The Roman Liturgy: Lent, Laetare Sunday and the Church
“It is on this Sunday that she finally unveils her own face.”
In the previous piece, we considered the way in which the Church presents Our Lord over the four Sundays of Lent.
These Sundays are key to our preparation for Passiontide, when we enter into what Pope Pius XII calls “the principal mystery of our redemption” – the glorious passion and sufferings of Christ.1 The four presentations of Christ on these Sundays create a tone and “atmosphere” which is different to certain other aspects of our Lenten observance and devotions.
Over these weeks, Christ is presented as:
The warrior in the desert
Transfigured and glorified on Mount Tabor, and
“The stronger man” overcoming his visible and invisible enemies.
On the Fourth Sunday (“Laetare Sunday”), in the feeding of the multitude, we see one of the most striking exercises of Christ’s power: his power over matter itself.
As discussed previously, Lent has a special focus on the catechumens who are to be baptised at Easter. In the early days of the Church, when the texts of the Roman liturgy were being assembled, baptism had the potential to mark a decisive break with one’s previously comfortable life. It could result in the loss of friends, family, position, status, freedom, or even life itself.
Perhaps this is the reason for the four presentations of Our Lord on these Lenten Sundays, each one inspiring confidence, admiration and love for him in the hearts of these catechumens, as well as in the baptised. It is a preparation for what lies ahead, both in our own lives, and in realising who it is that suffers on Good Friday.
But while the Church spends these Sundays of Lent presenting Christ as the truly worthy reason for dying to ourselves in baptism and in fasting, it is on on Laetare Sunday that she finally unveils her own face. She shows herself as the destination of the baptised and the mother of the faithful, and she allows us to express our love for her in the liturgy.
Encouragement for the Catechumens
The Mass of Laetare Sunday presents the Church to us, in all her dignity, and we are encouraged to grow in love for her and her Lord. At the start of the Mass, we sing in the Introit:
Introit: Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her. That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolations (Is. 66.10-1). V. I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. (Ps. 121.1)
Pinsk gives us the following text from St Ambrose, commenting on this text:
“What are the breasts of the Church? Are they not the sacrament of baptism as often as it is administered?”2
For these reasons, Pinsk concludes:
“How must such words have sounded in the ears of the catechumens! This, then was their destiny, their vocation!
“Were they uprooted from home and family? They would find a new heart and home through the Mother Church and among the people of God.
“Were they to be politically disenfranchised, ostracized? They rejoiced to know that they were on the way to the House of God, to that new city in which there would be peace and prosperity in security.
“And this overcame all those primordial fears that had been engendered by their decision to take their stand for Christ and the Church.
“Face to face with such a Church, mother of life and city of peace eternal, the catechumens confess in exultant joy, together with the whole Christian community, their ultimate assuagement, the slaking of all their fears and longings. […]
“Whatever the baptized Christian has renounced in his break with the world, he finds it again in the holy city of God, in the shelter and sanctuary of Mother Church.”3
In the propers for Laetare Sunday, “Jerusalem” does not refer to the city in which Christ died, nor to the city in modern day Israel: it refers to the Holy Catholic Church herself. In this Mass, the Church presents us with prophecies made about her as the “New Jerusalem”, and allows us to sing her praises:
Gradual: I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. V. Let peace be in thy strength: and abundance in thy towers.
Tract: They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem. V. Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth now and forever.
Communion: Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together: for thither did the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord, to praise thy name, O Lord.
In these texts, the Church is always “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3.15). She is the safe, secure and unmoving stronghold of God, wherein her children will have eternal life, even if they suffer persecution and trials for Christ’s sake.
Love for the Church
This theme is also appears in the Epistle, which refers to the children of Abraham; one born to the slave Agar, and one to the free woman, Sarah.
St Paul also identifies Jerusalem with the Church, and notes the remarkable fruitfulness manifested in the number of her children:
“[T]hat Jerusalem which is above is free: which is our mother. For it is written: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not: break forth and cry thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband.”
In their approaching baptisms, the catechumens are to be made into the children of the Church: “not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free: by the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.”
The reason for the rejoicing, which so characterises Laetare Sunday, is the glory of Christ’s Church, presented to us in this Mass. It is all about the Church, and how Christ nourishes us through her, and how he has her live his own life. As Pope Pius XII taught in Mystici Corporis Christi:
“Christ our Lord wills the Church to live His own supernatural life, and by His divine power permeates His whole Body and nourishes and sustains each of the members according to the place which they occupy in the body, in the same way as the vine nourishes and makes fruitful the branches which are joined to it.”4
St Thomas Aquinas summarises this doctrine of the saints:
“The head and members are as one mystic person.”5
St Augustine in turn says:
“[Christ] is the Head of the Church, and the Church is His Body, [and the] Whole Christ is both the Head and the Body.”6
This is why, as Fr Faber wrote:
“[A] man’s love of the Church is the surest test of his love of God.”7
And this in turn is because, as Fr John Kearney pithily summarises the matter:
“To love the Church is to love Christ.”8
It is through the Church that Christ forms us, teaches us how to put him on and abide in him, and it is the Church which guides us into his divine life through her teaching, laws, tradition, sacraments and liturgy. This is why Pius XII teaches thus of our annual commemoration of the events of Christ’s life on earth:
“[T]he liturgical year, devotedly fostered and accompanied by the Church, is not a cold and lifeless representation of the events of the past, or a simple and bare record of a former age. It is rather Christ Himself who is ever living in His Church.”9
In all this, the Church is Christ’s spouse, and our mother.
It is right that we love and honour our mother.
Laetare Sunday and the Church
The words of the Introit pertains especially to us, the sons of the Church:
Introit: Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her. That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolations: (Is. 66.10-1)
With the Church, we are this Jerusalem, and we are the ones “that love her.” This remains true even though, today, the men who assault her maternal dignity (and those who defend these men) castigate us as her enemies and renegade children.
We are also the ones “that mourn for her.” How could anyone who love the Church not mourn for her today, especially those who exist in a kind of Babylonian Exile, as we discussed in relation to Septuagesima?
We have seen the Church wracked and riven by wicked men over the course of these past sixty years. Their betrayal of her has perhaps never been clearer than today.
We have seen so many of her children (even our own friends and family) abandon her through heresy, schism, and apostasy, despite the fact that they “were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, [and] have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.” (Heb. 6.4-6).
Even amongst who remain with the Church, we see brother turn against brother in misguided defence of those trying to destroy her.
As we sing with the Church at Tenebrae in Holy Week:
“O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow.”
The Promise
But for those of us that love the Church and mourn for her, the Introit offers a promise and a prophecy. Here is the wider context of the Introit:
“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her. That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolations: that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the abundance of her glory.
“For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring upon her as it were a river of peace, and as an overflowing torrent the glory of the Gentiles, which you shall suck; you shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you.
“As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (Isa. 66.10-13.)
We are told to rejoice and to take comfort. Even in her current humiliation and obscurity, God promises that our holy Mother Church will be vindicated, and shall nourish those who will return to her. As Fr John MacLaughlin wrote:
“We concede, moreover, that there may have been occasions in the past (and such intervals may occur in the future) when, through the opposition of anti-Popes and a variety of untoward circumstances, it was difficult for individuals for the moment to tell where the right source of authoritative teaching was to be found.
“This, however, does not change the state of the case in the least; the one true Church was in the world somewhere all the same, and in full possession of all her essential prerogatives, although, for the passing hour — from transient causes — she may not have been easily discernible to the less observant.
“Just as there have been times when some dense fog or mist made it impossible for the ordinary observer to tell the exact spot the sun occupied in the sky, although everybody knew that he was there somewhere; knew, too, that he would in due course make the exact location of his presence visible to all, and that, as soon as the mist lifted, his rays would come straight to the earth again, and every one would see that he was identically the same luminous orb that had shone before.”10
Dom Prosper Guéranger talks about how the Church will always emerge, even from troubles like our own:
“A Decius may succeed in causing a four years’ vacancy in the See of Rome; anti-popes may arise, supported by popular favour, or upheld by the policy of Emperors; a long schism may render it difficult to know the real Pontiff amidst the several who claim it: the Holy Spirit will allow the trial to have its course, and, whilst it lasts, will keep up the faith of his children; the day will come when he will declare the lawful Pastor of the flock, and the whole Church will enthusiastically acknowledge him as such.”11
And as Fr John Kearney wrote:
“After the most terrible trials, even after her friends had proved false – as the Apostles failed Christ – she was there as always, living, strong, confident. Her enemies have passed away, their power and their threats have become a mere memory, but the unchanged Church is still there; like Christ himself, she could not be destroyed.
“She is ever the same, ever living the life of Christ.”12
Conclusion – The Gateway to Passiontide
We are commanded to abide in Christ, and to “put on Christ” if we hope to persevere in his faith, love and grace – especially during times of persecution. This is made possible to us through the docility to the action of the Church, his mystical body. As Pius XII teaches:
“[T]he liturgy shows us Christ not only as a model to be imitated but as a master to whom we should listen readily, a Shepherd whom we should follow, Author of our salvation, the Source of our holiness and the Head of the Mystical Body whose members we are, living by His very life.”13
We can only love that which we know. We need to know who this man is – and what power and dignity he has – that chooses to suffer in Gethsemane, at the pillar, amongst mocking soldiers, on the way to Golgotha and on his holy cross.
Similarly, whether catechumen or baptised, we need to “get to know” the Church, which Christ has espoused to himself and set over us as our mother. We must submit to the Church, and allow ourselves to be formed by her.
Above all, we must be led by the Church into Christ’s sufferings and be crucified with him, as these sufferings “constitute the principal mystery of our redemption.”14 It is evident, from the liturgical formation which she provides for us in the traditional Roman rite, that the Church would have us prepare for this by contemplating the strong and conquering Christ of these Lenten Sundays, and abiding in him.
Only now – after four Sundays of having been confronted with the power of Christ and his Church, appreciating our own destitution by comparison, and having come to know and love the person of our Redeemer – only now are the catechumens and the rest of us ready to face Passiontide.
Only now are we ready, as Pius XII puts it, “to come to Calvary and follow in the blood-stained footsteps of the divine Redeemer, to carry the cross willingly with Him, to reproduce in our own hearts His spirit of expiation and atonement, and to die together with Him.”15
Lent is not Passiontide. The rejoicing of Laetare Sunday is not a break in the spirit of Lent at all. Rather, it is the culmination of the Sundays of Lent, and the ultimate preparation for Passiontide and Holy Week itself. It is in Passiontide, and not at the start of Lent, that Church truly enters into the silence and suffering of the Passion.
But how much of this is lost in the reformed post-conciliar liturgy, with its cycle of different readings, and its suppression of Passiontide? The focused lessons the liturgy teaches us during Lent cannot help but be dissipated under such circumstances.
Similarly, how much of this is lost even in the traditional liturgy, if we do not pay attention to the rhythms and meanings of the liturgical texts? Or if we replace the propers with other arbitrarily-chosen music? And if we impose hymns and devotions on ourselves without regard for the Church’s own rite in this period?
We need the light of Lent in order to appreciate the shadows of Passiontide. Coming to know and love Our Lord, as he appears to us through the action of the Church’s Lenten liturgy, can only increase our appreciation for him in Passiontide. Thus, as Pius XII teaches, we will be led by the Church, away from sin and to life in him:
“By means of His inspiration and help and through the cooperation of our wills we can receive from Him living vitality as branches do from the tree and members from the head; thus slowly and laboriously we can transform ourselves ‘unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.’”16
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Further Reading:
Dom Prosper Guéranger – The Liturgical Year
Fr Johannes Pinsk – The Cycle of Christ
Dom Columba Marmion – Christ in his Mysteries
Mgr Robert Hugh Benson – Christ in the Church
Fr Frederick Faber – The Precious Blood
Fr Leonard Goffine – The Church’s Year
Open Letter to Latin Mass Catholics
Part I – Collective Punishment
Part II – “An ecclesiology that is not part of the Church’s Magisterium”
Part III – The Judgment of Solomon
Book Review: “Christ in the Church” by Mgr Robert Hugh Benson
Book Review: “Christ in His Mysteries” by Dom Columba Marmion
How should Catholics approach Lent today? Timeless advice from John Henry Newman
The Roman Liturgy – an ongoing series of standalone pieces
Septuagesima I: The Beginning of the Liturgical Year?
Septuagesima II: The Babylonian Captivity and the Crisis in the Church
Lent I: The Protection of God
Lent II: “What Think You of Christ?”
Lent III: Laetare Sunday and the Church
Passiontide I: The Silence of PassiontideChrist the King: “Are you a King, then?” – Christendom and the Social Kingship of Christ
Advent I: The Advent Liturgy and the Apocalypse
Advent II: The Close Presence of Christ in Advent
Advent III: Advent and the Preparation for Victory
Christmas and Christ's Triumph over Darkness
Epiphany as the Manifestation of Christ's Kingship
Epiphanytide: Ordinary Time or our Entrance into Eternity?
See also The WM Review Reading List
Pius XII, Encyclical Mediator Dei, 1947, n. 164. http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20111947_mediator-dei.html.
Fr Johannes Pinsk, The Cycle of Christ, 37. Trans. Arthur Gibson, Desclee Company, New York, 1966. Fr Johannes Pinsk (1891-1957) was involved with the twentieth century liturgical movement in ways that many readers would consider regrettable. However, his works have a wealth of interesting information about the liturgical year, which I would like to share. They also contains some things which traditional Catholics might not appreciate. My purpose here is to present what is good, along with some comments, to help us appreciate the holy Roman Liturgy.
Pinsk 37-8
Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christ, 1943, n. 55. Available at: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi.html
St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III Q48 A1-2
St Augustine, Sermon 87 on the New Testament. Translated by R.G. MacMullen. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Available at: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/160387.htm
Fr Frederick William Faber, The Precious Blood, or The Price of our Salvation, 188-9. Burns & Oates Ltd., London, 1860.
Rev. John Kearney, CSSp. You are the Body of Christ, p 58. Burns, Oates, and Washbourne, Dublin and London 1939.
Pius XII, Encyclical Mediator Dei, 1947, n. 165. http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20111947_mediator-dei.html
Rev. John MacLaughlin, The Divine Plan of The Church, Where Realised, and Where Not, Burns & Oates, London, 1901., Chapter VI, on indefectibility. Pp, pp. 93-94.
Dom Prosper Guéranger, The Liturgical Year, Vol 9 (Paschal Time – Book III), St Bonaventure Publications, Great Falls, Montana, 2000. Thursday after Whitsun, p 385.
Kearney, 52-3.
Pius XII, Encyclical Mediator Dei, 1947, n. 163. http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20111947_mediator-dei.html
Ibid. n. 164
Ibid. 158
Ibid. n. 165