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2nd Sunday Easter |
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Contents: Volume 2 2nd Sunday of Easter 4/22/2026
1. -- Lanie LeBlanc OP - <lanie@leblanc.one>2. -- 3. --
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****************************************************** Jesus’s Resurrection has occurred and as believers, we rejoice! The Acts of the Apostles provide a narrative picture, sometimes in encouraging detail, of the incredible effect of God’s work and mystery on the first believers. Tragedy, grief, and oppression in our world remain with us today, however, and depressing they are indeed. We are still called to that Easter joy, however. The question, therefore, also remains: how can our life, like the life of the apostles, change so radically??
The second reading from 1 Peter puts things in a proper perspective. We are encouraged, as were the early disciples, to remember that an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, is kept in heaven for you.” It is an inheritance far greater than any inheritance we might receive in earthly things as a legacy to us from someone mortal. Let us gather with other like-minded believers regularly to rejoice and spread this Good News as a starting point of joy.
Our Gospel story is a familiar one with the appearance of Jesus in the Upper Room, once when Thomas in not there and once when he is. Jesus brings peace, breathes on those gathered, and gives them his Holy Spirit. Such is the key to how our lives can change: peace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
But there is more! Jesus reverses Thomas’s unbelief and gently helps him to see and believe. I think that Jesus's mercy is important also and where we come in now. We have to rely on Jesus to help us believe fully ourselves, and then find comforting ways, not rebukes, to help others believe.
We have also been sent through our Baptism! We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! We have examples of Jesus alive today in how Jesus works through others! What we need is to accept the peace that Jesus gives us, through His own words and actions, refreshed by Scripture, prayer, community, and reaching out to others.
Let us not ignore that others have a different view of how to treat others, then and today, however. Based on the actual words and actions and teachings of Jesus, seeking peace, but not through violence in word or action, is the way. By our own modeling after Jesus, our Model, may we allow the Holy Spirit to show us, individually and collectively, how to show mercy and help others truly see and believe Jesus’s Way.
Blessings, Dr. Lanie LeBlanc OP Southern Dominican Laity
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****************************************************** ****************************************************** 4. ****************************************************** ****************************************************** 5. ****************************************************** Volume 2 is for you. These reflections follow the Liturgical Calendar and appear here about mid week each week. They are written by various guest authors. If you would like to submit a reflection of your own, then click here to send an email request to post to the Webmaster. Deadline is Monday morning of each week for the upcoming Sunday.
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A service of The Order of Preachers,
The Dominicans. (form revised 10/13/2025) |
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