Yesterday was the the fourth Sunday in Lent. It was the traditional mid-way point in Lent, called Laetare Sunday, from the traditional Latin Introit hymn for this day, “Laetare Jerusalem”, which proclaims:
Rejoice O Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her—
that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her consoling breast.
These words are taken from Isaiah 66:10, and this day is meant to be an encouragement to us in our Lenten fast. We are almost at our journey’s end, and we must not give up the fast or the struggle with our Lord in the wilderness. As a sign of this encouragement, the vestments are a brighter color: we wear rose vestments today, a change from the unbleached linen we wear the rest of the season. “Rose” Sunday is a pause that refreshes along our journey to the cross.
This year, while we may technically be half-way through the season of Lent, we are not yet half-way through the period of the closure of life as we know it. Unless the virus is halted, these closures are likely to be longer.
This year the path is different but the destination remains the same.
Having paused, we take the journey again. That we might be found at the foot of the cross with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Beloved Disciple.
In Lent, in Holy Week, in the midst of this pandemic, our destination remains that the faithfulness of Christ’s light and love and provision might be known through you and me.
Please keep me in your prayers, as I in turn pray my way through our directory.
Andrew
