Parish Newsletter - Week 4, 2026

Laetare Sunday has many names.

It is sometimes called Refreshment Sunday so called, because it signals a temporary reprieve from the rigours of the Lenten season. It is called Laetare Sunday after the Latin opening phrase of the Entrance Antiphon, Laetare Jerusalem—Rejoice, O Jerusalem.

It is also sometimes referred to as Refreshment Sunday or the Sunday of the Five Loaves, reminding us of the munificence of Christ performing the miracle of feeding thousands with only five loaves and fishes. Laetare Sunday is also called Rose Sunday because the clergy wear rose-coloured vestments in place of the purple colour of Lent. Change in colour from purple to rose symbolizes the joy resulting from the preparations for Easter end the penance being performed.

It has also been called Mothering Sunday, in reference to St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, where the faithful are called “sons and daughters of God”.

Laetare Sunday has its parallel in the other season of expectation and meditation. In Advent, we celebrate Gaudete Sunday, which again is an exhortation to find joy in the promise of Christ.

The Gospel Reading today, John 1-41 is of Christ’s healing of the man born blind. In this we find a call for us to achieve a level of spiritual insight in finding hope amid suffering. For us then, Laetare Sunday acknowledges that the end goal of Lent is not to punish but to find joy in the redemption and ultimate salvation promised by Christ’s death and resurrection. That promise is very real.

As Jesus tells the penitent thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” How wondrous then is God’s mercy, and what joy there is in the knowledge that our own sins will find forgiveness and clemency, if we ask for it with a true desire of amendment.

Whatever we call Laetare Sunday, and however we approach it, let us meditate on the magnificence and intensity of God’s love.

As today’s Responsorial Psalm reminds us:

“The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.”

That priceless promise that we have of redemption and ultimate salvation is what Laetare Sunday is all about.