Progressive Christological Revelaton thorugh Easter Sunday Gospel Readings on Cycle A: Christ in Us and Christ in Trinity

Sunday Gospel narratives during Eastertide come with a certain pattern.  On Cycle A, for the first three Sundays of Easter, the Gospel readings (John 20:1-9; John 20:12-31; Luke 24:13-35) address how the disciples struggled in recognizing the Resurrection of Christ. Their joy kicked in later, as they began the Resurrection Sunday with fear and confusion over the empty tomb. Then, there is a shift from the Fourth Sunday on, with sole focus on Christology.  In the Gospel readings for the Fourth Sunday, Fifth Sunday, and Sixth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A (John 10:1-10; John 14:1-12; John 14:15-21), the Christological insight is progressively leading to Trinity, while being addressed in its relation to us.

In the Gospel Reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A, John 10:1-10, Jesus reveals his Christological identity as the gateway, through which we are saved. In this Gospel narrative, he also says that he came to this world to give us life abundantly. Jesus is the gateway to salvation and the giver of abundant life.  In this Gospel narrative, neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit is addressed. Its focus is Christ’s relation to us. Jesus first begins to address his Christological identity in his relation to us. The fact that this is how we begin our Eastertide Christological Gospel reading on Good Shepherd Sunday reminds that Jesus is really reaching out to us.

The Gospel Reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A, John 14:1-12, describes how Jesus mentions the Father in his relation to Him.  First, Jesus speaks of the Father as the owner of the House, in which he prepares τόπος/topos (place) for us.  Our place in the Father’s House (John 14:3) is indicative of the New Eden, envisioned in Revelation 22.  This vision of our ultimate “home” in juxtaposition between the Father’s House (John 14:2) and New Eden (Revelation 22) follows the Heavenly Wedding of the Lamb (Christ) and the his bride (Church) in Revelation 21.

Now, Jesus hints his departure, Ascension, to be with the Father in heaven. He indicates his reason to depart as to prepare a heavenly place for us in Father’s House. This is where Jesus begins to relate us to the Father through him.  However, in response to this, Thomas asks Jesus how we can know the way he is going as we do not know where Jesus is going (John 14:5). To this inquiry of Thomas, Jesus begins revealing more of his Christological identity as the way, the truth, and the life, as well as the only gateway to the Father (John 14:6).

Christ as the way (ὁδός/hodos), as well as the gateway, to the Father reflects Jesus’ self-identification as the sheep gate in John 10:9.  He is the way, while he leads the way, as the Good Shepherd, to the verdant pastures, and to the Father.

Christ’s self-identification as the truth reflects that he is also the Word (λόγος /logos -דָּבָר /dabar) because the Word is the truth (John 17:17 ; 2 Samuel 7:28).  This also echoes the Johannine Christological definition as “ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο/ o Logos sarx egeneto”(John 1:14), which is rooted in John 1:1, “Λόγος- Θεὸς/Logos-Theos” homoousis. Tertullian, in his “Adversus Praxean”, also addresses this Logos-Theos homoousis, further in relation to Sophia, connecting John 1:1, 14 to Proverbs 8:22-31.

Christ’s identity as the life (ζωή/zoe ) is reflected in the Living Bread of Life, which leads to eternal life (John 6:51). This Christological identity as life (zoe) is also echoed in John 10:28, which reflects John 10:10. Jesus’ self-identification with ζωή/zoe is also associated with the life-giving breath (נִשְׁמַת/nishmah), which God the Father poured into the molded clay to turn it into Adam (Genesis 2:7).  This life-giving breath of God is also reflected in the risen Christ’s offer of his breath as the Holy Spirit to the disciples on the evening of his Resurrection day (John 20:22). By linking Genesis 2:7 to John 20:22, we understand that the essence of Jesus’ identity as the life (ζωή/zoe) is נִשְׁמַת/nishmah (life-giving breath). The zoe-nishmah juxtaposition in Jesus’ Chiristological identity is associating him with the Holy Spirit , “ Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον (pneuma hagion)”. Thus, the Gospel Reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A (John 14:1-12) also signals that Eastertide is consummated with Pentecost Sunday, which is followed by Trinity Sunday.

Receiving Christ as life, in addition to the way and the truth, we can assure that we are not just flesh (σάρξ/sarx) to die but also not just as a spirit (πνεῦμα/pneuma). Rather, we also have the kind of spirit God puts His life through His breath (נִשְׁמַת/nishmah) in Christ so that we can have life as a living soul (נָ֫פֶשׁ/nephesh or ψυχή/pusuche, psyche). Furthermore, from a Sacramental perspective, Jesus’ self-identification as the life ζωή/zoe -נִשְׁמַת/nishmah also reflects Christ as the life-giving Bread (John 6:63).

Jesus is the way leading to the Father, whose House in heaven, has a place for us. At the same time, he is the truth, reflected in the Word, and the life, in juxtaposition to the Bread of Life and the Holy Spirit.  Following this Christological self-identification, Jesus further tells more about him in relation to the Father. In fact, this leads to the Father-Son consubstantiality or homoousis, which is related to the hypostatic union among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in Holy Trinity.

Following his self-identification as the way, the truth, and the life , while asserting that he is the only way to the Father (John 14:6), Jesus now tells that knowing him leads to knowing the Father (John 14:7). Furthermore, Jesus unfolds his Christological identity in relation to the Father in these words, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:10, 11). This echoes these words of Jesus on his Christological identity in relation to the Father, “I and the Father are one”(John 10:30). The nature of  Father-Son relation is understood as homoousis, as well as consubstantiality, first officially recognized at the First Nicene Council (325 AD), as “οὐσίας τοῦ Πατρος/homoousis to patros”(consubstantial with the Father) in the Nicene Creed.

Following this revelation of Christological identity, in the Gospel Reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A (John 14:15:21), all the Christological revelation from the Fourth Sunday and Fifth Sunday of Easter now comes to its full circle in the context of the Trinity. Because the Sixth Sunday of Easter is the Sunday before the Ascension, which is followed by the Pentecost, all three persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are revealed in their unique relationship in this Gospel narrative. This way, we are ready for the Ascension, the Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday, which follows Pentecost Sunday.

Through the Johannine Gospel readings for the Fourth and the Fifth Sundays of Easter, the Christological identity with the homoousis shared between the Father and the Son is revealed. These Gospel narratives also implicate that Jesus invites us to be on the way to the Father in juxtaposition to be with the way, which is Jesus himself.  Now, in the Gospel story for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Jesus introduces us to the Holy Spirit, as another Παράκλητος/parakletos (Advocate, Counselor), in place of his physical presence. According to Jesus, this Holy Spirit comes to us and to be with us, upon his departure from us to be with the Father and to prepare a place for us in Father’s House in heaven. In introducing the Holy Spirit to us this way, Jesus also assures that we will not be left like orphans.

The Gospel narrative for the Sixth Sunday (John 14:15-21) begins with Jesus’ statement on a condition of our relation to him: love. According to him, our love for him means observing his commandments (v.15). This means that our love for Christ is backed by our obedience to him.  On this condition, Jesus promises that the Father will send us another Παράκλητος/parakletos to be with us forever (v. 16), and he calls this Advocate as the Spirit of truth (v. 17).

It is important to note that John 14, from which the Gospel readings for the Fifth Sunday (vv. 1-12) and the Sixth Sunday (vv. 15-21) are taken, follows the narrative on the Mandatum Novum to love one another as Jesus has done so to us upon indicating his departure (John 13:31-35). This entire Christological discourse in these two Easter Sundays’ Gospel readings from John 14 are part of his Last Supper discourse, which start with the foot washing of the disciples by Jesus (John 13:1-17) and ends with series of his prayers (John 17:1-26). With this background, we can see Jesus’ statement on loving him as observing his commandments (John 14:15) echoes his Mandatum Novum to love each other as his disciples (John 13:34-35). Relating ourselves to Jesus as his disciples means to observe his commandments, in which loving is the most important.  Thus, there is a reciprocal love between Christ and us, as we observe his commandments, including the Mandatum Novum.

Because Jesus calls us to love as his Mandatum Novum for us upon reminding of his nearing departure (John 13:31-35), his statement to link loving him and observing his commandments in John 14:15 also implies his imminent farewell. Jesus’ departure has a parallel meaning: his death on the Cross, as this was told during the Last Supper, and his Ascension, as the world cannot see him any more (v.19).

In addition of John 13:18-35, Jesus’s departure is indicated in John 14:1-14, in which Thomas asked Jesus the way he is going and Philip asked to show the Father, to whom Jesus is going, as in the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday. The Gospel story for the Sixth Sunday (John 14:15-21) follows this progressive revelation of Jesus’ impending departure. With this increasing imminence, Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit as another Παράκλητος/parakletos in John 14:16 and further in v. 26 to assure that we will not be left in the world like orphans (v.18, echoes also in v. 27, given “ὀρφανός/orphan” means not only as “orphan” but also “being desolate”). The way Jesus connects us to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, as another Παράκλητος/parakletos, rather than Πνεύματος Ἁγίου/pneumatos hagiou, in John 14:16 is to make Πνεύματος Ἁγίου/pneumatos hagiou personified for us so that we will not feel abandoned like orphans in the world, where he is no longer seen in his flesh. This shows his intimac toward us in the way he relates himself to us. This intimacy is repeatedly echoes in his statements: He is in us and we in him, in juxtaposition to his presence in the Father and Father in him. Now, we understand that the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is not a mere invisible pneuma but parakletos, who is just like Jesus the Son, the second person in the Trinity, himself. This is why Jesus put “another” to parakletos in introducing him to us.

In John 14:16, Jesus first brings up the Holy Spirit in a personified form with male gender, as “ἄλλον Παράκλητον/allon Parakleton/s”( another Advocate).  In the following verse, he explains this another Advocate as  “τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / to Pneuma tes aletheias” (the Spirit of truth).  Given Jesus’ self-identification in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”(Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή/Ego eimi he hodos kai he aletheia kai he zoe),  another Advocate (Palakletos) as the Spirit of truth is Jesus as the truth himself in essence.   Thefore, there is a hypostasis between Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promises to be sent out of the Father to us on Pentecost.

Jesus has introduced the Holy Spirit in his hypostatic relation to him, through truth, as another Advocate and the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17), on a condition that we love him by observing his commands (John 14:15). Loving Jesus by observing his commadments means being his sheep and loving him as our Good Shepherd, because we, as his sheep, know him and listen to his voice (John 10:4, 14, 27). Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as another Advocate as we remain with him and he remains with us by loving him and following his commandments, even though he leaves the world to be with the Father.  Our Good Shepherd is not going to leave us, his sheep, like orphans (John 14:18), and we continue to hear his commandments in his voice and observe them.  Our Advocate (Παράκλητος/parakletos) is always with us, in flesh until Ascension and in spirit upon Pentecost.  This is why, in John 14:16, the Holy Spirit is “another” (ἄλλον /allos) Palakletos rather than “different”( ἕτερος/heteros) Parakletos.

Though Jesus as a being in human flesh, which came to this world through Mary’s Immaculate body and sustained death as resurrected, is about to leave, we are assured of his presence with us through his promise in John 14:18.  The original Greek word for “orphans” in this verse, is ὀρφανός,/ orphanos, and it means more than being orphan. It also means being bereft, grieving, being desolate due to having no father.  Given this multitude of meaning of ὀρφανός,/ orphanos, Jesus is assuring us of comfort by not leaving us in a desolate condition, bereft of the Good Shepherd, even though he is leaving, by his promise of another Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. For this reason, we can also see ἄλλον Παράκλητον/allon Parakleton (another Advocate) in John 14:16 as another Comforter.   In fact, the Greek word, “parakletos” (παράκλητος) etymologically means to “I called (myself) to be beside” (para – to be beside + kaleo – call”).  Thus, John 14:15-18 describe Jesus’ assurance of his “Immanuel” identity, reflecting these words of him, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). We love Jesus, our Good Sherpherd and observe his commandment. Thus, we not only love one another as he has loved us but also go out to serve him as “fishers of people”, as he remains with us until he returns at the end of time.

By John 14:17, Jesus has fully disclosed his Christological identity in relation to the hypostatic Trinitarian unity, first with the Father-Son homoousis, in which he finds himself.  By John 14:18, Jesus assures of his perpetual presence with us as Παράκλητος./ Parakletos (Advocate, Comforter, Counselor), which is the essence of him being our Good Shepherd.  In John 14:19, Jesus now reminds us that his presence as our Good Shepherd, our accompanying Advocate and Comforter, is found in us, because he is in us, as we are in him. Because of this unique reciprocal relationship with Christ, we can still see him in the eyes of faith, while the world will no longer see him after the Ascension.  Because we can see Christ even he is in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, Christ further tells that we can recognize (γινώσκω /ginosko) that he is in the Father and we are in him and he is in us (John 14:20).  This links our reciprocal unity with Christ, our sheep-shepherd relationship, to the Father through him and his homoousis with Him.  Echoing John 14:15, Jesus further reassures of our intimate relationship with the Father through him in John 14:21. At the same time, he reminds us that loving him by observing his commandments also means to love the Father.  Because of the homoousis between Jesus and the Father, we love the Fatehr as we love Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son.

Now we see how the Gospel readings for the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Sundays on Cycle A progressively reveal Christological insights not only in relation to us but also in the context of Trinity to prepare us for Ascension and Pentecost.  First, through the Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday (John 10:1-10), Jesus tells his relationship to us. Then, with the Gospel readings for the Fifth Sunday and the Sixth Sunday (John 14:1-12; 15-21), Jesus gradually reveals his Christological identity in relation to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, while he continues to speak of his relation to us and now paralles it to his relation to the Father.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), as read in the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A.  Now, we know that the Father is in hypostasis with Jesus the Son (John 10:30; 14:10, 11, 20), our first Parakletos, who was conceived in the Immaculate womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18), sent by the Father.  Then, Jesus the Son promises that the Father send another Parakletos to assure of God’s perpetual presence with us (John 14:16) and calls him (Parakletos) the Spirit of truth (John 14:17), alluding him to the Holy Spirit, who comes to us on Pentecost (i.e. John 16:13).  Thus, being with Jesus, the first Parakletos, is being on the way of the truth and the life to the Father.  To make sure that we complet our journey to the Father, Jesus makes sure that Parakletos continues to remain with us in the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17), even though he needs to return to the Father in heaven through the Ascension. He explains that his Ascension is necessary for another Parakletos, who is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person in Trinity, to come to us (John 16:7).  Another reason for him to Ascend to the Father in heaven is to prepare a place in the Father’s House in heaven for us (John 14:2-3), namely to prepare to take us to the “New Eden” at the eschaton, as envision in Revelation 21-22. Thus, Jesus’ Christological identity to be the way to the Father in John 14:6 is to bring us to be grafeted to the hypostatic union of the Trunity, shared by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  This way of Jesus to bring us to the Father in the Trinity’s hypostatic union with the Son and the Holy Spirit is, indeed, reflected in these words of Jesus, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you”(John 14:20) and, furthermore, in John 15:1-5, where Jesus sees us as the branches connected to him, the vine, taken care by the Father, the gardener.

Now, we are ready for Ascension and Pentecost, because we know that these events are absolutely necessary to bring us to the Father in the Trinity.

Below, you will find summaries of all Easter Sunday Gospel narratives on Cycle A to see thematic patterns: a shift from the recognizing the Resurrection mode to the Christological mode leading to Trinity.  This set of summaries is taken from my slides, which I use for my scripture teaching sessions.

Resurrection Sunday: Anxiety-provoking discovery of the empty tomb (John 20:1-9).

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday): The risen Christ appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room, anxiety gave its way to joy of realizing the Resurrection, Thomas came to believe (John 20:12-31).

Third Sunday of Easter: Joyful recognition of the risen Lord in the breaking of bread in Emmaus, finding the heart burning with passion, as a grieving heart is enlightened by the Word (Luke 24:13-35).

Fourth Sunday of Easter: Christ as the gateway to salvation, the giver of abundant life (John 10:1-10)  cf. Christ as the Living Bread of Life, who gives eternal life (John 6:32-58).

Fifth Sunday of Easter: Christ as the way, the truth, and the life; the Father is in Christ, and Christ in the Father (The Father – the Son consubstantiality, homoousis….i.e. John 10:30) (John 14:1-12).

Sixth Sunday of Easter: Christ as the Emmanuel: Christ being eternal parakletos (which means to advocate and comfort by  being “besides”(para)), extending the essence of the Father-Son consubstantiality to us, as we obediently remain with him and observe his commandments (John 14:15-21).

Ascension:  Christ’s farewell address and commissioning to us with his commandment to make disciples of all nations (to go as los pescados de hombres en mundo) with his promise to remain with us (junto a nos….con nostros) as Emmanuel till the end of time (eschatos), reflecting, “Ite, Missa Est” (Matthew 28:16-20).

Seventh Sunday of Easter: Completion of Jesus’ Christological identity revelation, summed in eternal life, as he is ready to return to the Father (John 17:1-11a).

Pentecost Sunday: Juxtaposition of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from the Father in Heaven in Christ’s name (parakletos) in the Upper Room (First Reading – Acts 2:1-11) to the risen Christ’s impartation of his breath, as the Holy Spirit, to the frightened disciples in the Upper Room on the evening of the Resurrection (John 20:19-23).

Sunday Gospel narratives during Eastertide come with a certain pattern.  On Cycle A, for the first three Sundays of Easter, the Gospel readings (John 20:1-9; John 20:12-31; Luke 24:13-35) address how the disciples struggled in recognizing the Resurrection of Christ. Their joy kicked in later, as they began the Resurrection Sunday with fear and confusion over the empty tomb. Then, there is a shift from the Fourth Sunday on, with sole focus on Christology.  In the Gospel readings for the Fourth Sunday, Fifth Sunday, and Sixth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A (John 10:1-10; John 14:1-12; John 14:15-21), the Christological insight is progressively leading to Trinity, while being addressed in its relation to us.

In the Gospel Reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A, John 10:1-10, Jesus reveals his Christological identity as the gateway, through which we are saved. In this Gospel narrative, he also says that he came to this world to give us life abundantly. Jesus is the gateway to salvation and the giver of abundant life.  In this Gospel narrative, neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit is addressed. Its focus is Christ’s relation to us. Jesus first begins to address his Christological identity in his relation to us. The fact that this is how we begin our Eastertide Christological Gospel reading on Good Shepherd Sunday reminds that Jesus is really reaching out to us.

The Gospel Reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A, John 14:1-12, describes how Jesus mentions the Father in his relation to Him.  First, Jesus speaks of the Father as the owner of the House, in which he prepares τόπος/topos (place) for us.  Our place in the Father’s House (John 14:3) is indicative of the New Eden, envisioned in Revelation 22.  This vision of our ultimate “home” in juxtaposition between the Father’s House (John 14:2) and New Eden (Revelation 22) follows the Heavenly Wedding of the Lamb (Christ) and the his bride (Church) in Revelation 21.

Now, Jesus hints his departure, Ascension, to be with the Father in heaven. He indicates his reason to depart as to prepare a heavenly place for us in Father’s House. This is where Jesus begins to relate us to the Father through him.  However, in response to this, Thomas asks Jesus how we can know the way he is going as we do not know where Jesus is going (John 14:5). To this inquiry of Thomas, Jesus begins revealing more of his Christological identity as the way, the truth, and the life, as well as the only gateway to the Father (John 14:6).

Christ as the way (ὁδός/hodos), as well as the gateway, to the Father reflects Jesus’ self-identification as the sheep gate in John 10:9.  He is the way, while he leads the way, as the Good Shepherd, to the verdant pastures, and to the Father.

Christ’s self-identification as the truth reflects that he is also the Word (λόγος /logos -דָּבָר /dabar) because the Word is the truth (John 17:17 ; 2 Samuel 7:28).  This also echoes the Johannine Christological definition as “ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο/ o Logos sarx egeneto”(John 1:14), which is rooted in John 1:1, “Λόγος- Θεὸς/Logos-Theos” homoousis. Tertullian, in his “Adversus Praxean”, also addresses this Logos-Theos homoousis, further in relation to Sophia, connecting John 1:1, 14 to Proverbs 8:22-31.

Christ’s identity as the life (ζωή/zoe ) is reflected in the Living Bread of Life, which leads to eternal life (John 6:51). This Christological identity as life (zoe) is also echoed in John 10:28, which reflects John 10:10. Jesus’ self-identification with ζωή/zoe is also associated with the life-giving breath (נִשְׁמַת/nishmah), which God the Father poured into the molded clay to turn it into Adam (Genesis 2:7).  This life-giving breath of God is also reflected in the risen Christ’s offer of his breath as the Holy Spirit to the disciples on the evening of his Resurrection day (John 20:22). By linking Genesis 2:7 to John 20:22, we understand that the essence of Jesus’ identity as the life (ζωή/zoe) is נִשְׁמַת/nishmah (life-giving breath). The zoe-nishmah juxtaposition in Jesus’ Chiristological identity is associating him with the Holy Spirit , “ Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον (pneuma hagion)”. Thus, the Gospel Reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A (John 14:1-12) also signals that Eastertide is consummated with Pentecost Sunday, which is followed by Trinity Sunday.

Receiving Christ as life, in addition to the way and the truth, we can assure that we are not just flesh (σάρξ/sarx) to die but also not just as a spirit (πνεῦμα/pneuma). Rather, we also have the kind of spirit God puts His life through His breath (נִשְׁמַת/nishmah) in Christ so that we can have life as a living soul (נָ֫פֶשׁ/nephesh or ψυχή/pusuche, psyche). Furthermore, from a Sacramental perspective, Jesus’ self-identification as the life ζωή/zoe -נִשְׁמַת/nishmah also reflects Christ as the life-giving Bread (John 6:63).

Jesus is the way leading to the Father, whose House in heaven, has a place for us. At the same time, he is the truth, reflected in the Word, and the life, in juxtaposition to the Bread of Life and the Holy Spirit.  Following this Christological self-identification, Jesus further tells more about him in relation to the Father. In fact, this leads to the Father-Son consubstantiality or homoousis, which is related to the hypostatic union among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in Holy Trinity.

Following his self-identification as the way, the truth, and the life , while asserting that he is the only way to the Father (John 14:6), Jesus now tells that knowing him leads to knowing the Father (John 14:7). Furthermore, Jesus unfolds his Christological identity in relation to the Father in these words, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:10, 11). This echoes these words of Jesus on his Christological identity in relation to the Father, “I and the Father are one”(John 10:30). The nature of  Father-Son relation is understood as homoousis, as well as consubstantiality, first officially recognized at the First Nicene Council (325 AD), as “οὐσίας τοῦ Πατρος/homoousis to patros”(consubstantial with the Father) in the Nicene Creed.

Following this revelation of Christological identity, in the Gospel Reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A (John 14:15:21), all the Christological revelation from the Fourth Sunday and Fifth Sunday of Easter now comes to its full circle in the context of the Trinity. Because the Sixth Sunday of Easter is the Sunday before the Ascension, which is followed by the Pentecost, all three persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are revealed in their unique relationship in this Gospel narrative. This way, we are ready for the Ascension, the Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday, which follows Pentecost Sunday.

Through the Johannine Gospel readings for the Fourth and the Fifth Sundays of Easter, the Christological identity with the homoousis shared between the Father and the Son is revealed. These Gospel narratives also implicate that Jesus invites us to be on the way to the Father in juxtaposition to be with the way, which is Jesus himself.  Now, in the Gospel story for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Jesus introduces us to the Holy Spirit, as another Παράκλητος/parakletos (Advocate, Counselor), in place of his physical presence. According to Jesus, this Holy Spirit comes to us and to be with us, upon his departure from us to be with the Father and to prepare a place for us in Father’s House in heaven. In introducing the Holy Spirit to us this way, Jesus also assures that we will not be left like orphans.

The Gospel narrative for the Sixth Sunday (John 14:15-21) begins with Jesus’ statement on a condition of our relation to him: love. According to him, our love for him means observing his commandments (v.15). This means that our love for Christ is backed by our obedience to him.  On this condition, Jesus promises that the Father will send us another Παράκλητος/parakletos to be with us forever (v. 16), and he calls this Advocate as the Spirit of truth (v. 17).

It is important to note that John 14, from which the Gospel readings for the Fifth Sunday (vv. 1-12) and the Sixth Sunday (vv. 15-21) are taken, follows the narrative on the Mandatum Novum to love one another as Jesus has done so to us upon indicating his departure (John 13:31-35). This entire Christological discourse in these two Easter Sundays’ Gospel readings from John 14 are part of his Last Supper discourse, which start with the foot washing of the disciples by Jesus (John 13:1-17) and ends with series of his prayers (John 17:1-26). With this background, we can see Jesus’ statement on loving him as observing his commandments (John 14:15) echoes his Mandatum Novum to love each other as his disciples (John 13:34-35). Relating ourselves to Jesus as his disciples means to observe his commandments, in which loving is the most important.  Thus, there is a reciprocal love between Christ and us, as we observe his commandments, including the Mandatum Novum.

Because Jesus calls us to love as his Mandatum Novum for us upon reminding of his nearing departure (John 13:31-35), his statement to link loving him and observing his commandments in John 14:15 also implies his imminent farewell. Jesus’ departure has a parallel meaning: his death on the Cross, as this was told during the Last Supper, and his Ascension, as the world cannot see him any more (v.19).

In addition of John 13:18-35, Jesus’s departure is indicated in John 14:1-14, in which Thomas asked Jesus the way he is going and Philip asked to show the Father, to whom Jesus is going, as in the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday. The Gospel story for the Sixth Sunday (John 14:15-21) follows this progressive revelation of Jesus’ impending departure. With this increasing imminence, Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit as another Παράκλητος/parakletos in John 14:16 and further in v. 26 to assure that we will not be left in the world like orphans (v.18, echoes also in v. 27, given “ὀρφανός/orphan” means not only as “orphan” but also “being desolate”). The way Jesus connects us to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, as another Παράκλητος/parakletos, rather than Πνεύματος Ἁγίου/pneumatos hagiou, in John 14:16 is to make Πνεύματος Ἁγίου/pneumatos hagiou personified for us so that we will not feel abandoned like orphans in the world, where he is no longer seen in his flesh. This shows his intimac toward us in the way he relates himself to us. This intimacy is repeatedly echoes in his statements: He is in us and we in him, in juxtaposition to his presence in the Father and Father in him. Now, we understand that the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is not a mere invisible pneuma but parakletos, who is just like Jesus the Son, the second person in the Trinity, himself. This is why Jesus put “another” to parakletos in introducing him to us.

In John 14:16, Jesus first brings up the Holy Spirit in a personified form with male gender, as “ἄλλον Παράκλητον/allon Parakleton/s”( another Advocate).  In the following verse, he explains this another Advocate as  “τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / to Pneuma tes aletheias” (the Spirit of truth).  Given Jesus’ self-identification in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”(Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή/Ego eimi he hodos kai he aletheia kai he zoe),  another Advocate (Palakletos) as the Spirit of truth is Jesus as the truth himself in essence.   Thefore, there is a hypostasis between Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promises to be sent out of the Father to us on Pentecost.

Jesus has introduced the Holy Spirit in his hypostatic relation to him, through truth, as another Advocate and the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17), on a condition that we love him by observing his commands (John 14:15). Loving Jesus by observing his commadments means being his sheep and loving him as our Good Shepherd, because we, as his sheep, know him and listen to his voice (John 10:4, 14, 27). Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as another Advocate as we remain with him and he remains with us by loving him and following his commandments, even though he leaves the world to be with the Father.  Our Good Shepherd is not going to leave us, his sheep, like orphans (John 14:18), and we continue to hear his commandments in his voice and observe them.  Our Advocate (Παράκλητος/parakletos) is always with us, in flesh until Ascension and in spirit upon Pentecost.  This is why, in John 14:16, the Holy Spirit is “another” (ἄλλον /allos) Palakletos rather than “different”( ἕτερος/heteros) Parakletos.

Though Jesus as a being in human flesh, which came to this world through Mary’s Immaculate body and sustained death as resurrected, is about to leave, we are assured of his presence with us through his promise in John 14:18.  The original Greek word for “orphans” in this verse, is ὀρφανός,/ orphanos, and it means more than being orphan. It also means being bereft, grieving, being desolate due to having no father.  Given this multitude of meaning of ὀρφανός,/ orphanos, Jesus is assuring us of comfort by not leaving us in a desolate condition, bereft of the Good Shepherd, even though he is leaving, by his promise of another Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. For this reason, we can also see ἄλλον Παράκλητον/allon Parakleton (another Advocate) in John 14:16 as another Comforter.   In fact, the Greek word, “parakletos” (παράκλητος) etymologically means to “I called (myself) to be beside” (para – to be beside + kaleo – call”).  Thus, John 14:15-18 describe Jesus’ assurance of his “Immanuel” identity, reflecting these words of him, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). We love Jesus, our Good Sherpherd and observe his commandment. Thus, we not only love one another as he has loved us but also go out to serve him as “fishers of people”, as he remains with us until he returns at the end of time.

By John 14:17, Jesus has fully disclosed his Christological identity in relation to the hypostatic Trinitarian unity, first with the Father-Son homoousis, in which he finds himself.  By John 14:18, Jesus assures of his perpetual presence with us as Παράκλητος./ Parakletos (Advocate, Comforter, Counselor), which is the essence of him being our Good Shepherd.  In John 14:19, Jesus now reminds us that his presence as our Good Shepherd, our accompanying Advocate and Comforter, is found in us, because he is in us, as we are in him. Because of this unique reciprocal relationship with Christ, we can still see him in the eyes of faith, while the world will no longer see him after the Ascension.  Because we can see Christ even he is in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, Christ further tells that we can recognize (γινώσκω /ginosko) that he is in the Father and we are in him and he is in us (John 14:20).  This links our reciprocal unity with Christ, our sheep-shepherd relationship, to the Father through him and his homoousis with Him.  Echoing John 14:15, Jesus further reassures of our intimate relationship with the Father through him in John 14:21. At the same time, he reminds us that loving him by observing his commandments also means to love the Father.  Because of the homoousis between Jesus and the Father, we love the Fatehr as we love Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son.

Now we see how the Gospel readings for the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Sundays on Cycle A progressively reveal Christological insights not only in relation to us but also in the context of Trinity to prepare us for Ascension and Pentecost.  First, through the Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday (John 10:1-10), Jesus tells his relationship to us. Then, with the Gospel readings for the Fifth Sunday and the Sixth Sunday (John 14:1-12; 15-21), Jesus gradually reveals his Christological identity in relation to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, while he continues to speak of his relation to us and now paralles it to his relation to the Father.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), as read in the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter on Cycle A.  Now, we know that the Father is in hypostasis with Jesus the Son (John 10:30; 14:10, 11, 20), our first Parakletos, who was conceived in the Immaculate womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18), sent by the Father.  Then, Jesus the Son promises that the Father send another Parakletos to assure of God’s perpetual presence with us (John 14:16) and calls him (Parakletos) the Spirit of truth (John 14:17), alluding him to the Holy Spirit, who comes to us on Pentecost (i.e. John 16:13).  Thus, being with Jesus, the first Parakletos, is being on the way of the truth and the life to the Father.  To make sure that we complet our journey to the Father, Jesus makes sure that Parakletos continues to remain with us in the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17), even though he needs to return to the Father in heaven through the Ascension. He explains that his Ascension is necessary for another Parakletos, who is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person in Trinity, to come to us (John 16:7).  Another reason for him to Ascend to the Father in heaven is to prepare a place in the Father’s House in heaven for us (John 14:2-3), namely to prepare to take us to the “New Eden” at the eschaton, as envision in Revelation 21-22. Thus, Jesus’ Christological identity to be the way to the Father in John 14:6 is to bring us to be grafeted to the hypostatic union of the Trunity, shared by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  This way of Jesus to bring us to the Father in the Trinity’s hypostatic union with the Son and the Holy Spirit is, indeed, reflected in these words of Jesus, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you”(John 14:20) and, furthermore, in John 15:1-5, where Jesus sees us as the branches connected to him, the vine, taken care by the Father, the gardener.

Now, we are ready for Ascension and Pentecost, because we know that these events are absolutely necessary to bring us to the Father in the Trinity.

Below, you will find summaries of all Easter Sunday Gospel narratives on Cycle A to see thematic patterns: a shift from the recognizing the Resurrection mode to the Christological mode leading to Trinity.  This set of summaries is taken from my slides, which I use for my scripture teaching sessions.

Resurrection Sunday: Anxiety-provoking discovery of the empty tomb (John 20:1-9).

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday): The risen Christ appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room, anxiety gave its way to joy of realizing the Resurrection, Thomas came to believe (John 20:12-31).

Third Sunday of Easter: Joyful recognition of the risen Lord in the breaking of bread in Emmaus, finding the heart burning with passion, as a grieving heart is enlightened by the Word (Luke 24:13-35).

Fourth Sunday of Easter: Christ as the gateway to salvation, the giver of abundant life (John 10:1-10)  cf. Christ as the Living Bread of Life, who gives eternal life (John 6:32-58).

Fifth Sunday of Easter: Christ as the way, the truth, and the life; the Father is in Christ, and Christ in the Father (The Father – the Son consubstantiality, homoousis….i.e. John 10:30) (John 14:1-12).

Sixth Sunday of Easter: Christ as the Emmanuel: Christ being eternal parakletos (which means to advocate and comfort by  being “besides”(para)), extending the essence of the Father-Son consubstantiality to us, as we obediently remain with him and observe his commandments (John 14:15-21).

Ascension:  Christ’s farewell address and commissioning to us with his commandment to make disciples of all nations (to go as los pescados de hombres en mundo) with his promise to remain with us (junto a nos….con nostros) as Emmanuel till the end of time (eschatos), reflecting, “Ite, Missa Est” (Matthew 28:16-20).

Seventh Sunday of Easter: Completion of Jesus’ Christological identity revelation, summed in eternal life, as he is ready to return to the Father (John 17:1-11a).

Pentecost Sunday: Juxtaposition of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from the Father in Heaven in Christ’s name (parakletos) in the Upper Room (First Reading – Acts 2:1-11) to the risen Christ’s impartation of his breath, as the Holy Spirit, to the frightened disciples in the Upper Room on the evening of the Resurrection (John 20:19-23).

Eastertide Psychospiritual Growth and Transformation: Toward Ego Integrity through Intimate Attachment and Generativity

During Eastertide, First Readings for Mass are taken from the Acts of the Apostles, though they are usually from the Old Testament. Gospel Readings for this festive period are taken from John, except for the Third Sundays on Cycle A and Cycle B. For these two Sundays, the Gospel readings are taken from Luke 24.

It is likely that these Eastertide Sunday Scripture readings are arranged this way to prepare us for Pentecost, while deepening our intimacy with the risen Christ.  Reading the Acts of the Apostles gives us visions of how we are to become upon our Easter experience, as Eastertide journey completes with Pentecost.  First Readings for Easter Sundays from the Acts of the Apostles describe how fruitful the works of the Apostles were after they were empowered by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The Easter Sundays First Readings from the Acts of the Apostles gives encouraging visions of how our Eastertide journey to Pentecost will entail with our productivities as disciples of Christ. 

On the other hand, Easter Sundays Gospel readings for the first three Sundays reflect how the Apostles struggled in recognizing the Resurrection.  Quite contrary to how we celebrate Easter Sunday, the way the Apostles began the Resurrection Sunday was characterized with fear, confusion, doubt, and grief, as the Gospel Readings for the first three Easter Sundays remind.  Nevertheless, as they encountered the risen Christ and recognized him, they were immediately filled with joy. Perhaps, this rather reflects how we celebrated Easter Vigil Mass – starting with darkness, gradually giving its way to light of joy.

Then, there is a shift in the Easter Sunday Gospel Readings on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. From this Sunday on, the Johannine Gospel Readings for the rest of Easter Sundays are Christological, especially intended to foster our intimate relationship with the risen Christ.  These Gospel narratives are to help us become drawn closer and closer to Christ.  Given the Johannine Chirstological insights, which put Christ the Son and the Father consubstantial, grounded in the juxtaposition of “logos” in John 1:1.  As a matter of fact, this Johannine Christological motif, consubstantiality between the Father and Christ the Son, stemming from John 1:1, leads to Trinity, especially with John 14:16 on. It also suggests that Eastertide Sunday Johannine Gospel Readings from Good Shepherd Sunday on not only prepare us for Pentecost but also for Trinity Sunday, which follows Pentecost Sunday.

Having recovered from Lenten guilt and Good Friday grief by the Third Sunday of Easter, we are more fit to experience not only joy but also intimacy with the risen Christ.  Given the consubstantiality between the Father and Christ the Son, we are now drawn closer not only to the risen Christ but also to the one who sent him, the Father. This Christological transformational and growth process during Eastertide will also lead us to the infusion of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to consummate our Easter experience. Then, we shall find ourselves so fired up with the Pentecost Holy Spirit and further growing to be generative disciples of Christ, just as the post-Pentecost Apostles were. Here, we can see how the Easter Sundays First Readings from the Acts of the Apostles and the Johannine Gospel Readings in our post-Pentecost growth and transformation.

What the Sunday Scriptures Readings for Easter Sundays inspire us into becoming  generative disciples, empowered by the Pentecost Holy Spirit and grounded in intimacy with the Triune God. In the Trinity, the Father the Sender, the Son the Savior, and the Holy Spirit the Comforter are found in the hypostatic union.  In this mysterious divine unity, we are dawn intimately. This Easter spiritual growth and transformation reflects Erik Erikson’s psychosocial developmental concept and John Bowlby’s attachment concept.  Erikson argued that we, as humans, grow to become a whole person with ego integrity, with the foundation of trust. On this developmental journey, we attain generativity to show more compassion, following the attainment of intimacy. In terms of intimacy, Bowlby emphasized the importance of forming secure psychological attachment (not to be confused with upadana , which associated with suffering, dukka, in Buddhism, often translated as “attachment”) with the primary care-giving being, usually a mother.  Attachment in Bowlby’s concept and trust in Erikson’s concept are in parallel as both of these are considered to be the foundation of human psychological development.

In fact, the paradigms of these psychological concepts of Erikson and Bowlby are applicable to enhance understanding of our Eastertide transformation and growth toward post-Pentecost generativity.  For the faithful, our ultimate primary care-giving being is the Father, and Christ the Son is the Good Shepherd, who leads us to Him, and is the gateway to Him. That is why we need to form our secure attachment with Christ, as branches are securely attached to the vine, so that we can be fruitful – generative – in our works of mercy.  This is our Christian psychospiritual growth journey into our ego – self integration, finding ourselves in Christ. When this Christian ego integration is attained, we can experience what Paul meant by these words, “ I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). Not to mention, Paul formed very intimate attachment with Christ, who delivered him from the hands of Satan, and his service to Christ was very generative. 

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!

Eastertide Journey: the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola as a Guide for Transformative Growth in Faith

We are about to wrap up the Third Week of Easter and enter the week of Good Shepherd Sunday. It means that we have come almost half way on our Easter journey.  Out of the 50 days of this celebratory Paschal season, following the 40 days of penitential Lenten season, we are to experience what Paschal Mystery means, especially what the Resurrection means, in our daily lives. At the same time, we prepare ourselves for Pentecost.

Easter is not singular day. It is a continuum, like a spectrum, spanning over 50 days, from Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost Sunday, with its Second Sunday celebrated as the Divine Mercy Sunday, to complete its Octave.  The Fourth Sunday is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, as its Gospel readings on all cycles are taken from John 10 to address Jesus as the Good Shepherd. In fact, there is a shift in the tread of Gospel readings on Good Shepherd Sunday.

On Cycle A, the Gospel readings for the first 3 Sundays of Easter (John 20:1-9; 20:19-31; Luke 24:13-35) remind us how the disciples encountered the risen Christ and how they truly came to terms with the Resurrection and how their lives had been impacted by their understanding of the Resurrection. All of these Gospel narratives remind us that the disciples struggled in understanding the Resurrection.  From the Good Shepherd Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Easter) on, the Gospel readings address Christological themes, such as Jesus’ role as the Good Shepherd to help us deepen our understanding of who Jesus is. For the first three Sundays of Easter, the Gospel readings guide us how we can come to terms with the resurrection of the Lord, while the remaining of Easter Sunday Gospel readings are to give us new insights not only as to who Jesus is but also as to what Paschal Mystery is about. This process of understanding is very important for us to consummate Easter with Pentecost.

As we are about to start the fourth week of Easter, by now, we are to have had personal encounters with the risen Christ.  If we are like the disciples in the Gospel stories read for the first three Sundays of Easter, we, too, must have struggled what the resurrection really was about.  

Of course, we have read the scriptures. So, we “know” that Jesus died and was raised on the third day.  We recite this through the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. However, it is often on cerebral level. However, experiencing what we recite in these creeds and what we know from reading the scriptures about the death and the resurrection of Jesus on a much deeper personal level, with full emotions? Without this deep subcerebral experience of Paschal Mystery, our Easter would end up as “mere another Easter to pass”, nothing but superficial festivities with dinning out, Easter eggs, and Easter bunnies.

Easter, in deed, is about our spiritual transformational growth, in response to our joy of experiencing the risen Christ. Perhaps, the best example of this is the burning hearts that Cleopas and the other disciples had when they experienced the risen Christ in their amidst (Luke 24:32).  With their burning hearts with passion, they abandoned their original itinerary to go further away from Jerusalem but to return to Jerusalem immediately, in spite of advancing evening time, to share their joyful Easter experience with the rest of the disciples. They did not wait until the sunrise.

According to the Gospel narrative for the Third Sunday of Easter on Cycle A (Luke 24:13-35), Cleopas and the other disciples left Jerusalem with their hearts heavy with grief. Perhaps, they visited Golgotha about 3 pm to memorialize Jesus’ death. Then, they left there for Emmaus, which is 7 miles away. On their way, while they were talking about what happened to Jesus in retrospect, unbeknownst to them that it was the risen Christ, Jesus joined them. Noticing that they were taking about him but did not recognize him, Jesus asked them what they were talking about. In response, they began “preaching” to Jesus about what happened to the man, Jesus the Nazarene. Then, Jesus confronted their ignorance, saying, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”(Luke 24:25), and began enlightening them by opening the Scriptures. As the risen Christ opened the Scriptures, the disciples’ hearts began to lighten up. By the evening time in Emmaus, they obviously became quite interested in listening to the risen Christ’s teaching on the Scriptures more. So, they asked him to stay for the evening with them. Then, Jesus broke the bread at supper to open their eyes, and they immediately recognize the risen Christ. At the same time, they also realized that they hearts were burning, and the fire was already turned on when the risen Christ began opening the Scriptures on the way to Emmaus.  Then, they just could not keep their Easter experience to themselves even it was already dark and unfit to travel. So, they just dashed back to Jerusalem to share their great Easter experience.

This is a kind of experience we need to have during the 50 days of Eastertide. But, if possible, it is better to have such an experience before Good Shepherd Sunday rolls in.  Of course, everyone’s Eastertide journey is different. So, while some people have had such Easter experience already, others may not yet have.

Whether you have already had or not, my Easter season recommendation is to go over the Fourth Week segment of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  This segment spans from #218 to #237, with #219 reflects the first thing on the Resurrection Sunday morning and #239 corresponds Pentecost.  The Spiritual Exercises encourage us to engage in what David Tracy calls “mutually critical correlation” of our own lived life experience to Christian texts, including the Scriptures, with our senses fully utilized. Thus, engaging in the Exercises is neither merely intellectual nor emotional, but rather it is a holistic experience. It ultimate purpose is to be drawn much more closer to Christ.  After all, Eastertide is a period for us to increase our intimacy with Christ, because it is to aid our transformative growth, as well as a consequence of our transformative growth in faith.  Think of getting closer to Christ as engaging in the Gospel stories from Good Shepherd Sunday on.

In the Fourth Week segment of the Spiritual Exercises, one important thing to be mindful of is increasing appreciation of God’s grace and joy as a result of it.  With this, we can be in synch with St. Ignatius of Loyola on the Suscipe prayer at #234:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

Prompted by our joy of experiencing the risen Christ, we become more receptive and appreciative of what Pope Francis calls “current of grace”.  In fact, its powerful form is the Divine Mercy, gushing forth from the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us (Diary of St. Faustina, 186-187), recalling our memory to the blood and water gushing out of the crucified body of Christ (John 19:34).  With this, we can link Good Friday in Paschal Triduum back in Lent to our Easter joy and appreciation. This can be enhanced by connecting the Third Week segment of the Spiritual Exercises to the Fourth Week segment.

As Easter effects continues to prompt our transformative growth, we gain better insights and meaning on Christ’s suffering and death, as we now can associate these to our current Easter joy and appreciation. Furthermore, we rejoice over our personal encounter with the risen Christ, we come much more closer to him. As our intimacy with the risen Christ grows, we become more willing to surrender everything related to our egos and to be one with Christ (i.e. John 17:21; 1 Corinthians 6:17). This way, we become less influenced by flesh but more by the Holy Spirit (i.e. Romans 8:9), and then, our own lived life experiences can make mutually critical correlation to these words of Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Having the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola as a practical guide, we are likely to maximize meaningfulness of our Eastertide journey of growth and transformation.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam! 

In Search of Authentic Easter

On Easter afternoon, restaurants are brimmed with people. Pews are also full in many churches on Easter, even though they are usually almost empty.  Yes, Easter is an occasion of joy. Both churches and restaurants are packed to mark the festivity. At least, that is how the world presents itself on Easter. However, what is the real “Easter”, described in the sacred scriptures? In fact, on the original “Easter” day, there was no party…no Easter bunny, no egg hunting….  The people in Jerusalem were not eating and drinking in eateries merrily on that Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection, almost 2,000 years ago. In fact, they did not even know that he was risen and did not seem to care.  On the other hand, the disciples first experienced “Easter” with fear and skepticism. The mood of the original “Easter” was far from joy, and the disciples fear and skepticism were pretty much due to their ignorance.

It is easy for us to be duped by what the world tells about Easter. Even some preachers, especially who tend to avoid preaching on the meaning of the Crucifixion, can give us a misguiding notion of Easter. We must focus on what the sacred scriptures tell what Easter is all about.

As the scriptures narratives describe, the disciples, including Mary Magdalene, began their “Easter” experience with fear and skepticism because of their lack of understanding of the Old Testament prophecies, especially on the suffering Messiah in Isaiah 53 and the teaching of Jesus, such as in John 2:19; Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:18-19.

It is not to say that we must tremble with fear to experience Easter. It is not to say that we must wonder if the Resurrection was true.  Rather, it is important that we put ourselves in the positions of the disciples and reflect as if we were them, facing the empty tomb. In this reflection, we ask ourselves, if we are more like Mary Magdalene or Peter or John. The scriptures indicate that it was Mary Magdalene who first realized that the tomb of Jesus was empty, and it how the original Easter started.

No, Mary Magdalene did not call the rest of the disciples to party with Easter bunnies in front of the empty tomb.

There is a reason for the Eastertide to span for 50 days until Pentecost. It is because it takes a while for the real Easter to really sink in our hearts and kick into our actions as real disciples of the risen Lord.  To be faithful to the scriptures, the way we appreciate Easter and experience Easter joy is rather gradual. It is a 50-day process.  In fact, Pentecost is our consummation of Easter. Through the baptism of the fire of the Holy Spirit, all the meaning of Easter sinking and settling in our hearts during the 50 days of Eastertide, will get fired up and spring into our apostolic actions.  For this real Easter experience, we do not have to have Easter brunch or Easter party.

Yes, after these Lenten abstinence days from singing gloria and alleluia during Mass, we can now sing gloria and alleluia joyfully because the Lord has risen.  At the same time, we must remember that the original “Easter” did not start with Mary Magdalene singing gloria and alleluia in front of the empty tomb. As we begin Eastertide, let us be more mindful of the disciples’ struggles to come to terms with the Resurrection of the Lord, while singing gloria and alleluia. 

Our Easter experience is a gradual toward Pentecost. To some, doubt may linger. Everyone experiences Easter differently, depending on their spiritual maturity in their faith and their life circumstances.

Let us not forget that many people are, in fact, struggling in experiencing “Easter” on their personal levels, because of their ongoing sufferings and struggles. No, Easter Sunday does not necessarily wipe away challenges in their lives. They wake up on Easter morning with pain. In fact, people are dying even on Easter Sunday.  We must reflect how they will experience “Easter” amidst increasing pain and sudden grief.

When I spent one Easter Sunday in hospitals, not as a patient but as a pastoral minister,  many patients, whom I was called to meet,  were crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46). Not only their health conditions had kept them from celebrating Easter in their churches but also their ongoing suffering and prospect of dying made it difficult to experience Easter joy. At the same time, away from where these patients were, people were flocking in restaurants for Easter brunches after churches.  

As a pastoral minister, I see that the original “Easter” is much more closer to the original “Good Friday” than to a kind of “happy” Easter that the world presents.  At the same time, just as Good Friday is not a day all about grief, the real “Easter” is not all about crying out to God because of ongoing sufferings and struggles.  Remember, on Good Friday, the closed gate of heaven was opened and graves of holy people were opened when Jesus expired at three o’clock in the afternoon (i.e. Matthew 27:51-53). Our “Easter” hope was already growing amidst the day of suffering and grief.

If we are truly embracing “Easter”, then, we always experience the joy of the Resurrection together with ongoing and even worsening struggles and sufferings – though they may lead us to confront our own mortality and frailty.  Then, we also realize that we cannot reduce real “Easter” to mere materialistic festivities.

Even if you are facing difficulties in experiencing “Easter” joy now, let’s be patient, allowing the Holy Spirit to be poured upon you and letting the Spirit bear its fruits, especially forbearance. This way, you shall experience more fruits of the Holy Spirit, such as joy, peace, and love, as your faithfulness grows.

Back in Holy Week during Lent, starting Spy Wednesday, throughout Paschal Triduum, the darkness increased, as reflected in Tenebrae reflection. Now, this Lenten darkness will gradually give its way to the light of the Resurrection. Not experiencing the Resurrection light right away on Easter Sunday with a worldly “joy” may make our Easter experience more authentic, because that was how the disciples’ original “Easter” experience started. The Risen Lord will come to even those who are doubtful, like Thomas, and transform their skepticism into belief with joy. We just make sure that we can meet the Risen Lord, whenever he comes to us.

Let us celebrate Easter more authentically, allowing the Risen Christ, to meet and touch us,  so that we can culminate our Easter experience on Pentecost!

   

批判と非難：礼儀ある批判、礼儀知らずの非難

“君の言っていることは間違っている”、“君の主張は的外れである”、“君の言っていることは屁理屈で何を言っているのか分らない”。

こうした発言は“批判”なのか、それとも“非難”なのか？それらの分水嶺は、このような発言の後に続くフォローである。

例えば、“君の言っていることは間違っている。なぜならば、君が示したAという議論は、XYZというAそのものが意図することから逸脱していると考えられるからだ”、という理論的な理由付けをするのが礼儀である。また、科学的な議論においては、エヴィデンンスや相手の方法論を理論的根拠でもって批判するのが常識。しかし、こうしたフォローなしに、ただ、“それは間違っている”というだけでは論理的に正等な批判なのか、それとも非難なのか相手にとってはわかりにくいので失礼である。

批判すると言うことは真実の探求の為に、私情を抑えできるだけ客観的に、それ故、論理的に相手の主張の間違いと思われることを指摘し、相手が自ら自分の議論を再検証し改正できるように促すことである。こうした礼儀ある行為が議論における礼儀というもおである。しかし、こうしたフォローをするという礼儀を欠き、ただ相手に対して、“君の主張は間違っている”、というだけでは論理的に正等な批判、礼儀に沿った批判とはいえない。

誰かの意見や主張、論説、を批判する時ほど、自分が使う言葉の重みを実感し、その責任を全うしなければならない。ただ、感情のままにこうした発言をすると、それこそ、屁理屈同様かそれ以下の非難でしかない。

知的な会話、議論、において批判はとても重要である。なぜならば、理論的な批判なくしては真実の探求は健全に行われず、それ故、学問の進歩もない。批判のない議論なんていうのは、同じ考えしかできない人たちの内輪の集まりでしかなく、違った意見や見解を自分達のサークルへの脅威と直感的に捕らえてしまい、過剰に批判的になる。それでも、論理的に批判できるならいいのだが、感情に支配されると、人間の心はどうも前頭葉の機能が大脳辺縁帯のそれよりも相対的に弱くなり、面倒な論理的な批判をするよりも、ad hominenの愚を犯しがちになる。

まさに、夏目漱石が“草枕”の冒頭で言った、“智に働けば角が立ち、情に竿させば流される”、です。つまり、理論的にあれこれ議論すると必ず誰かと衝突するのは当然のことで、それを恐れて、つまり、自分の論理を主張したくてもこうした意見の衝突に対する不安や恐怖といった感情に流されてしまってうまく言えずに葛藤の陥る、或いは、自分の考えに対して挑戦的な議論をしてくる人を自分の感情のまま非難するようになる。

真理の探究によって発展する学問にとって批判は不可欠であり、批判すること、されることを恐れていては、正等な議論はできず、そのような人は学問発展にとって貢献し難い。そうした人ほど、ただ自分の感情の流れるままに相手の議論を論理的に批判するというよりも、相手そのものを非難するad hominenという礼儀を欠いた行為をとるものである。智に働けば角が立つのは当たり前であり、そうした論議の上で必然的な角を違う観点から論理的に切磋琢磨しあうことで角は丸くなり、やがて角に隠れていた新しい真実が見えてくるのである。そうしたことを可能にするのが礼儀のある論理的に正等な批判なのである。