Fourth Sunday of Lent
St. Patrick, Patron Saint of All Ireland (and Nigeria…go figure!!)
Laetare Sunday (Rejoice)
Second Chronicles 36:14-23 Ephesians 2:4-10 John 3:14-21
Having crossed the midway point of Lent, we now start to speed headlong toward the culminating rituals and events of the Season, namely, Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter. Understanding these Lenten weeks as opportunities to dwell (at length) upon our relationship with Jesus, this weekend we are offered both a story of renewal (in the Chronicle selection of people being allowed to go back to their home from the Diaspora) and an urging to look closely at how we are conducting our lives: whether we are instruments of light or dark. Most of us have the occasional bad moment, and even Adolph Hitler was probably kind to his mother; we are not scrupulously looking at individual actions but the overall FUNDAMENTAL OPTION (or direction) of our lives. Are we striving to be selfless or are our actions all self-serving? Are we compassionate…or only when people are looking? Are we people of integrity…or really good actors? Are we more concerned about US or about ME? Our tip-of-the-hat to all things Irish this weekend is a suitable Laetare celebration of ‘rejoicing’ at the promised arrival of Easter, and with Easter we can all too easily forget that in order to get to the empty tomb….we really, really, really have to experience and die upon the crosses of Good Friday. If we desire a relationship of depth with Jesus, the upcoming rituals and seasonal events cannot be treated as just ‘memorials’. They must be seen as events awaiting each of us, at some unforeseen date and place…but events we ourselves must necessarily be prepared to embrace. If we want Easter we must be willing to say the farewells of Holy Thursday, to suffer the crosses of our own Good Fridays and then impatiently wait through the empty hours/days/years of Holy Saturdays. In so many ways, each year we are proffered a road map of how our Jesus-relationship will develop…either to our shock/horror or trusting resignation. Okay, enough of the heavy stuff, on this Laetare Sunday/St. Patrick’s Weekend…take a breather and enjoy the last weekend of winter and a very special Corpus Christi tradition!
Thank you for joining with our Corpus Christi family as Spring draws ever so close! Please make sure you take a Bulletin with you for news of all that is approaching, especially our Lenten Penance Services, the Holy Week and Easter Schedules. A reminder that you are urged to write letters of welcome to our RCIA candidates and catechumens as they prepares to be received into our Faith on Holy Saturday night, their names are in the Bulletin. Oh, and by the way, have you made your 2012 PSA pledge yet? Even with upcoming changes we need to stay rooted in responsibly paying down our mortgage and moving Corpus Christi ahead. If you have not yet made your pledge, extra materials and envelopes are on the Concierge Shelves (please!!) On this festive weekend, may the Good St. Patrick watch over you, help you drive all the snakes from your life and lead you home to Jesus! When Spring arrives this week, remember, you are loved! FKB
