Day Five
Today your priests will don rose vestments, along with altar, ambo, and tabernacle. Today springtime blooms of pink and blue and yellow are permitted, nay encouraged, at the altar. Today is Laetare Sunday, when the first words from the lips of your priests will be “Rejoice, O Jerusalem,” from Isaiah 66:10. We are only three weeks from Easter, and the rose-colored vestments, the repeated calls to exult and rejoice in the Mass texts, and that springy warmth in the air today—all herald the sunrise of Easter as the dawn’s early light gives us hope for a new day.
“Jerusalem rejoicing” seems ironic today, given the current war in Palestine. But we get a clue in today’s reflection from Fr. Gaitley’s book, which is entitled “Mary’s Trial of Faith.” Like Abraham’s trial in sacrificing his son Isaac, Mary too had to undergo the trial of sacrificing her Son on the Cross. She stood with Him in the death agony, and it was at Calvary that her faith was perfected. We too will wonder in the darker seasons of our lives “where is God?” We will feels that all is lost, and life’s sound and fury is nothing more than meaningless charade. But we will think of how Mary did not give in to the darkness when darkness covered the earth.
Mary is the dawn, and Christ is the sunrise. She points to the resurrection with her indomitable faith. In dark times, turn to Mary, and stay steady in your trust of God’s will.
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, fire of mercy. Help me to believe in God and his love for me, even when the darkness surrounds me.