Cycle B Lent 4th Week Laetare Sunday

Christians Hope Joyfully for Heaven (linked to "Laetare Sunday)

Today is "Laetare Sunday" [the Sunday in which the entrance antiphon of the liturgy begins
with the word "laetare"—“Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in
mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”]. 
 "Laetare" means "rejoice."
 Midway through our Lenten journey towards Christ's Passion and Resurrection, the
Church invites us to rejoice.
 Today's rose-colored vestments symbolize this rejoicing.
In one sense, it is strange to rejoice right in the middle of this penitential season, when we are
letting the Holy Spirit remind us of all our sins and selfish tendencies and and when we are
invited to do acts of penance like fasting and abstinence, prayer, and acts of charity.
But if we go a little deeper, it makes perfect sense.

Sunrise and Exile (linked to First Reading)

Why did the Church choose this rose-colored vestment to symbolize our Christian joy?
 Why not some happy color like brilliant yellow or bright orange?
 It's because rose-color captures both sides of Christian joy: the partial joy we have now,
and the overflowing, complete joy we will experience in heaven.
 Rose-colored vestments are like the pale color of the horizon at the dawn of a new day,
when the dark night just begins to brighten as the sun starts to rise.
 Life here on earth is life in the dawn of salvation, but the full light of day only comes
later.
 Some darkness still lingers; we still have our crosses to bear and temptations to
overcome in our spiritual journey towards the Father.
 And we have a choice—to live in the light or to live in darkness.
 We can choose to move towards the light by following Christ, guided by God’s grace and
strength. Thus, we can rejoice.
 Or we can choose to back track and move towards the darkness of sin from which we
have come.
 “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness
to light, because their works were evil.
This was also the experience of ancient Israelites during their exile in Babylon, which we
heard about in the First Reading.

The Experience of Israel

That experience is a pattern of human history as a whole.
 Ancient Israel had been unfaithful to their friendship with God, and so they
were conquered by their enemies, enslaved, and taken into exile.
 Just so, the human family was unfaithful to God in the Garden of Eden and conquered by
our enemy, the devil, who became the ruler of this fallen world.
 But while the ancient Jews were in exile, God promised through his prophets that he
would come and rescue them.
  After 70 years of Babylonian exile, the Persian King Cyrus, conquered the Babylonians
and released the Jews to go back and rebuild their land and their Temple; it was
the fulfillment of that promise.
 After being freed, the people of Israel became enslaved again, bound by their own
desires and selfishness. The reverted to their selfish and disobedient ways.
 But God did not give up on them; instead, God promised to send a Savior to the human
race, who would restore our friendship with God, freeing us from slavery to sin,
ignorance, and hopelessness, and leading us to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Summary of the Bible

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”
These two verses from the third chapter of the Gospel of John, have often been
considered a good summary of the Bible.
God’s unconditional love of God was made visible and tangible in Jesus, God’s Son come
into the world. The Son, who was freely given as a gift of God, was accepted by some but
rejected by others. God sent his Son so that all may have eternal life. The primary purpose of
sending the Son was to save, not to condemn. Yet, every person is free to decide, free to
choose whether he or she wants to accept or reject this free gift. Acceptance of the gift of the
Son of God means salvation; rejection means that one has already condemned himself to doom.

 Salvation is a gift freely given to us out of love: (John) “For God so loved the world that
he gave his only Son.”
 Freely given because is given though undeserved: (Paul to Ephesians): “For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not
from works, so no one may boast.”

Conclusion
Today’s readings give us an insight into who God truly is as seen in Jesus Christ. Our
readings present to us a God who loves unconditionally, generously, and bountifully. This is the
reason why we rejoice in this 4th Sunday of Lent. Today’s good news is that even when we are in
extremely difficult situations and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, God
continues to be there with and for us, walking ahead of us, guiding our path and lighting our
way. He accompanies us out of the darkness. Today’s reading remind us that at moments when
we think all is lost and we have no hope, we must not give us or give in. Today, the Lord lays
before us life and death, light and darkness. Shall we choose to go back to the dark or shall we
choose to walk in his light? May we be given the grace this Lenten Season to always choose
to live in the light and so have life eternal.
Moses to the Israelites: “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live . . .”
Dawn: bukang liwayway; the rising of light
Dusk: nag-aagaw dilim; darkness is coming