Today we mark Laetare Sunday, so called because of the first words of the Introit of the Mass, “Laetare, Jerusalem”, rejoice O Jerusalem. This day marks mid-Lent and so Mother Church allows the use of rose vestments, flowers on the altar, use of the organ, as a time of anticipating the joy of Easter even amidst the penitential practices of Lent. The joy of this day is a subdued joy, but this subdued joy is really what Christian joy is all about. Christian joy is not ever immediate or sharp or of the moment. We all know that life is full of moments of great joy, and we know that life has moments of sadness and disappointment. What Christian joy is based on is not the good things that happen to us in this life that cause our eyes to brim with the tears of joy. Christian joy is based on the person of Jesus Christ. When John the Baptist leapt in his mother’s womb when Mary greeted his mother Elizabeth, he did so because he recognized Jesus in Elizabeth’s womb. His own life would at least by the standards of the world not be one of joy. And he would suffer a violent death at the hands of drunken king involved in a sacrilegious marriage. The joy in that embrace of Mary and Elizabeth: of course, the joy of two pregnant women is present and the wonder of those pregnancies is part of this. But the heart of the joy is in Elizabeth’s words: But who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me? The mother of my Lord. Elizabeth’s joy is grounded in the person of Jesus in Mary’s womb. And when Mary sings the Magnificat her joy comes from the child she carries in her womb, whose name will be called Jesus, the one who saves.
