Laetare Sunday: Rejoice in God's Grace and Renewal This Lent
Readings for Mass and Virtual Homily for March 30, 2025, Fourth Sunday of Lent; Those Baby Robots Are Driving My Teens Crazy; April Schedule
Readings for Mass this Sunday:
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 34:2-7
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Dear Friends and Family,
Once again just the reminder that the readings above are Cycle C; parishes which use the Cycle A readings for the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent will have that set of readings, not these.
We are right at the mid-way point in Lent; three weeks past the first Sunday and three weeks yet to Easter. The Fourth Sunday of Lent is also called Laetare Sunday -- the word is Latin for rejoice. This Sunday has for centuries been set aside as a "day out" from Lenten practices of austerity; it mirrors Gaudete Sunday, in mid-Advent, in this regard.
It follows that today's readings are bright with joy and hope. The first reading, for instance, tells us of how, having crossed at last into the Promised Land, the Israelites celebrated their first Passover in Canaan. This celebration was notable for several reasons; first of all the fact that God assured Joshua, Moses' successor, that "Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you" (vs. 9). The sins of the Israelites, in other words, had been excised in their long desert trek; they entered the new land a new people, cleansed. purified, reconciled.
The reading from Joshua tells us as well that the day after that first Passover in the new land, the people "ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased" (vs. 12). This occurred on the fertile plains of Jericho. "That year," the passage continues, the Israelites "ate of the yield of the land of Canaan" (vs. 12). One senses the joy of the people in being able to do so, after forty years in the desert.
The psalm, too, encourages hope and joy in the Lord and his love for us. "I will bless the Lord at all times," the psalm begins, "his praise shall be always in my mouth" (vs. 2). "I sought the Lord and he answered me, delivered me from all my fears" (vs. 5). "Look to him and be radiant," vs. 6 advises, and the psalm continues (beyond today's passage) to encourage an ardent and joyful confidence in God's loving plans and abounding graces.
The second reading picks up on both the first reading's theme of reconciliation, of being purified and made new, and also reflects today's general theme of joy. "So whoever is in Christ is a new creation," verse 17 declares. "The old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." In language which echoes the prayer of absolution recited by the priest in confession, Paul writes that "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them (meaning, the peoples of the world) and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation" (vs. 19). Paul goes on to write, beautifully, in my view, that "So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us" (vs. 20).
The Gospel passage, the parable of the prodigal son, encapsulates the themes outlined above. The son is reconciled to his father, but that is only the start. Expecting to assume the role of one of his father's servants, the wayward son is taken back with open arms and great rejoicing. He is restored to the family. He is basically made new. Like the Israelites who were purified by their journey through the desert, the prodigal son returns from his misadventures to find himself acquitted; the "reproach of Egypt" (in his case, the reproach of deep personal sin) is banished. As the Israelites rejoice at their first Passover in the new land, the prodigal son rejoices at the banquet his father spreads for him.
The clear take-aways for us in today's readings include finding hope and joy in reconciling with God; in becoming "a new creation" in Christ; in rejoicing, even rejoicing radiantly, in God's saving graces, God's overflowing bounty of mercy and love. It can be so very easy to lose sight of all of this -- to lose sight of how God is, in fact, effecting our salvation through our trials and setbacks, as well as our joys and accomplishments.
Today's readings emphasize the bright side; they encourage us to embrace a sunny joy and confident hope, not just in life's brighter moments but even as we negotiate difficulties and sorrows. These experiences serve to remove the "reproach" of sin in our lives; they serve to purify and reconcile, they make us new in Christ. Made new, we become emissaries of Christ; ambassadors of hope and joy to a world very much in need of both.
I mentioned a couple of weeks back that my students this semester are flocking to the opportunity to "have a baby" for twenty-four hours. That is, one of the options for a major assignment in the Marriage and Family sections is "taking care of" a robot infant, which robot infant is programmed to start crying when it wants to be fed, burped, have its diaper changed and so on. The twenty-four hour period of custody guarantees that the "baby" will wake the teen up at least once at night; and they also go off in class, in the gym, on the practice fields, during meals and so on. It is very much a semblance of the experience of having a real baby and...
Well...It's downright funny, some of the reactions my students are having. "I'll NEVER have a kid!" one of my girls, a junior, told me, after the baby woke her up three times overnight. "This is torture!" another of my girls, this one a senior, groaned, lifting the robot carefully into her arms to take it out into the hall, when it started crying in class.
I was surprised by how many of the boys want the baby experience; more surprised yet that the only 100% score any of my students have so far received was earned by one of my boys. (The robot generates an e-mailed report on its handling.) Another male student, sporting an "O'Dowd Dad" sweatshirt (his father's, I guess) managed an 89% -- a very good score. Some of the kids aren't just getting F's in terms of their handling of the baby's needs, they are actually in negative territory -- their scores are below zero. This can happen in a number of ways -- if the student misses too many feedings (or is late with them), for instance, if the baby has been roughly handled, if the baby's neck is not constantly supported and so on.
The Marriage and Family class is, as I have discovered, teaching it for the first time this semester, really a "life lessons" class (as opposed to a rigorous academic course) and with these little baby-robots, my students are absolutely getting a lesson in parenting. They are generally being very good-natured about it, even the ones who are getting the lowest scores. The grade for the assignment is weighted heavily on the student's written reflection on what it was like, "taking care of a baby;" so a negatively scored report from the robot does not doom the student's grade. But it definitely gives the student something to reflect on!
It is brisk, grey and windy out as I am wrapping this up Thursday afternoon. The forecast is for rain tonight and then again at least two or three days next week. With the April 1 snow survey right around the corner, I hope that all this late season precipitation is bringing the snowpack to normal or above-normal levels. We've had three wet years, but I have not forgotten the last drought. I'll be glad to welcome the dry season when it arrives; I prefer the sun. But I will not be complaining, from under my umbrella; neither tonight nor next week.
Hope this finds you well and happy. Hope your Lent is progressing serenely.
Take care and God bless.
Fr. Brawn
April Schedule (All Masses English except where noted):
Palm Sunday, April 13
8AM
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY OF PLEASANTON, Seton Campus
11 AM
Holy Thursday, April 17
630 PM (bilingual; concelebrant)
Good Friday, April 18
5 PM (English; main celebrant)
Holy Saturday, April 19
8 PM (bilingual; concelebrant)
Easter Sunday, April 20
630 PM
Weekday Masses (all 8 AM; English)
Mon., Apr. 7
Fri., Apr. 11
Mon., Apr. 14
Mon., Apr. 21
Fri., Apr. 25
Sat., Apr. 26
Mon., Apr. 28