the altar during the mass, the rite of calling upon the Holy Spirit during consecration (called the Epiclesis), which changes unleavened bread and grape wine into the body and blood of Jesus (transubstantiation) is performed, in remembrance of our Lord and according to His command.
At Mass, Jesus is both the victim – the ‘Agnus Dei’ (Lamb of God) and the priest: the sacrifice and the one offering the sacrifice.
In the Mass, the terms of the divine Covenant are re-presented before our eyes and Jesus, as the ‘Agnus Dei’ and the seal of the Covenant, is the made present to us together with the entire worshipping community in heaven. At Mass, Heaven and earth meet, the temporal order and the eternal realm unite in Jesus who is the Eternal High Priest and the only mediator between God and man because He is true man and true God and therefore, the only way to the Father.
“Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.” (Luke 24:35)
In our opening discussion, we said that the Eucharist empowers us to see Jesus because He is truly present in the Eucharist in the form of bread and wine. The above-mentioned verse in St. Luke reinforces our teaching of the faith, particularly about the Eucharist which is the center and summit of our lives as believers of Christ.
Opening up one’s heart and soul to receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is truly a personal encounter with our risen Lord in a physical manner that is incomparable to anything in this world. Being one with Jesus and abiding in our Lord cannot get more up close and personal than encountering him and receiving him in the Eucharist.
Second Reading
“If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning…”
Our God is Father in the real sense of the word. He is also the judge of us all. Jesus is the only way to the Father. In other words, we need to abide in Jesus because only He is the way to Heaven. Abiding in Jesus means obeying the Father because of what Jesus commands us to do. We need to live our lives according to what Jesus says and the only way to do this is by invoking the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the Trinitarian nature of our faith and this will be how we’re going to be judged by the Father. The rendering of judgment will come at the end of our lives on earth. The judgment will consider only this question: “Did we choose good or evil?”
There is nothing that is hidden and can remain hidden from our Father’s eyes because He is the all-seeing God and is present in all time. Whatever we do or say and whatever we don’t do or don’t say shall be the basis of divine judgment. Did we become true to our covenantal vows or not, and did we obey God’s Word? God is always impartial and fair in His judgment. Therefore, repentance is indispensable to salvation because the standard by which we will all be judged is Jesus Christ and His mandate was: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matt 4:17). We may have chosen evil but did we ever repent from them and asked God’s forgiveness?
This is the reason why we should have a devotion to the Lord’s divine mercy, even more than His divine justice. We would rather face God the merciful Father rather than God the fair judge because we will surely fail and be convicted if the “books” were thrown at us in a fair trial in heaven, akin to a criminal who is caught and prosecuted. Again, the standard of a righteous life is and will always be Jesus and what He taught us. Our actions and words must give reverence to God and others because this is pleasing to God.
Our true home is in heaven with our God and Father. What we do and say here on earth echoes into eternity and become evidence for us or against us before the heavenly court where God is the Judge. We are only sojourners on the way to heaven.
“…ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb…”
Here, our First Pope, St. Peter teaches us that Jesus is our Lord and Savior because mankind has been ransomed from sin with no less than the body and blood of the one who died on the Cross – the Lamb of God. In other words, we now belong to Christ because He has ransomed us from death. We owe him our lives. Without Him and his death on the Cross, we would not have been saved from eternal damnation.
The divine plan is simple: To save mankind from eternal death. And why does God do this? He does this because He loves the world so much, and He even sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in the Son shall not perish but have eternal life. Saint Paul echoes our Lord’s call of repentance in his first letter to St. Timothy:
“…God our savior…wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. For there is one God…one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all” (1 Tim 2: 3-6).
Truth is a person and His name is Jesus.
A blessed Third Sunday of Easter to everyone.
– Gospel reflection by Kuya Rommel Cecilio of SLRP Bible Apostolate Ministry