Celebrating Abundance of Grace during Eastertide : Mid-Easter Reflection

After the Third Sunday of Easter, we are feeling renewed and refreshed, as we continue to rejoice over the resurrection of the Lord. Through the Gospel readings for the first three Sundays of Eastertide, (John 20:1-9; John 20:19-31; Luke 24:13-35), our contrite hearts of heavy grief from Lent have lighted up, while our ignorant minds are enlightened by the wisdom through the wisdom in the Word of God.  Just as how the disciples in these Gospel narratives came to terms with the resurrection joy, we, too, have come to terms with our Easter joy gradually. 

After the first three weeks of Easter, our hearts are rejoicing over the resurrection in the Paschal Mystery, while our minds are understanding the teaching of Christ better. Now we are more fit to appreciate who Christ really is to us and what he offers us. Therefore, from the Fourth Sunday of Easter on, our focus during the remaining Eastertide journey is on deepening our Christological insights.  This is how we prepare ourselves for Pentecost, the consummation of our Eastertide journey. 

One way to refresh and deepen our Christological appreciation during Eastertide is to be mindful of how God’s grace flows and affects our transformation through Christ, who has risen.  Not to mention, the resurrection of Christ itself is a great phenomenon of grace. Therefore, as the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola guides us for their Fourth Week segments (# 218 - #239), we are more cognizant of how grace flows from its source, the Father the Creator and Sender, to its target, us, through Christ the Son, whom God has raised (Acts 2:32) through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11).  It is, in fact, God the Holy Spirit, who has raised Christ the Son from the dead on the first Sunday morning of Eastertide, continues to lighten our hearts and enlighten our minds to prepare for Pentecost. Through this Eastertide transformative process, grace also flows through the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit is the spirit of grace (i.e. Hebrews 10:29; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Corinthians 2:12). In fact, it flows abundantly and powerfully.

Shifting the gear from “coming out of Lenten guilt and Good Friday grief” mode by the end of the third week of Easter, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which is also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday”, our Eastertide journey toward Pentecost proceeds on with increasing grace to draw us further closer to the risen Christ. To set its tone, the Gospel readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter of all cycles (John 10:1-10 for Cycle A, John 10:11-18 for Cycle B, John 10:27-30 for Cycle C), address Christ as our Good Shepherd, who is the gateway to the Kingdom, whom we, as his beloved sheep, follow.  

In the Gospel reading for the Good Shepherd Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Easter) on Cycle A (John 10:1-10), Jesus metaphorically describes himself as the sheep gate for sheep, to keep them safe and to feed them on the verdant pastures.  In other words, as the gateway for his sheep, Jesus assures of our safety and nourishment.  What our secure gateway leads us to life in abundance (John 10:10).

The Geek word used to describe abundant life in John 10:10 is “περισσὸν”(perisson), the adjective form  of “περισσεία”(perisseia) (abundance).  Thus, “περισσεία”(perisseia) is a Greek word that characterizes what Jesus the gateway safety ushers us to.   Through this gateway, his sheep find pasture (John 10:9).  The Greek work used here, “νομή”(nome) to express pasture has connotation to  growth.  Therefore, finding “νομή”(nome)(John 10:9) by following our Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14) is “περισσεία”(perisseia) (abundance) of life, the life that grows and growth. 

In the responsorial Psalm for Good Shepherd Sunday on Cycle A (Psalm 23:1-3, 4, 5), we sing:

 “The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters”(Psalm 23:1-2).   

There is an impression of abundance in the verdant pasture that the Lord the shepherd leads us to.  The motif of abundance is also found in another verse of this responsorial Psalm, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows”(Psalm 23:5).  The verdant pasture (בִּנְאֹ֣ות דֶּ֭שֶׁא/binowt dese) and the overflowing cup (כֹּוסִ֥י רְוָיָֽה/kowsi rewayah) sure make a good impression of abundance. In Biblical Hebrew, being abundant (מַרְבֶּ֔ה/marbeh) is associated with the verb, רָבָה/rabah, which means to multiply to fill, as in Genesis 1:22. It is, after all, a desire of God the Creator. In other words, God want what He gives us to be abundant (מַרְבֶּ֔ה/marbeh), and Chris the Good Shepherd desire us to have life in abundance (περισσός/perissos ).  It means that God’s desire for us is to have His grace (חֵן/chen, χάρις/charis) to be abundant (מַרְבֶּ֔ה/marbeh, περισσὸν/perisson).  Because whatever God the Creator gives us, whatever Christ the Good Shepherd gives us, is sufficient. Therefore, we lack nothing and shall not want, as sung in Psalm 23:5. This appreciation of the abundance of God’s grace is echoed also in the Suscipe Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his Spiritual Exercises, in its Fourth Week (Easter) segment (#234), as it says:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will. All I have and call my own, You have given to me; to you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.

This prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises well-reflects what it means to be sheep of Christ the Good Shepherd. It also means that nothing is lacking (לֹ֣א אֶחְסָֽר/lo ehsar) as our Good Shepherd leads us to abundant grace, symbolized with verdant pasture (בִּנְאֹ֣ות דֶּ֭שֶׁא/benout dese), as sung in Psalm 23:1-2. The verdant pasture, which is a metaphor of God’s abundant grace, which is more than sufficient for us, because both the Greek word and Hebrew word to express being abundant (מַרְבֶּ֔ה/marbeh, περισσὸν/perisson) indicates ongoing increase that overflows beyond fullness. It suggests the immeasurability in the abundance of God’s grace.  Because of this nature of God’s grace, in 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul asserts that God’s grace is all we need and keeps us in satisfaction, enabling us to deal with our own weakness without becoming jealous and greedy. 

The responsorial Psalm (Psalm 23) for Good Shepherd Sunday on Cycle A also presents an impression of secureness and peace, even facing threats and danger, as protected by the providence of the Lord, our Shepherd. The source of the secureness, what keeps us free from fear, is God’s abundant grace, which comes in his care. This meaning of the Psalm 23 is echoed in the Second Reading for the Sunday, as a source of our endurance.

The Second Reading for Good Shepherd Sunday on Cycle A (1 Peter 2:20b-25) reminds us that God’s grace is abundant enough to enable us to endure our own suffering, as Christ himself ensured with his indescribable suffering  toward and on the Cross.  The reading also tells us that we are now with our Good Shepherd, as we have returned to him, even though we may have drifted away from him. This reflects that we found our way back to him during Lenten season, upon recognizing our sins and how they have kept us from him on Ash Wednesday.  Because God’s abundant grace enables us to endure our own suffering, as Christ did with his for us, our suffering may bear profound meaning. Perhaps, it may become redemptive, especially if we can put our own suffering in the colloquy in the Third Week portion of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, having an intimate conversation with Jesus on Via Dolorosa. As we do so, we may experience “ἡ περισσεία τῆς χαρᾶς/he perisseia tes charas”(abundant, overflowing joy) amidst our suffering, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:2). 

As Good Shepherd Sunday marks a shift in our Eastertide journey tone, from recovering from Lenten guilt and grief to abundant joy celebration, we can certainly look forward to where this journey leads us to – Pentecost Sunday, when we are empowered by the infusion of abundant (מַרְבֶּ֔ה/marbeh, περισσὸν/perisson) Holy Spirit! Then, our baptismal call will be renewed and further confirmed to be sent out to carry out our respective missions in the world. 

There is a snippet of what abundant grace during Eastertide is guiding us to, namely, Pentecost,  in the First Reading for Good Shepherd Sunday on Cycle A (Acts 2:14a, 36-41). In this story, we see Peter speaking so boldly immediately after being filled with the Pentecost Holy Spirit, which the powerful came like the strong winds, evoking “ruah”, and appeared to be the tongues of fire. He was speaking about Christ, who promised the coming of this powerful Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26) during the Last Supper, in the context of the Paschal Mystery, to the people, who were too ignorant to understand the outpouring of the powerful Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  As they listened to Peter’s powerful speech on Christ, they were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37), meaning that they recognized their ignorance and moved to the extent of their hearts feeling pierced.  In response, they asked Peter and the rest of the disciples, “Brothers, what shall we do?”(Acts 2:37). To this, Peter told that they need to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:28). Then, 3,000 accepted Peter’s message for repentance and baptism and joined the nascent Church, on the very day of the Church’s birth on Pentecost. Converting and baptizing 3,000 through one single Christological speech sure is a “great catch” – abundance in Peter’s work as a “fisher of men”, to which Jesus has made him to (Luke 5:10).  Because this was an event on Pentecost, the abundance of Easter grace will prepare us for Pentecost so that our apostolic works will result in an abundant catch – abundance in the fruit of our works.

Now, we sure can rejoice in celebrating abundance in God’s grace leading us to become better apostles so that our apostolic missions shall bear abundant fruits and make abundant catch!