I have spoken several times before in this column about the meals my mom and
I make for major holidays. Some are quite elaborate, and I’m more than a little proud of our efforts. But there is a drawback as well, and that is that there is always enough food leftover to have about one and a half more parties of the same size when all is said and done. Dividing up the leftovers and forcing people to take home nine-thousand calories worth of food is a task in and of itself. Despite my best efforts, I’ve never been able to convince my mom to cut back on what we serve.
 
This desire to give, and give generously, is just one small aspect of the abundance that Our Lord speaks of at the end of today’s Gospel. In this beautiful reflection on the Good Shepherd and what He does for His sheep, He states plainly that His purpose in coming into this world is so that “they might have life, and have it abundantly.” Abundance is an excess, both of quantity and quality, and the life in abundance that Jesus offers to those who follow Him is not a gluttonous
smorgasbord, but rather the complete and total fulfillment of our desires. Everything in life that leaves us even a little hollow or regretful does so because it is an imperfect solution to the desire in our hearts. Even the most wholesome and healthy of loves and pastimes, when they try to replace our desire for union with God, become bitter and sad. It is when we understand that Jesus is offering us something perfect that our entire attitude towards faith begins to change. He is not constraining us to a way of life that will leave us wanting, nor is He placing us under a dubious list of “Thou shalt not’s” but is instead showing us who we were meant to be, and how He created us to live and love. The world proposes a “freedom” to do whatever we want at any given moment, but the true freedom that Jesus Christ offers us is rooted in the knowledge of who we are, and, more
importantly, whose we are. The more we understand and live out of our identity as beloved sons and daughters of the Most High, the more abundant our joy.
 
As we continue to bask in the joy of this Easter season, perhaps now is a good time to reflect on the desires of our hearts and see where they diverge from what God wants for us. As we grow in a spirit of trust that the Lord wants what is truly best for us, hopefully we will also grow in the understanding of the abundance of life that we are offered in Jesus Christ.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC