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“Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.”
Isaiah 66:10-11 |
On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, the Church expresses joy and hope in the midst of our preparation for Easter. The name Laetare comes from the first words of this Sunday’s Entrance Antiphon from the Book of Isaiah: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.” Laetare is the Latin word for “rejoice.”
The joy of Easter, which is just around the corner, is symbolized by the priest wearing rose-colored vestments. Just before we enter into the solemn days of remembrance of Jesus’ last days, we pause our penitential practices so we can have a glimpse of the joy that waits for us as we celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection at Easter.
Through the Desert God Leads us to Freedom
Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2024
Where are you?
Where is your brother and sister?
Our Lenten Journey will be concrete if, by listening once more to those two questions, we realize that even today we remain under the rule of Pharaoh.
A rule that makes us weary and indifferent. A model of growth that divides and robs us of a future. Earth, air and water are polluted but so are our souls. True Baptism has begun our process of liberation, yet there remains in us an inexplicable longing for slavery. A kind of attraction to the security of familiar things, to the detriment of freedom.
It is time to act, and in Lent, to act also means to pause. To pause in prayer, in order to receive the Word of God, to pause like the Samaritan in the presence of a wounded brother or sister. Love of God and love of neighbor are one love. Not to have other gods is to pause in the presence of God beside the flesh of your neighbor. For this reason, prayer almsgiving and fasting are not three unrelated acts, but a single movement of openness and self-emptying, in which we cast out the idols that weigh down, the attachments that imprison us. Slow down, then, and pause! The contemplative dimension of life that Lent helps us to rediscover will release new energies. In the presence of God, we become brothers and sisters, sensitive to one another: in place of threats and enemies we discover companions and fellow travelers. This is God’s dream, the promised land to which we journey once we have left our slavery behind.
Pentetential Litany: Hold Us In Your Mercy
- Rory Cooney
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