Rejoice, Jerusalem

The fourth Sundayof Lent marks the halfway point to Easter and was called "Laetare Sunday" because the Introit, or Entrance Song was taken from Is 66: 10-11, "Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her./ Be joyful all who were in mourning;/ exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast." As on the Third Sunday of Advent, the color, rose, is used for the vestments; we are anticipating the joy of Easter, but not quite, so rose is a compromise between purple and white.
Light and sight dominate the readings, especially if the optional reading of the man born blind is chosen. John the Evangelist tells gives us, in the selection actually slated for today, the familiar quote: "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." (Jn 3:16). St. Paul tells us that "God, who is rich in mercy, becasue 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--,raise us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2: 4-5). This is one of those enthusiastic Pauline sentences that goes on and on and seemingly can't stop, so full of joy is Paul. We might comprehend this feeling if we imagine ourselves being told we have a 99% blockage but the insertion of stents will restore blood flow to our heart and give us a new hold on life. The operation works and we are "born again." What would our attitude to this "second life be?" A lot less taken for granted, a lot more awareness of blessings and endless gratitude, wouldn't you say? So, may we live today with our "rose colored" glasses and see the world and our lives in a new light.
Bro. Rene