Fourth Sunday of Lent / Laetare Sunday (Year C) - 30 March 2025
30th March 2025
“When you think about death, do not be afraid, in spite of your sins. God already knows that you love Him … If you seek Him, He will welcome you as the father welcomed the prodigal son; but you have to seek Him!” - St Josemaria Escriva
The fourth Sunday of Lent marks the halfway point of our preparation for Easter and is celebrated with rose vestments instead of the usual violet. Laetare means “to rejoice” in Latin, and the lighter vestments signify a brief celebration in expectation of Easter, even in the midst of Lent.
A reflection on today's scripture readings by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"A person is merciful when he feels the sorrow and misery of another as if it were his own. Disliking misery and unhappiness, the merciful man seeks to dispel the misery of his neighbour just as much as he would if the misery were his own. That is why, whenever mercy is confronted not only with pain, but with sin and wrongdoing, it becomes forgiveness, which not merely pardons, but even rebuilds into justice, repentance, and love.
"Mercy is one of the dominant notes in the preaching of Our Lord. His parables were parables of mercy. Take, for example, the hundred sheep, the ten pieces of money, and the two sons. Of the hundred sheep, one was lost; of the ten pieces of money, one was lost; of the two sons, one led a life of dissipation.
"It is interesting to note that the lost sheep is the one that was sought, and the shepherd, finding it, places it upon his shoulders and brings it into the house rejoicing. But there is no record in the Gospels of any such attention being paid to the ninety-nine sheep who were not lost.
"When the woman lost a piece of money and found it, she called in her neighbours to rejoice. But there is no record that she ever called in her neighbours to rejoice in the possession of the other nine, which were never lost.
"One son went into a foreign country and wasted his substance living riotously. And when he came back, he was given the fatted calf. But the brother who stayed at home was not so rewarded. All these illustrations Our Lord followed with the simple truth: ‘There shall be more joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.’
"Some were scandalised at Him because He ‘dined with publicans and sinners,’ but He never ceased to remind us that we should be merciful because the heavenly Father was merciful.
"Mercy is a compassion, which seeks to unburden the sorrows of others as if they were our own. But if we have no such compassion, then how can compassion ever come back to us?
"Unless there is an action, there can never be a reaction; unless we give, it shall not be given to us; unless we pardon evil, our evil shall not be forgiven; unless we are merciful to others, God cannot be merciful to us.
"If our heart is filled with the sand of our ego, how can God fill it with the fire of His Sacred Heart? If there is no ‘for sale’ sign on the selfishness of our souls, how can God take possession of them?"
(The Cries of Jesus From the Cross)
A Lenten Prayer (St Pope Pius V)
Look with favour, O Lord, on Your household. Grant that, though our flesh be humbled by abstinence from food, our souls, hungering after You, may be resplendent in Your sight. Amen. 💐🙏💖