Joy Break

This Fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday. It's also known as Rejoice Sunday because the Latin word "laetare" means "rejoice!" Penance isn't meant to be a gloomy affair, and halfway through this penitential season of Lent, Mother Church wisely gives us this "joy break" to remind us of the happiness of God's love. The entrance antiphon for today's Mass is a clarion call to jubilation: "Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her, and you will find contentment at her consoling breasts." (see Isaiah 66:10-11)

The source of our joy is, of course, Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Easter is the great feast of boundless, exhilarating joy. Lent also is a time of joy, as we hear in the first Preface of the Mass for Lent: "Each year you give us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed." Since I don't automatically think of Lent as a particularly joyful time, on Laetare Sunday I like to ponder anew the special joys of Lent, which include:

the joy of repentance -- "We must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found."

the joy of conversion -- "I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees."

the joy of prayer -- "Watch and pray with Me."

the joy of fasting -- "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit."

the joy of humility-- "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you shall return."

the joy of taking up our cross to follow Christ – "For me to live is Christ."

the joy of purity -- "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God."

the joy of reconciliation -- "When we were lost and could not find the way to you, you loved us more than ever."

the joy of mortification -- "Christ will be magnified in my body"

the joy of mercy -- "With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you."

the joy of salvation -- "I came so that you might have life and have it more abundantly."

the joy of LOVE -- "For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son."

"Look to God that you may be radiant with joy," Mother Church encourages us today. "Learn to savor how good the Lord is; happy are those who take refuge in him." (Responsorial Psalm, #34)

Indeed, let us be glad and rejoice!

Dear Lord, thank You for this joyful season of Lent. Help me to spend its remaining days well so that I may enter more fully into Your paschal joy. Amen.