Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Thursday in the Octave of Easter, April 9th, 2026

Delivered by Fiona from the Parish of Mary Queen of Rosary in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. Acts of the Apostles 3: 11-26; Rs psalm 8: 2a.5.6-7.8-9; Luke 24: 35-48.PEACE OF EASTER Our meditation today has the theme: Peace of Easter. Aseries of apparitions of the risen Lord may be considered as the Easter gifts.The encounters on various occasions really left also various stories and theirmessages. If we may say something of all these messages, the most central andimportant one is the message of peace. When the eleven apostles gathered to share storiesabout their encounters with the risen Christ, then followed by the twodisciples who had just returned from Emmaus, a community of followers of Christwas formed though they were still in great loss of the Master. This communitywas filled with a mixed of things all together, namely stories, belief,confusion, questions raised, and of course sense of wonder. In the context ofthat community and togetherness, Jesus once again appeared in their midst and offeredthem a gift, from His own words: Peace be with you! This message of peace becomes the main point in theapostle Peter's preaching to the crowd, after the miracle of healing aparalytic he performed. The miracle bore fruit along with a mixed of feelings,such as awe, wonder, suspicion, doubt, grateful and believing. So, Peterrecalled the truth from the risen Lord in order to create peace, calmness andsecurity rather than to leave the situation out of control. The result was thatmany people could resolve their perception about what was being preached and came to believe in Jesus Christ. A message of peace from the risen Christ to theapostles who were confused, afraid, suspicious, and hard to believe, aimed tomake them the true believers. Peace is able to eliminate all negative feelingsand thoughts. Peace presents serenity, comfort, and joy in one's soul so thatin the end people will decide what is right to be followed and evil or false tobe avoided.  But sometimes the message of peace tends to be simplya theory and a sort of belief. This will make our life does not fully live inpeace. The reason for this maybe because it is hard to find efforts to createpeace or have some true living examples of peaceful life. It is not enough forpeople to just talk, teach, convince, and illustrate ways about obtaining alife in peace. People must be able to live it out, or at least to practice inreal life ways to create peace in living together with neighbors and theenvironment. One example made by the risen Jesus is how He was sosincere and straightforward about himself, He involved Himself, and becomingone with the apostles and disciples. This really eliminated fear and doubt thathad been disturbing them so far after Jesus's death and resurrection. Becausewhen doubt, fear, suspicion, lack of trust still exist in this life, peace willnot find its place there. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Almighty Father, may Your Spirit fill uswith peace from You that makes us always rejoice in sharing the gifts fromourselves to others. Our Father who art in heaven... In the name of the Father...