Dear friends,
Happy Laetare Sunday! We celebrate this Sunday the mid-point of the Lenten season with the words of Isaiah ‘Rejoice!’ or in Latin, Laetare.
Laetare Sunday, like Gaudete Sunday of Advent, is celebrated with rose vestments worn by the clergy. The color rose is meant to remind us of the coming joy we are preparing to celebrate. Even in this time of penitence, we are invited to look forward to Easter, to Christ’s resurrection, with joy and hope.
Today’s Gospel of the man born blind offers a dramatic
example of Christ’s power and generosity. As in so many other occasions, Christ’s first act is to offer physical healing—which causes no end of consternation in this case! But it is the closing dialogue that contains His most revolutionary message: His revelation of Himself as God.
What an amazing thing, to think that not only did Jesus cure this man of his blindness, but that one of the first people he saw was the Lord!
At the end of the Gospel, Jesus exhorted the Pharisees to humility. He points out that if rather than claiming righteousness, they would only recognize their own faults, God would help them too.
May we hear that invitation for ourselves at this mid-point of our Lenten journey, and share in the healing that Jesus so generously gives.
Peace,
Father Maurer