Laetare Sunday - Rejoice - God loves you in the Blessed Sacrament!

Laetare Sunday – REJOICE – GOD LOVES YOU!
 
Hello Everyone:
This Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Lent and is called Laetare Sunday and is taken from the first word found in the Introit. It is mid-Lent and the Church suspends the manifestations of sorrow and sadness to concentrate on the upcoming Easter joy – a little break of refreshment! The consoling words of the Introit: “Laetare – Rejoice O Jerusalem…Rejoice with joy, you have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled with the abundance of your consolation. I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.”
 
This Sunday in Tradition is sometimes called – “Sunday of the Rose” or “Sunday of the Five Loaves”. The “Sunday of the Rose” has an interesting history. The Pope on this day would solemnly bless a golden rose with Holy Chrism and lay it on the altar and later officially give it to a prince, a Catholic personage or a city, with the intention of paying a special honor. I am not sure if this continues as I could not find anything on the internet only in this old book titled, “An Introduction to the Liturgical Year”, dated 1946.

For this article, we will concentrate on the title, “Sunday of the Five Loaves”. This is the Gospel of the day for those going to a Tridentine Latin Mass. This is very beautiful as it is in the precepts of the Church that we are to at least receive Communion once during the year especially during the Easter season. There was a time in Church history that we did not receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist as often as we do today.

I cannot express the love of Jesus as St. Alphonsus can, therefore, I have found a Youtube presentation of a sermon of St. Alphonsus which is worth listening to.  From this sermon, we can see that Jesus gave us Himself just before His Passion on Holy Thursday. Therefore, it is advantageous for us to meditate on His immense love of giving us not only Himself on the Cross but Himself in the Holy Eucharist – in a special way during this Lenten time as well as during the Easter season.

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LOVE IN THE HOLY EUCHARIST by St. Alphonsus

Have a blessed Laetare Sunday and may God bless your Lent!!