LENT
THE SEASON OF LENT
The Forth Sunday of Lent.
LAETARE SUNDAY
This Sunday also known as Rose Sunday, is the joy that we express as we continue on our Lenten journey and a foretaste of the coming joy of Easter, which springs from the Cross of Christ.
Today's Mass is filled with the themes of joys and splendor of the new Jerusalem, the Church on earth and the Heavenly city. St. Paul provides us with an interpretation of a famous passage of Genesis (16; 21, vs1-21.) showing that in the economy of Salvation, all is based on the gift of God, the "promise." Christians, successors of the Jews, are the authentic heirs to this promise. The Gospel relates the multiplication of loaves, a symbol of the Holy Eucharist which is pre-eminently the Easter Sacrament promised to the baptized.
Great is the joy of the Church at the possession of such relics, at seeing them ever renewed in her and at being able to communicate them to all of mankind.
With such thoughts in mind, in her profound expectation of coming Easter, being now halfway through Lent, she now calls on us to draw comfort in the healing power of Grace. The rose colored Vestments are signs of the Church's joy which finds wonderful expression in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Merciful God, grant us, we pray Thee, that we may always celebrate with veneration and receive with grateful hearts these Holy Mysteries with which You continually grant Your loving children.