Lenten Meditations: Sunday 10 March 2024

Mar 10, 2024 by Jill

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT –  Mothering or Laetare  Sunday

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: The fourth Sunday of Lent is rather unique; like the third Sunday of Advent (“Gaudete Sunday“), the fourth Sunday of Lent is a break in an otherwise penitential season. Laetare is a Latin word that means “rejoice” or “rejoicing.”  The day is a striking one-day departure from the somber, sorrowful, penitential tone of the other days of Lent. “Laetare” is taken from the first word of the Entrance Antiphon at Mass: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were mourning” (a translation of Isaiah 66:10).

In many parts of the Anglican Communion this day is also known as Mothering Sunday The old practice of visiting the cathedral, or “mother church” of the diocese on this day was considered important for people to return to their home or “mother” church at least once a year. So, each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit their “mother” church. The return to the “mother” church became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away from home returned. (It was quite common in those days for children to leave home to work in service from ten years of age. In England, natural mothers are honored today, too, in a manner rather like the American “Mother’s Day”. The rose vestments on Laetare Sunday is a custom originating in the fact that they as a symbol of joy and hope in the middle of this somber Season.

MEDITATION OF THE DAY: The Gospel selection of Luke for this Mothering should sound very familiar to us as it was only 4 weeks ago that we heard these words proclaimed on the Feast of Candlemas. One cannot help but be stunned again by the words of Simeon…” this child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart”.

How would a mother or any parent I suspect receive such words about a child of theirs? Of course, in a general way, we can affirm that all children are gifts from God but this particular gift from God will be a person many in society will speak against. No parent wants their child spoken about unkindly especially if it is untrue.

Mary is told that her heart will be broken because of what will occur to her son. I suspect Hannah in the lesson from Samuel and Mary shared a great deal in common as parents. They loved their sons, recognized they had a call beyond their immediate family, and pondered the enormity of the vocations their sons embraced. The love they both had is a harbinger of the Kenotic love of Christ that is to come in a few short days. Mary and Hannah as mothers laid aside their hopes and desires for their sons, they died to their hopes and dreams for something greater just as Jesus does for us to allow others to be reconciled to God.

The great message of today with these two women is that they were humans just like us. In their faithfulness, they struggled with such difficult requests. Time and time again God chooses people like them to help us realize that all of us in our station are called to follow him. Who was Mary? Uneducated, Jewish peasant whom the world thought little of but was an instrument of God’s grace. Both the Song of Hannah and the Magnificat remind us that though both of them counted for very little, God chose them for significant work in the kingdom.

PRAYER OF THE DAY: God of compassion, whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary, shared the life of a home in Nazareth, and drew the whole human family to himself: strengthen us in our daily living that in joy and sorrow we may know the power of your presence to bring together and to heal; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: ” The Father bears witness from heaven to his Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in the form of a dove. The archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing the good tidings to Mary. The Virgin Mother of God bears witness             – St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 10:19

LENTEN LYRIC: Mary Did You Know? Sung by One Voice Children’s Choir

LENTEN DISCIPLINE –  Be mindful of one’s mother today. If he is still with us, find a way to honor her today. If she has gone on to eternity, make a visit to her resting place, and offer a prayer. As today is a day of nurture as well, seek out a person who needs nurture and encouragement in the spirit of Laetare Sunday.

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