Time to Celebrate
“He said to him,
‘My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.
But now we must celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother was dead and has come to life again;
he was lost and has been found.’”Luke 15:31-32
The Fourth Sunday of Lent is known as “Laetare Sunday,” similar to “Gaudete Sunday” during Advent. It is a reminder and an invitation to rejoice in the midst of the penitential season of Lent. Why are we to rejoice during Lent? Shouldn’t we be solemn and steadfast in our practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving? Yes, but for what? We are solemn and penitential not just because it is “what we do.” We observe this penitential season for a reason, a reason that ultimately leads us to joy.
In our Lenten practices, and with really anything, we must have the end in mind. For Lent, it is the renewal of our baptismal promises and the Resurrection. So today we rejoice because of the defeat of sin and death, the Resurrection, and the promise of eternal life. It is indeed an occasion for celebration! The Church calls us to rejoice today because of the great love God has for us.
Perhaps one of the most well known parables in the Gospel is that of the Prodigal Son. The story about the inter- and intra-relationships between the father and the sons and within each individual. The younger son asked his father for his share of the inheritance, left his home, and squandered every penny he received from his father, effectively communicate his father being dead to him. After finding himself in such a state, he works for foreigners at such a low wage that he had to contend with the pigs for food. He finally came to his senses and decided to go back home. The father welcomes him with a loving embrace and throws a feast to celebrate his son’s return. Out in the fields the older son hears the commotion and learns of the news. He was furious. The older son refused to enter the home and celebrate. So, the Father comes out and pleads with him, saying that now was the time to celebrate because his brother who was lost has been found, who was dead has come back to life. The older son was unable to celebrate with the father because he heart has been hardened.
When we lose sight of who we are and whose we are, our hearts may become hardened. Our actions and decision may become routine, forgetting the ultimate end towards which we first embarked. When we take our eyes off of God, we celebrate the wrong things at the wrong times. We celebrate because God has loved us so much that He became man and died for us. We celebrate because this death was not the end, but only the beginning. We celebrate because sin has been conquered and death no longer has the final say. We celebrate today because we too are invited to partake in this victory. The Father is calling out to us to celebrate with Him. Will we enter the celebration or will we stand outside the door?
