Rejoice, Jerusalem: A Reflection on the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B)

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Laetáre Sunday can feel a little strange. We’re right in the middle of Lent, the season marked by repentance, prayer, and fasting, and the Church tells us “laetáre”, to rejoice. As Mass begins, in the Entrance Antiphon, we hear “Rejoice, Jerusalem… Be joyful, all who were mourning.” It doesn’t stop there, because in the Collect, we are told how to rejoice: “with prompt devotion and eager faith…hasten toward the solemn celebrations to come.” Do not walk, run! Run to God so we can be reconciled to Him in a wonderful way. Thankfully, we know how to do this, because we’ve been doing it the past few weeks as part of our Lenten observances. Through the celebration of Holy Mass, through a renewed commitment to prayer, and through all those penances we’ve taken on in love and joy, we can draw close to God.

The joy continues in the Liturgy of the Word, where the Church gives us three readings which will very clearly give us good reasons why we should be rejoicing.

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A miniature (illuminated manuscript) from the Liber choralis S.Leonardi of the Introit “Laetáre, Jerusalem”, sung on the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

“Rejoice, O Jerusalem; and gather round, all you who love her; rejoice in gladness, after having been in sorrow; exult and be replenished with the consolation flowing from her motherly bosom. I rejoiced when it was said unto me: ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”

The first reading, from the Second Book of Chronicles, shows us a beautiful example of God’s mercy. The Jewish people, who had been unfaithful to God and not heeded the warnings of the prophets, are being held in captivity in Babylon. They have absolutely no hope of ever being able to return home. Yet suddenly, God inspires the Persian king to let them go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

We can only imagine their joy at being set free. We should rejoice to know that God will do the same for us when we are being held in captivity by our sins, in our own “Babylons”. God is always willing and ready to forgive our infidelities. At all times, but especially during Lent, we go to God in the Sacrament of Confession and we are forgiven. God in His goodness and mercy set the Israelites free from their earthly captivity, and now He does the same for us, setting our souls free from the bonds of sin.

This theme of God’s great mercy continues in the second reading, Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, in which he tells us that though we are dead in our sins, God brings us back to life with Christ through grace. It is this last part which Paul repeats. He wants to make sure we really understand. We are saved by grace through faith. There is nothing we can do to earn this, but rather it is a gift freely given by God. This is great news, because we are well aware of our many shortcomings. We might be able to do good for a little while, but eventually we will fall and sin again despite our best efforts.

We rejoice because we rely on God to give us what we need. All He asks is that we continue to return to Him in repentance, follow His will to the best of our ability, and cooperate with His grace. He takes care of the rest. We are God’s handiwork, God’s creation, and we trust in His faithful love for us.

This leads us right to the reading from John’s Gospel, in which we hear why we should trust God completely. Three times, right at the beginning and right in a row, Jesus tells us that God sent Him into the world to save us and give us eternal life. This is why we rejoice. This is the solemn celebration of the Paschal Mystery that we are hastening towards throughout Lent. Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection are a sign to us that God loves us so much, He will give everything to have us with Him in eternity. When we look upon the Cross we rejoice because it is the proof of God’s love for us. God does not want us to die. Rather, He wants to live with us forever in eternal joy. “Laetáre” does not end after Mass or even after our earthly lives. Through faith and through God’s loving gift of grace, this joy is unending, and in knowing this we can truly rejoice.