Joshua 5:9, 10-12; Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 9; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

This Sunday is traditionally called Laetare Sunday. The priest may wear rose vestments, and flowers may be used to decorate around the altar. It is called Laetare Sunday after the beginning of the old Latin Introit (entrance song) for the Mass on this Sunday: "Laetare, Jerusalem: conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum laetitia, quia in tristitia fuistis: ut exsultetis, et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae," or, "Rejoice, Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation." This Introit, which is based on Isaiah 66:10-11, offers a message of joy and consolation for Israel after sorrow, and this is the fundamental message of Laetare Sunday.

This Sunday, then, is meant in a special way to be a Sunday of rejoicing. Why? For one thing, it is thought to be helpful for Catholics to have a respite in the middle of Lent, liturgically speaking. Things like rose vestments and flowers are meant to give the liturgy on this day an especially joyful atmosphere, in contrast to the more somber liturgical tone seen during most of Lent. The reason for our joy, of course, is found in looking forward to Easter. Although during the season of Lent we remind ourselves particularly of our sharing in Christ's Passion and death, we also know that the Easter event to which we are looking forward has already occurred. We are sharing in the death of Jesus, but His Resurrection has already happened. Christ is risen, and we are redeemed. This is the foundation on which all Christian joy rests, and we are to reflect on this particularly this Sunday, as a source of encouragement during the penitential season of Lent.

The Gospel message this Sunday is also one that should bring joy to all of us. We hear one of the most famous parables, that of the prodigal son. It is worth noting that the Gospel today skips two parables that Jesus tells in the Gospel of Luke directly before the parable of the prodigal son. The first is the parable of the shepherd who leaves everything to go and find his one lost sheep, and the second is the story of the woman who searches for the one lost coin. Jesus tells these three parables in response to the Pharisees, after they challenge His practice of having meals with known sinners. The Pharisees regarded eating meals with sinners as scandalous, since it symbolized a state of close friendship and togetherness with sinners. Jesus responds to their objections by telling this series of parables, which illustrate that He wants friendship with sinners, and indeed will hunt down sinners, as it were, so that He can offer them His love. He speaks of a shepherd and a woman who drop everything else to devote all their efforts to finding that which is lost, and a father who not only welcomes his lost son, but runs out to meet him as soon as possible. Jesus is telling the Pharisees, and us, that He will give everything to bring back to Himself those human beings who are lost in sin.

Sometimes in reading the parable of the prodigal son the story might seem a little unfair to the elder son. There are two points to be made about this. The first is that there is nothing unfair about the endless generosity of God, even if we sometimes think that others are getting more than we are, when they have not been as faithful. God is never unfair to anyone, and in light of that no one has cause to complain if God chooses to be particularly generous to some people, even to great sinners. The second and more important point, though, is that the whole perspective of the elder son is fundamentally incorrect if the parable is understood as referring to God's relationship with us. This son's statement is never really true for us: "all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders." While in particular situations in life relative to other people we might sometimes feel like we can identify with the elder son, or perhaps even with the father, in the end there is only one character in this story with whom we really should fully identify. We have all sinned, and we are all prodigal children of God. We have all wandered far off from God, and God will come to meet us and embrace us at the first opportunity. In fact, the love of God is even beyond what can be illustrated in a parable like this, because God is always and at every moment seeking us out and offering His love and mercy to us.

The ultimate problem with the Pharisees was not that they had done wrong. Every human except Jesus and Mary has done wrong, and many of the people with whom Jesus associated on earth had probably committed more and graver sins than the Pharisees. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells the Pharisees that God will forgive all these sinners, great and small, but they must acknowledge that they are sinners in order to accept His forgiveness. The Pharisees should not have objected to Jesus forgiving and welcoming sinners, because the Pharisees should have realized that they too were sinners in need of His mercy, as we all are. Of course we must always strive to live without sin, but we should not harbor the illusion that we actually are without sin. We need not fear to acknowledge our sins, because sorrow for sin is the path rejoicing in God's forgiveness. God has redeemed us, and God will forgive us, if we accept and acknowledge our need for His forgiveness. Laetare Sunday reminds us again that Christianity is fundamentally not a matter of sorrow, but of joy in Jesus Christ, and we all have cause for joy in the infinite love and mercy of God.