Half way there!

Dear Parishioners,

Today, we celebrate the midpoint of our Lenten journey of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Mother Church recalls the words from Isaiah 66:10: “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all that delight in her: exult and sing for joy with her[.]”  It is this rejoicing from which the day receives its name, “Laetare Sunday.”  This is not a mild rejoicing within ourselves, but is an imperative to “rejoice.”  What do we rejoice in?  We express hope and joy in the midst of our Lenten fasts and penances.  The rose color of the vestments reflects the character of the day by blending violet, the color of penance, with white, the color of Resurrection.  This color change indicates a glimpse of the joy that awaits us at Easter, just before we enter the somber days of Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent.

The joy of Easter being around the corner is symbolized in a few other interesting liturgical possibilities. During Lent, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal forbids flowers adorning the altar. But on Laetare Sunday (as well as solemnities and feasts within the season), there’s a temporary halt to these penitential observations.  Laetare Sunday is the Church’s way of giving us a “shot in the arm” as we approach the darkness and horror of the days through Good Friday and Holy Saturday. It’s an opportunity to savor and keep in the back of our minds what awaits us on Easter Sunday — the reality that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and that our hearts will always be filled with joy!

In Christ,

Fr. Luke Fleck