LENT
LAETARE
Let us rejoice.
We offer up today the joy at one stage of our journey accomplished and a foretaste of the joy of Easter, which springs from the cross of Christ. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today contains the themes of joy and splendor of the New Jerusalem, the Church on earth and the heavenly city. The Epistle, given in allegorical language, wherin Agar stands for the synagogue and Sara for the Church, St. Paul gives us the interpretation of a famous passage of Genesis (16; 21. 1-21), showing that the economy of Salvation everything is based on the gift of God, the "promise." Christians, successors to the Jews, are the authentic heirs to God's promise.
The Gospel relates the multiplication of Loaves, a symbol of the 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 mankind. With these thoughts in mind, with her joyful expectation of Easter, now halfway through Lent, she calls on us to draw comfort in the healing power of Grace The rose colored vestments and flowers are signs of the Church's joy, which finds wonderful expression in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.