April 15, 2026

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

The Easter Season –from Easter to Pentecost – includes several weeks for us to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection. This is the holiest time of the Church year. Each Sunday during the Easter Season, we will celebrate and remember the Gospel stories of the Lord’s Resurrection. The first reading each day is the stories from the Acts of the Apostles – stories about the formation of our Church. As we look back to the beginnings of our Catholic Church, the real miracle is that today, in our time, we continue to gather each Sunday as Church, praying together, living and working together as the People of God.

Pope Leo XIV spoke on Easter Sunday reminding Catholics everywhere what is important for us all as the Catholic Church. He called upon us to pray and work as Church for peace in our world. The pope spoke of our world as a world ravaged by wars. He calls upon us at this time to meet the challenge to make peace – a call for each one of us. We have celebrated and meditated upon our Lord Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion. We have celebrated new life in the Resurrection of the Lord. Now we must again work as the People of God to bring the Lord’s love to our world, to help bring the Lord’s peace to all as disciples of our Lord.

As people of peace, the Lord calls upon us to find our way of bringing Jesus to our world through our lives. We must demonstrate our dedication to our God by bringing the Lord’s love and forgiveness to all those we meet – that we may live in the happiness of Our Savior. And it is often the little things, isn’t it? When we do those little things extraordinarily well, we will certainly make ourselves better people, and we will lead others to the precious message of Jesus. We all must be a part of the plan of the Lord, the plan of bringing peace to our world. Those little, yet, important things – let me mention a few – like refusing gossip; reaching out first after disagreement; listening before judging; choosing words that heal rather than wound. Small, quiet actions yet actions that are deeply Gospel shaped.

Pope Leo XIV also speaks often about the importance of Hope; we are to be people of Hope now and for the future, ready to trust our God in all things. A little about Hope: Hope is a theological virtue infused by God by which a person desires and expects eternal life and the grace to attain it, placing trust in the Lord’s promises rather than our own strength. Hope makes us, believers, active in daily life. This is not a passive virtue. With hope, we constantly believe in the fidelity of God and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Hope is a supremely active virtue that leads us Christians to work towards God’s Kingdom and trust in His plans, even in difficult times. Catholic hope is rooted in trusting God even when circumstances are dire or when outcomes are not what was desired. Hope keeps us from despair, encouraging us to endure suffering with confidence in God’s ultimate victory. St. Therese wrote often on the importance of trusting in God’s love in all our small daily actions.

So, we are called to be Easter people, united with our Resurrected Lord and ready to make our world alive in the Lord who loves us, who died for us, who rose again to show us the way and who now comes to the Church to bring us all new life and a new spirit as we live in peace and with hope. We are an Easter people.