During Passiontide, the Church Doubles Down on Lent
Laetare (“Rejoice”) Sunday was a gracious pause to our Lenten penance. After enjoying its light-heartedness, the Church now doubles down. With the flowers, music and rose vestments of Laetare Sunday behind us, we are now called by the Church into the somber “second phase” of Lent. It is time for us to enter Passiontide.
During the first part of the Lenten season, we focused on examining where we stand in our own relationship with the Lord Jesus and on acts of penance, as we try to heed the call of St. Paul:
“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).
Shifting Our Focus
In this second part of Lent, we shift our focus. We are now called to unite ourselves to the Lord Jesus and spiritually prepare for his Paschal mystery.
As believers, we now move from the work of penance and self-scrutiny into a concerted recollection of the Lord’s forthcoming sorrows and sufferings. We draw closer to the Lord Jesus as he prepares for his passion, death and resurrection.
Those who wish to follow the way of the Lord Jesus must be willing to die to themselves, to their sinfulness, their fallenness, their preferences and desires and so walk with the Lord as true disciples — namely, as men and women who will love, trust and authentically follow him to the cross.
