Easter season is especially a time for us to shout

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

Just when you thought Easter was winding down, it's time to shout.

This Sunday - the Third Sunday of Easter - is traditionally called Jubilate Sunday because the introductory psalm begins with: "Shout with joy to the Lord" (Ps 66).

All Sundays are days of rejoicing because they are the Lord's Day, the memorial of the Resurrection. As Vatican II reminded us, "The Lord's Day is the original feast day ... the foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year" (SC 106).

Technically, the Lord's Day is called "the eighth day" - and this is especially noticeable during Easter season. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, citing St. Justin, "Because it is the 'eighth day' following the Sabbath, it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ's Resurrection. For Christians, it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord's Day..." (n. 2174).

So the Lord's Day, the eighth day, represents both creation (marked by the Sabbath rest) and the new creation of Easter. It represents both the times of "now" and of "yet to come." In a real (secular) week, there are seven days; and an eighth day does not - cannot - exist. Yet, for we who believe in Christ, it does. With Jesus' resurrection, we have joyfully entered a new time and a new space.

Yet we still live in this world. So we mark our celebration of new creation in this world, every "eighth day" - the day following the Jewish Sabbath, or Sunday.

During the 50 days of Easter, we are especially reminded to rejoice as a resurrection people who live beyond the Sabbath and within the time of jubilee. Each Sunday of Easter brings this forth in various ways:

Divine Mercy Sunday falls on the octave of Easter.

Jubilate Sunday is the Third Sunday of Easter.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter brings us the Good News of Good Shepherd Sunday.

The Fifth Sunday has sometimes been called Cantate Sunday, because its opening psalm calls us to "Sing to the Lord a new song."

The Sixth Sunday of Easter has sometimes been Rogation Sunday, because of its proximity to Ascension. Rogations Days, no longer celebrated by the Church, focused on spring planting, but also reminded us of God as creator and sustainer of life, and of preparing our own lives to receive God's grace. In Latin, this Sunday was sometimes called Vocem Jucunditatis, which roughly translates as "with a voice full of song."

The Seventh Sunday, in most dioceses of the United States, is now the feast of the Ascension.

Through all of the Sundays of Easter, the theme of jubilee - of living in God's presence - is strong.

Ancient Jews celebrated a Jubilee Year every 50 years. The rules for a Jubilee Year appear in Leviticus (25: 8-22). Orchards and farm fields were left fallow. Debts were cancelled. Even property that had been sold to pay off debts was returned to its original owner. Slaves were set free. It was the year of God's favor and blessing.

This reality of rest and joy, of setting things right with God and with others, is what Jesus proclaimed. He did so from the start of his ministry: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to announce a year of favor from the Lord" (Lk 4:18-19).

Jesus spent his entire public life fulfilling that promise of jubilee - healing the sick, forgiving sins, even raising the dead. Jesus came to reveal the Kingdom of God and his resurrection most fully shows that the Kingdom has come - and is still coming to fruition. As a pilgrim church, we live in an in-between time: in the time of Easter and jubilee - and a time of preparation for full union with our risen Lord.

In this joy-filled, in-between time, we live the jubilee year, the time of rejoicing as we repay debts, set things right and turn to God.

By doing so, we proclaim the promise of our jubilee year "to all nations." We are supposed to be about the Lord's work and shouting for joy over the resurrection.