Laetare Sunday

 

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON          Cf. Is 66: 10-11
Laetare, Ierusalem, et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam; gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis, ut exsultetis, et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae.
Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.
Be joyful, all who were in mourning;
exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.

This is the third year I've done an article on Laetare Sunday though, usually, I call it Mothering Sunday or Mother Sunday. As this year, it always takes place around the first approach of spring and around the Feast of Saint Patrick. Mothering Sunday used to be, in England, the Sunday where people returned to thier mother church or attended mass at their cathedral, and since I have returned to Christianity in my magical and heretical way, I have attempted to recreate this return to the Mother in my own way, but never quite successfully.

  

Another reason I don't call this Mothering Sunday is because this is the first one where my life is defined by not having a mother anymore.  Having no mother church to return to and no mother to call up or do something special for, Mothering Sunday seems to have lost all meaning. But as I read the antiphon for this Sunday I realized that this wasn't quite true.

The inspiration for Mothering Sunday comes from the very Laetere verse of the introit Jerusalem is called to rejoice on this Sunday (Laetare) along with all who love her. Rather than ignoring the death of my mother, rather than all of us ignoring our many losses, we are also addressed and encouraged to rejoice and, very graphically, be consoled at Her breast. 

The Wikipedia article states that when Mothering Sunday was reinistituted it was to remember not only mother churches and mothers, but Mary the Mother of Jesus and Mother Nature. Now we can grow those images remembering God the Mother, the Great Mother, the Inner Mother, or mothering instincts. By a whole other accident, Mothering Sunday is also called Rose Sunday and the rose colors of the Lady are worn on this day. In the midst of Lent we remember Mother in all of her aspects and not only in the selfish way of wanting to be mothered,

The first weeks of Lent are dark, and then the last three weeks are rose and red. Beginning next Sunday is Passiontide. We cannot enter into either Passiontide or Christmas without becoming Mary, without possessing the heart and passion of the Virgin Mother. Motherhood is made true when allow ourselves to be mothersd despite bad mothering and fear to trust or be weak. Motherhood is made complete in the way in which we become mother. This Laetare Sunday my prayer is make room and room and more room for the Mother in this spiritual life, and in this holy house.