Fourth Sunday of Lent

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Laetare Sunday

In other years: Saint John of Egypt (304-394) 

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 47 Announcing the Hours for the Work of God

Mass: Joshua 5:9a, 10-12; Resp Ps 34; 2 Cor 5:17-21; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

Glorify the Lord with me.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

Behold, new things have come.

(2 Cor 5:17)

Welcome to the Fourth Sunday of Lent and Laetare Sunday. Let us go to God's house with rejoicing. 

Browsing through a book quoted before, D. Ladinsky, Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West (Penguin, 2002), I found this in the section on Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), p. 185:

VULNERABLE

Vulnerable we are, like an infant.

We need each other's care

or we will 

suffer.

Our Gospel presents us with various vulnerable and suffering people, who, at one time or another in our lives, are each one of us. In order of appearance, first we have tax collectors and sinners, often despised and cast aside, who are attracted to Jesus, draw near to Him and want to hear what He has to say. Second is Jesus, who is about His Father's business, doing the will of His Father, opening Himself to attack and ridicule. Third are the Pharisees and scribes who complain about Jesus, who are uncomfortable with the ways of Jesus, the Healer who reaches out to those cast aside. Next comes the familiar, maybe too familiar Parable of the Prodigal Son. We have a man, the father of two sons, both of whom he loves. The younger of the two sons wants his share of the estate, now. He wants to go off with "freedom", and as it turns out, squander his inheritance and freely spend it all. However, he finds himself in dire need and owns his mistake, perhaps his betrayal, and seeks his father's forgiveness. What if his father rejects him? Now comes the father, filled with compassion, who welcomes the younger son with open arms, receives him with mercy and forgiveness and plans a party. Now with the older son, angry, resentful, even jealous and envious. The older son is suffering, even though all along, everything the father has was his to share in. Maybe the older son thought he was taken for granted.

This is all speculation on my part. However, the words of Catherine of Siena, loosely translated by Daniel Ladinsky, have confirmed some things. We do need each other's care. We are all vulnerable. We all suffer, saint and sinner alike. United in faith and prayer, we go forth.  

If the Lord God said to you: "I am the truth and the life," in your desire for truth, in your love for life, you would certainly ask Him to show you the way to reach them. You would say to yourself: "Truth is a great reality, life is a great reality; if only it were possible for my soul to find them!"

(From a treatise on John by Saint Augustine, bishop, in Office of Readings, Fourth Sunday of Lent)

SAINT JOHN OF EGYPT,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Half Dome with sunset light, Yosemite National Park. Spectacular. Thank you, Catherine.

© Gertrude Feick 2022