The Fourth Sunday of Lent is nicknamed from the beginning of the first chant of Mass, the Introit: Laetare … Rejoice! It’s a glimpse of the destination of our march up Lent’s mountain, Easter. You may hear more music, see some flowers, and have rosacea (not, I hope, baby-rattle pink) vestments. That’s the beginning of Sunday’s Mass. For a change, let’s leap lightly to Laetare’s end, the Post Communion, in the Novus Ordo:
Deus, qui illuminas omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum, illumine, quaesumus, corda nostra gratiae tuae splendore, ut digna ac placita maiestati tuae cogitare semper, et te sincere diligere valeamus.
