FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT – Mothering 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. The vestments for this day will be rose, as they are on Gaudete Sunday in Advent, and flowers may adorn the Altar. This day is called “Laetare Sunday” (also “Rose Sunday”), and takes its name from the opening words of the Mass, the Introit’s “Laetare, Jerusalem”. 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. As 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, as a symbol of joy and hope in the middle of this somber Season.
MEDITATION OF THE DAY : This particular Sunday in Lent has been known by different names: Mid-Lent Sunday, Refreshment Sunday, Laetare Sunday and Mothering Sunday. The first is obvious as it falls halfway in the Lenten season. The second derives its name from the Gospel reading for that Sunday prior Vatican II the feeding of the five thousand, and the relaxation at Mid-Lent for Christians to be refreshed in order to continue the Lenten journey. Accordingly a Simnel cake (rich fruit cake) was and is consumed on this day. The third takes its name from the opening words of the Introit for the day “Rejoice you with Jerusalem; and be glad for her: exult and sing for joy with her.” Hence it is customary for the priest to wear pink vestments on this day to mark this Sunday as different from the other Sundays in Lent with their penitential themes. The last, is the observance, especially in England, as Mothering Sunday,
All these themes of refreshment and renewal remind us of the clear connection that is offered in this discourse from John’s Gospel being offered between our bodily need for food and our spiritual need for salvation. Of course it’s ordinary food (like simnel cakes) that we need in order to sustain our bodies, to keep from starving to death, that spoils. Jesus told them (and us too) not to work for it. What Jesus is saying applies to other things that we consider material needs as well –things that spoil or rust or wear out or disintegrate –and not just those things, but also other things that people prize in this life –honor, glory and power –or just, simply, popularity. Jesus said not to work for those things, not to work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal.
This mid-lent Sunday gives us an opportunity to stop and take inventory and ascertain if our priorities reflect a set of life values that are set on things that spoil or things that endure.
PRAYER OF THE DAY: O Lord my God, help me to learn to be submissive without protest, poor without discouragement, humble without posturing, cheerful without frivolity, mature without arrogance seeing the value in all that you have created. Amen .
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “Inordinate love for the flesh is cruelty, because under the appearance of pleasing the body, we kill the soul. — St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Lenten Discipline – Make a Simnel Cake for a person who is a mothering figure in
your life, or one who is in need of a kind gesture or one whom you need to be
reconciled with. This food is especially associated with Mothering Sunday. A Simnel cake
is a fruit cake with two layers of almond paste, one on top and one in the middle. The
cake is made with 11 balls of marzipan icing on top representing the 11 disciples. (Judas
is not included.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/simnelcake_792.shtml