The Fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday in the Extraordinary Form, since its theme is one of rejoicing and expectation that Easter is near. It occurs just over half way through the penitential season of Lent. Laetare Sunday, takes its name from the first word in the entrance antiphon (introit) for that Sunday’s Mass, "Rejoice" [Latin: laetare]: "Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together all you that love her; rejoice with joy you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation" (Isaiah: 66:10, 11).

The story of Joseph and his brothers from the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis is no doubt familiar to all of us. Joseph is the favorite of their father, Jacob, who after wrestling with the Angel is now Israel. He, along with his brother, Benjamin, are the sons from his favorite wife, Rachel. No doubt, Jacob loved all of his sons, but he adored these two youngest. They reminded him of his own dear wife, now long dead, having passed in childbirth.

“You do not pay for the Mass, if you want you can make an offering, do it but you don’t need to pay for the Mass”. Pope Francis, in the audience hall in the Vatican, raises his gaze from the prepared speech and speaks off the cuff to the faithful. The subject of his catechesis is the Eucharistic prayer, the heart of the Mass, which accompanies the consecration of the bread and wine. It is an opportunity to remember that there can be no “price-list” for the sacraments and that not even the suffrage Mass for the deceased should be “paid” for.

GOD’S GAME PLAN (JOHN 3:16-21)

“How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he gained so great a Redeemer, and if God ‘gave his only Son’ in order that man ‘should not perish but have eternal life.’” – Saint John Paul II

Vatican News interviews the 85-years-old German cardinal, “Tradition is not a stagnant lake, but is like a spring, or a river: it is something alive”.

“Tradition is not a stagnant lake, but is like a spring, or a river: it is something alive. The Church is a living organism and thus it always needs to validly translation the Catholic tradition into present situations. This is the meaning of the renewal about which Pope John XXIII spoke”. Cardinal Walter Kasper, who turned 85 years old yesterday, told Vatican News.

Why has Pope Francis just instituted a new feast titled "Mary, Mother of the Church"?

Pope Francis has recently declared that a new obligatory memorial is to be celebrated in honor of our Blessed Mother under the title: Mary, Mother of the Church (Mater Ecclesiae). Fittingly, this memorial will take place on the Monday following Pentecost Sunday. The decree was signed on February 11 (the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes) and released this past Saturday, March 3, 2018, by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Mother, help our faith!

Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call.

Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.

Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.

Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.

Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.

Remind us that those who believe are never alone.

decree by Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of Divine Worship, inserts the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Roman rite on the Monday following Pentecost.

In a new teaching letter titled Placuit Deo, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) attempts to address the underlying difficulties that prevent people from embracing Church teaching regarding the universality and uniqueness of Christian salvation.

One of only three official documents emerging from the Vatican’s doctrinal office during the pontificate of Pope Francis, and the first under the current prefect, Archbishop Luis Ladaria, S.J., the 3,300-word text bears the unmistakable stamp of the Francis pontificate.

Jerusalem heads of churches, including the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Armenian Patriarchate and the Custody of the Holy Land, have all decided to close down the doors of the Church of Holy Sepulchre in East Jerusalem in protest of Jerusalem municipality’s decision to levy taxes (Arnona) on church-owned properties in East Jerusalem on the pretext that they are not places of worship.