Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

     Today is Laetare Sunday, (rejoice Sunday) because we have reached the halfway point of our Lenten journey and our cause for rejoicing are the words we hear from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: “God is rich in mercy!”  This alone should give us hope and consolation as we review our lives and desire to conform them more to the will of God. This of course is a process as we are journeying through Lent.  We leave behind the darkness of sin and increasingly enter into the light, even the liturgical vestments of the day reflect this.  

      Physically we are confused, disoriented and directionless when we are in the dark but as we approach the light reality becomes much clearer and it delights our eyes, mind and heart.  Who would not want to revel in the sunshine.  We know how good it makes us feel.  Freedom from sin does the same and that freedom comes to us so readily through the Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation.  The richness of God’s mercy in this Sacrament is the guarantee that God has wrapped His loving arms around us and set us free.  In order to receive this wondrous mercy we need only come humbly before the Lord, Who on Easter Sunday evening empowered His Apostles and their successors, bishops and priests, to dispel the darkness of sin and assure the penitent that they indeed are His sons and daughters.  As the hymn says: What wondrous love is this.

    We are halfway.  Lighten the rest of your Lenten journey by getting rid of the excess baggage of sin so that you can hold your head up high and see the light of divine mercy.

With Blessings,

Father Langan