April 2026: Thought for the Day

Easter Day of the Lord’s Resurrection

5 April 2026

The miracle of the Resurrection, and the theology of that miracle, comes first: the biography comes later as a comment on it. Nothing could be more unhistorical than to pick out selected sayings of Christ from the gospels and to regard those as the datum and the rest of the New Testament as a construction upon it. The first fact in the history of Christendom is the number of people who say they have seen the Resurrection. If they had died without making anyone else believe this ‘gospel’ no gospels would ever have been written.’

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Second Sunday of Easter

12 April 2026 • Divine Mercy Sunday

In whatever state a soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul which is striving after this purity must pray, or else it will never attain it; a soul which is newly converted must pray, or else it will fall again; a sinful soul, plunged in sins, must pray so that it might rise again. There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer.

St Faustina Kowalska (Diary, 146).

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Third Sunday of Easter

19 April 2026

Jesus’ encounter with the two disciples of Emmaus is a fleeting one. But the entire destiny of the Church is contained within it. It tells us that the Christian community is not enclosed within a fortified citadel, but rather journeys along its most essential environment, which is the road. And there, it encounters people with their hopes and disappointments, burdensome at times. The Church listens to everyone’s stories as they emerge from the treasure chest of personal conscience, in order to then offer the Word of Life, the witness of love, a love that is faithful until the end. And thus, the hearts of people reignite with hope.

Pope Francis 2017

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Fourth Sunday of Easter

26 April 2026 • Day of Prayer for Vocations

We have Jesus’ example of showing love through real relationships as our model, and it is up to us as the church to live out that example in our world.

This week let us be on the lookout for the outsiders in our community and those people who often get overlooked. Take the time to ask, ‘How are you doing?’ Then listen to what they have to say. Jesus promises he knows our voice and we know his. As you show love through listening, do you hear the Shepherd’s voice speaking through other people? By listening and loving, relationships grow as we follow our good Shepherd.

Suzanne P. Miller

moravian.org