Daily Catholic Lectio
Sun, 10 March 2024
Fourth Sunday of Lent
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23. Ephesians 2:4-10. John 3:14-21
Joy of homecoming
The Fourth Sunday of Lent is called ‘Domenica Laetare’ (Joy Sunday). We rejoice today because the Easter celebration is near us. The readings of the day remind us about the joy of homecoming.
The joy of coming home is expressed in three ways: (a) the joy of returning to the homeland; (b) the joy of being saved; and (c) the joy of being loved.
(a) The joy of returning to the homeland
The first reading, taken from the second book of Chronicles, brings to us the edict of Emperor Cyrus the Great, who, upon winning over the Babylonians, let the people of Israel return to their homeland, Jerusalem, to build the Lord’s Temple. The people of Israel return to their homeland and rebuild the city and the temple.
(b) The joy of being saved
Saint Paul, in the second reading, writing to the Ephesians, underlines how we are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We had once sold ourselves to slavery, and now Christ has saved us once and for all. This is an act of grace from God.
(c) The joy of being loved
The gospel reading is the second part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, who comes to meet him at night. Jesus, through the metaphor of being born again, being exalted, and coming to light, emphasises how God’s love for humankind is explicit in the incarnation. Jesus tells Nicodemus that God’s love was manifest to everyone through the offering of his only begotten son.
On this Laetare Sunday, let us rediscover this joy.
We are invited to return home – the home of our being, where we experience our vulnerability and fragility; we who cherish the joy of being saved or liberated, shall not allow ourselves to be dominated by sin and slavery; and we who are loved by God, may continue to remain in his love.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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