Fourth Sunday of Lent/C
Massimo Palombella
This Sunday is called “Laetare” Sunday from the first word of the Introit. Today it is possible to use pink vestments instead of purple ones (as in the “Gaudete” Sunday in Advent), to decorate the altar with flowers and to use the organ for more than just the accompaniment of the songs.
The objective of all this is to remind us of the proximity of Easter and thus refresh us in our Lenten journey. In today’s Gospel (Lk 15:1-3.11-32) Jesus tells the famous parable of the “merciful Father” to all the publicans and sinners who had come to listen to him and to the Pharisees and scribes who grumbled against him. I think it is interesting to dwell on a small detail, that of the father who sees his son from afar, has compassion on him and runs towards him. A father who every day scanned the horizon hoping for the return of his son, a father who goes beyond all our ideas of justice, of implicit blackmail and atonement. A father who, in the end, meets our deep need to be loved, sought after, forgiven, welcomed. A need that, just like the son in the parable, we often do not recognize, remaining prisoners of ancestral schemes and relationships that are not fully recognized and encountered. God takes us “beyond”, displacing us in our most deeply rooted patterns which, fundamentally, do nothing but make our lives heavy and unbearable. An authentic relationship with the Lord leads us slowly to change our lives, but, before any external action, it moves, destabilizes, rearranges our inner life, breaks our patterns, purifies our motivations, makes us able to forgive – first of all ourselves – to have authentic relationships, to leave, finally, what is superfluous and weighs down our lives.
The ‘Tract’ of today’s celebration comes from Psalm 124 (Ps 124:1. 2) with the following text:
Qui confidunt in Domino sicut mons Sion
non commovebitur in aeternum qui habitat in Ierusalem.
Montes in circuitu eius: et Dominus in circuitu populi sui, ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion;
the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall never be shaken.
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from this time forth and for evermore).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the “Consortium Vocale” conducted by Alexander M. Schweitzer. The music track can be found on the CD “Exaudiam Eum – Gregorian Chant for Lent and Holy Week” published by Lindberg Lyd in 2007.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
