The darkness of war and uncertainty for the future can lead to despair, but Lent is an opportunity to grow spiritually and profess our faith in the Lord, writes Msgr. Joseph Prior.
Read, listen to or watch videos of the Mass readings with these resources from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, using the New American Bible, Revised Edition.
Gary Zimak
Posted March 12, 2021
This week author and speaker Gary Zimak looks at the Mass Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
As we look toward Easter Sunday, the church invites us to pause and rejoice. Even though we’re still in Lent, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. For that reason, we rejoice!
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“Rejoice, O Jerusalem,” is the entrance antiphon for this Sunday’s liturgy. The day is sometimes called Laetare Sunday,
“laetare” meaning “rejoice.” During our journey through Lent the celebration for this Sunday calls for the priest and deacon to wear rose-colored vestments. The liturgy reminds us that as we journey through Lent we have great reason to rejoice for the Lord loves us, and through his passion, death and resurrection frees us from sin and death.
The first reading from Second Chronicles first recalls the situation in Israel that led to the Babylonian exile. “Infidelity” was added to “infidelity.” Prophets were sent and ignored. The Lord’s Temple was profaned. Then the Babylonians came, conquered and destroyed the country. The Temple of the Lord was desecrated and destroyed as was the holy city of Jerusalem. The peoples were exiled as captives and taken to the faraway lands of Mesopotamia (present day Iraq).