Fourth Sunday of Lent (John 3: 14-21), 10 March 2024, Laetare Sunday

Fr. Mathew Charthakuzhiyil

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is known as “Laetare Sunday”. Now the Christian community is halfway through our long Lenten journey. The Latin word, laetare means “to rejoice”, and this Sunday the penitential character of the season is a little bit relaxed. We are allowed to use flowers to adorn the altar to show the atmosphere of joy. In the same way, the organ can be played just like in the festive season. All these signs direct us to the joyful expectation of the great feast of Easter.

Laetare Sunday gives us great hope that even in our daily struggles there is the element of joy. Some people plant a rose bush to mark the beginning of Spring. There was a medieval tradition of visiting one’s “mother church” (the church where one was baptized) on this day. We use the Rose color in the church only twice each year – Gaudete during Advent and Laetare during Lent. The use of rose vestments originated from a medieval papal tradition. The popes used to send golden roses to Catholic heads of state in Europe on this Sunday.

Today’s Gospel reading is part of a long conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus, a scholar of the Law. Jesus uses an Old Testament image to tell him that it is by looking at the Cross with a repented heart anyone could be saved. The people of Israel were bitten by poisonous serpents when they rebelled against God. In answer to the prayers of Moses God cured all those who looked at the bronze serpent with a contrite heart (Num 21:4-9). This is symbolic of receiving blessings for us from the Cross of Christ. We also have one of the most beautiful passages in the entire Scripture in today’s Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (3:17). The entire creation, especially that of human beings, is the expression of God’s love. God also wanted us to experience divine love in a concrete form through Jesus Christ.

How can we experience the love of God when we feel completely broken? How do we know that God loves us when we find our life with suffering and other challenges? “Kintsugi” is a rare and famous Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, silver, or platinum. “Kintsugi” simply means “golden repair”. A “Kintsugi” artist patiently assembles the broken pieces using precious metal glue. Thus, the finished product becomes more beautiful and valuable than the first. Instead of hiding the flaws, the artist highlights them with a new design to the original piece. This repair has a symbolic and spiritual significance when it is applied to our lives. It means when we feel that we are broken and may not be useful we must allow God to repair us. In fact, during the Lenten season when Jesus fills our brokenness with his love, we may look better and complete than before. Rather than remaining in our brokenness, we should allow God to transform us into a “Kintsugi” creation in his hands. Any repair work if it is undertaken by God is a “golden repair”.

God’s love is made known to us through the total gift of himself. Pope Benedict writes in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est that the Crucifixion of Christ “is love in its most radical form” (no. 12). Let us now turn our attention to the Crucified and Glorified Christ, so that we might be saved. Let us also invite our brothers and sisters during this Lenten season to have a fresh and living encounter with the Crucified Christ.

Rev. Dr. Mathew Charthakuzhiyil

Daily Reading, Saints

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