Haters will say real men don’t wear pink. But this weekend, on the 4th Sunday of Lent called Laetare Sunday, priests in the Catholic church wear the liturgical colour “rose.” The violet colour of the penitential season of Lent is mixed with white of the upcoming Easter season, resulting in pink or as the church calls it “rose.” It shows Lent isn’t always penitential or about drowning in our sorrows; it reminds us we are heading towards Easter and that is worth rejoicing.
The term Laetare means exactly this. It means “to rejoice” stemming from the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass, “Rejoice, O Jerusalem,” rejoicing in anticipation of the resurrection. The light of Easter begins to break through this Lenten season giving encouragement to all renewing their commitments to prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
The colour white is also symbolic of the light of Jesus giving sight to the blind man in today’s Gospel. His blindness symbolising darkness and emptiness is cured by Jesus, the “light of the world,” opening his eyes and causing him to see once again. The miracle is not simply about regaining vision again, impressive as that is; it is more about the insight of seeing Jesus as the Messiah or Christ the anointed one or “the Son of Man.”
We as Christians must continually be illumined by this light. It’s a remarkable blessing we come to know God in the person of Jesus in “faith and not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). The whole of the Christian life begins with this enlightenment, an encounter with God in the person of Jesus Christ and continues this pilgrimage of faith towards the light of the resurrection. It is a life-time process and growth always requiring us to overcome our blind spots.
Hindsight and reflection help to tackle these blind spots, catching glimpses of God’s work throughout our day and recognising ways we can improve. Greek philosopher Plato said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” This applies to the Christian life too. We might have done this before lent, examining and reflecting on our conscience with prayer and discernment, determining the different types of penances we will undertake. All these penances are not designed for punishment but to improve the human person’s vision to see God more and bear greater witness to the light of Christ.
The liturgical colour rose on Laetare Sunday is certainly different and eye-catching compared to the usual purple colour during Lent. May it encourage us to see Christ with more open eyes, so like the blind man we can say with conviction, “Lord, I believe.”
Happy Laetare Sunday!
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David Rush says:
Really appreciate the explanation of the rose garments. Well expressed