LETARE SUNDAY - DR. GIL HAAS - SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

This is Our Story


Today, Lent’s fourth Sunday, is called Laetare.  Like Advent’s third Sunday(Gaudete), it is a break in a penitential season.  These Sundays’ vestments are rose in color, a symbol of joy in the middle of a somber season.  The name, Laetare, is translated  “Rejoice”, and it is the introit’s opening word assigned to this Sunday, i.e. “Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her...”.  It is also known in England as Mothering Sunday and is celebrated similar to our Mothers’ Day.  Spring bulbs are given to mothers, and simnel cakes (from the Latin simila, a high grade flour) are baked on this Sunday.  A visit to one’s cathedral, or “mother” church, is another reason for the name.   The Sunday is also called Refreshment Sunday, since it provides a refreshing break halfway through Lent’s penitential themes.  In France, it is call Mid-Lent Sunday (mi-carême).  Finally, it can be called Rose Sunday, both because of its liturgical color and also because of the golden roses sent by popes to Catholic sovereigns on this Sunday.  Dissimilar to other Lenten Sundays, Anglican churches place flowers on the high altar, and the organ is played as a solo instrument. 
~Dr. Gil Haas, Saint Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
If you have a liturgical question or an inquiry about anything that transpires during or around our worship service, please forward the question you would like researched to: gghaas@aol.com, or drop the question in the offering basin. Please note whether we can credit you as the source of the question.