As we arrive at the midway point in our Lenten journey on this 4th Sunday of Lent, the Church bids us rejoice, laetare! The celebration of joy amid the Lenten discipline may seem odd at first, though, as Tony explains it makes all the sense in the world. For, it is precisely amid the struggle for unity with God that God reminds us of our only true cause of lasting joy, the Son of God Incarnate, Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ God has and continues to smile upon us, bidding us to smile upon Him in return.
Mass Readings
Reading 1: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
Reading 2: Ephesians 2:4-10
Gospel: John 3:14-21
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.