Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, commonly called Laetare Sunday. Traditionally, this Sunday has been a day of celebration within the austere period of Lent. This Sunday gets its name from the first few words in the Introit of the mass today. “Laetare Jerusalem” (“Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together all you that love her, rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.”) taken from Isaiah 66:10. In Latin, (Laetare, Jerusalem: et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam; Gaudete cum Laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis: ut exsultetis, et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae.)
This fourth Sunday, we have public scrutiny after this 8 am mass for those who will join us through baptism or confirmation at Easter. This scrutiny rite is part of the process of joining the Church to test and to proclaim their desire in public to know more about Jesus around which our community is formed and being informed.
The epistle from the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians 4:22–31 contains Paul’s allegory about Abraham’s two wives, and the two sons born through them. Paul reminds us to go back to the Scripture showing the difference between being born into slavery by human effort versus being born into freedom by the work of God through the Holy Spirit. This enlightening exhortation from St. Paul gives us the answer that Jerusalem above is our mother who gives us freedom for we are her children. The freedom we have received is from Christ. Jesus set us free; therefore, we cannot submit ourselves to slavery. Jesus sets us free as members of His body, and we recognize Christ as the head. We acknowledge His presence in the Word and Eucharist, and in faith we are transformed as witnesses to the truth, not by being affiliated with the Traditional Latin Mass, but in Jesus, our Lord and His Church. We are One Church united and nothing must divide us! Remember that Satan is the main perpetrator creating divisiveness. Our spirituality is important that we may all appreciate the goodness of God and express our gratitude that we have this Latin Mass. Dissatisfaction of what we have doesn’t help us to rejoice and be joyful.
The gospel of today is from John 6:1-15, and we will dig deep as this gospel teaches us about a great miracle, the multiplication of five barley loaves and two fish. There are three important teaching lessons here:
First, Jesus is aware that people are hungry and in need of help because they are in a deserted place with no way to procure food for the people. There is that physical hunger; however, people also feel their inability to satisfy their spiritual hunger. Instead of focusing on following Jesus, who satisfies them with their spiritual malady, they switch to material bread.
We are simply doing for the poor to show mercy and satisfy ourselves at the expense of our negligence to bring them closer to the Lord. Our main goal is like Jesus helping the people so that they would experience the promise of eternal life and be closer to Him.
Second, Jesus knows the inadequacy of His disciples to respond to their needs. When the Lord asked Philip, ““Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” (Jn 6:5) This is our tendency failing to remember that Jesus has power to do something great like His miracles of curing, intervention with those who asked for help, etc. Many times we concentrate on our inadequacy, forgetting about Jesus’ ability to meet our needs. We fail to transcend our own inadequacy in order to meet other’s needs.
Third, Jesus Christ is all-sufficient to meet people’s overwhelming needs. Jesus is the Lord God who made heaven and earth. He provides us clear understanding that in moments when we sometimes see things impossible to act on and do something for others, Jesus makes himself available with His outstretched arms to manifest His great power. There is nothing difficult for us, only to trust Him.
Celebrating Laetare Sunday, let us rejoice that we have a new perspective of understanding this story of the great miracle teaching us that our Lord Jesus Christ uses inadequate, imperfect people who surrender what they have to Him to meet and to satisfy the overwhelming needs of others, especially those who are short in knowing and acknowledging the Son of God. Don’t live for yourself. Live to be agents of God and you’ll be satisfied with the Living Bread, food that endures to eternal life.
God bless you.
Fr. Arlon, osa
