05/04/2026
Salubong.
Are you not wondering…
…why the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus’ own Mother, was not among the women who went to the tomb early on Easter morning to complete the anointing and cleansing of His body?
Isn’t it only natural that His Mother would be the very first, eager to finish this final act of love?
Tradition offers a beautiful and profound explanation: Jesus had already appeared to His Mother first, in a private, tender encounter filled with love and consolation. She kept this joy in her heart, just as she had pondered so many mysteries throughout her life (cf. Luke 2:19, 51).
This pious belief is supported by the teachings of the saints and Doctors of the Church...
⚡St. Vincent Ferrer declared that the first apparition after the Resurrection was to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
⚡Saints such as Ambrose, Anselm, and Albert the Great, along with St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises, affirm that the Risen Lord appeared first to His Mother — not to prove the Resurrection to the doubting, but to delight and console the one who had suffered most with Him at the Cross.
⚡As Pope St. John Paul II reflected, it is legitimate to think that the Mother was probably the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared. Her absence from the group heading to the tomb may itself be a silent witness to this intimate meeting.
⚡Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, in her visions, described this moving encounter: At the very moment the angel descended and the earth quaked at the tomb, she saw the Risen Lord appear to His holy Mother on Mount Calvary. Jesus was transcendently beautiful and glorious. He spoke to her of all He had done in Limbo, showed her His radiant wounds, and comforted her sorrow.
Mary, overwhelmed with love, prostrated herself to kiss His sacred feet, but He tenderly raised her up. It was a moment of profound reunion between Son and Mother — the first fruits of the Resurrection shared in perfect intimacy.
✅ This has been the basis of the colorful traditional Encuentro (“encounter”) in Spanish-speaking regions, or the Salubong in the Philippines, where at dawn the images of Mary and the Risen Jesus are carried from opposite directions and meet in front of the church, reenacting this sacred encounter.
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This Easter, let us marvel at the love of Jesus for His Mother — and for each of us. Just as He came first to console her heart, He desires to console and strengthen ours in our own trials.
"O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!"
Happy Easter! He is Risen! Alleluia! 🙏✝️
