Laetare Sunday: Rejoice!

The fourth Sunday in Lent is known as Laetare Sunday. Laetare means “rejoice” in Latin, and the name comes from the Introit traditionally recited on that Sunday, drawn from Isaiah 66:10: "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her." An introit is a psalm or antiphon sung or said at the beginning of the Holy Eucharist.

Laetare Sunday, sometimes called “Refreshment Sunday," falls about midway through the penitential season of Lent. It offers a brief pause in the journey, a moment to rejoice and to look ahead with hope toward Easter. The readings often carry a more uplifting tone. We read this year from the Gospel John a portion of his telling of the healing of the man born blind, an occasion for us to rejoice in the power of God to restore and heal us, reminding us of what Jesus says in the Gospel of Luke: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised" (Luke 4:11).