March 14
Weekend Bulletin
CDA Scholarship form
Fr Terry’s Teaching…
The fourth Sunday of Lent is sometimes called Laetare Sunday. Laetare is a Latin word that means “rejoice.” Traditionally, Sundays are named after the first word of the liturgy’s opening antiphon. On this Sunday, the antiphon is taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 66:10-11). Even as we observe our Lenten sacrifices, we rejoice in anticipation of the joy that will be ours at Easter.
Today’s Gospel reading is taken from John’s Gospel. It consists of two parts. The first part is the final sentence of Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who approached Jesus at night. Nicodemus acknowledged Jesus as someone who had come from God and seemed to want to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus greeted Nicodemus with the observation that one must be born from above to see the Kingdom of God.
In the First Reading, it ends with: “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!
In the second reading, it tells us: God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ – by grace you have been saved - raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus.
The words REJOICE and UP are tied together. Our eyes, ears, body, and heart are to be focused on God’s Kingdom. As Lent progresses, it moves us from self to others and ultimately to God.
I personally want to congratulate God on getting it right. (As if He needs me to tell him that, right?) Sunrises and sunsets are some of the most beautiful parts of the day. They are prominent in our thinking, our ideas of wonder and awe. I love the idea of sunrise being when the sun comes up and sunset when the sun goes down. I always do better when I start my day by being raised up to it and the best is having God be a part of that every day. SO REJOICE AND RISE UP, OUR GOD IS RIGHT HERE AND NOW TO BE WITH US!