Today is Laetare Sunday. Laetare in Latin means rejoice. Today is to be a joyful day. And not just because it’s one of just two days in the year that Father and the deacon get to wear our rose-colored vestments, although that is an outward sign of our joy. We’re now more than halfway through lent and we’re getting much closer to the Joy of Easter.

     We have some very beautiful readings today that are so full there are a dozen ways one could go with a homily.  But first and foremost, they echo the joyfulness of the day, because they remind us of how much God loves us, and of his infinite mercy and compassion towards us, and his willingness to forgive us no matter what we’ve done.

     I’ll touch more on that subject in a little bit; but first I’d like to focus on one short phrase in our second reading. Near the end of the reading St. Paul tells us that we are “God’s handiwork”. ——– Handiwork is a word that we usually use to describe items that are handmade by some person; something that someone took the time to manually craft. —–That’s something that is becoming more and more rare in today’s society. A large percentage of items that we own are the product of mechanization; machine made; and most likely mass produced on an assembly line somewhere. And there are many good and valid reasons why things are made this way. But with that being said, how many items do we possess that can be called handiwork, something that has been carefully crafted by someone’s hands? Whatever we do have, we may have possibly made ourselves with our own hands, or more likely something that was given to us as a gift by someone close to us, ——or maybe even something that has been handed down in the family from generation to generation; something that was made by a grandparent or great-grandparent. Whatever these items are we generally consider them much more precious to us because we know the hard work and love that went into making them.

     And that is what St. Paul tells us that we are. We are God’s handiwork. Like any one of these handmade objects that we may have, we were painstakingly created by God. Like these items, we manifest the work of the artist. We do this in those times that we are true to our very being, those times that we act as true sons and daughters of God. Like any of these items, we were each created to bring beauty to the world; ——–God’s beauty. It can be easy for us to forget our unique beauty. After all we are just one in an estimated world population of seven and a half billion people, but just as an artist doesn’t consider their masterpiece as merely one of their many works, neither does God see each of us as just one of his works. He sees each of us as a wonderful and unique creation.

      But neither are we just a work of art by God. We are living beings endowed with a free will and able to choose to love God in return or reject him. We have the option to act as though we aren’t special to God. That’s what the Jewish people had done in our first reading. They had rejected God and turned to the immorality of the world around them. As a result, they suffered exile in Babylon. Their bitter enemies destroyed Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and those who were not killed were taken away as slaves. God wasn’t punishing them. He was simply leaving them to their own devices. Without knowing it, they were punishing themselves. And that’s what God does with us too. He doesn’t punish us when we don’t follow him, he simply lets us go our own way and we have no problem getting into trouble on our own. We only have to look at our country, which keeps distancing itself from God more and more; and as a result, is sliding deeper into sin and immorality.

     Thankfully for the Jewish people, God did not forget the beauty of his creation and after seventy years in exile he delivered them from captivity using the hand of Cyrus, the king of Persia. They didn’t earn their freedom. It was restored to them by God. He was merciful. ——St. Paul, in our second reading also reminds us of our God who is rich in mercy. He reminds us that we did not earn a savior, it is by God’s grace that we are saved. He says, “For grace you have been saved by faith. And this is not from you. It is the gift of God. It is not from works, so no one may boast.”

     In our Gospel reading from John, we hear the beautiful verse, “God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.” That is probably the most quoted verse of the entire bible. I’m sure many of us have Protestant friends who have quoted that verse to us. ——We see “John 3:16” on bumper stickers. On large, televised sporting events, when the camera pans the stadium, there is always one person somewhere holding a sign that says, “John 3:16. But this also makes it one of the most misinterpreted passages in the bible. Most people who quote this passage are suggesting that a person is saved by faith alone. That just believing in Jesus will save you. “NONSENSE! Even Satan and the demons believe in Jesus. But this passage coupled along with what we heard Paul say in our second reading, that you are saved through faith and not from works, is where many Christians get their “Salvation by faith only” theology. St. Paul in his letter to the Romans also says that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. But just like any bible passage, we can’t just cheery-pick verses, taking them completely out of context and build our faith around them. We have to remember that Paul was the Apostle to the gentiles. His letters, although they are very important to us, were written to specific communities and in large part dealt with issues that had arisen in those communities, but issues that have also risen all through Church history.  Paul was correct in telling the Romans that they needed faith in Jesus but not the works of the Law. The works of the law he was referring to were all the Jewish laws in the Old Testament. Jewish writers have listed them and have found over 600 laws in the Old Testament; laws concerning all sorts of things, the temple in Jerusalem, laws about sacrificing animals in the temple, laws about tithing, laws about which animals were clean or unclean, laws about Jewish feasts; but the biggest debate in these gentile communities at the time were Jewish laws concerning circumcision. They were asking if they needed to be circumcised and follow all of these Jewish laws, literally having to become Jewish first before they could become Christian. Paul answered by saying a person is justified apart from works of the law. He was telling them they did not have to be circumcised or follow all of these Jewish laws to be saved, but to have faith in Jesus and to become Christian through baptism.  

     But we know what human nature is like, how some people like to take the easy way. So as time went by, some people began to distort Paul’s message, by saying it doesn’t matter how we live our lives, as long as we believe in Jesus we will be saved. So, more teaching had to follow; and we find that in the Letter of James where it was asked if it was okay to have faith, but not do Christian works. The answer was, “What good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? It’s James who goes on to explain that believing is not enough, because even the demons believe in God. James concludes his explanation by saying a person is justified by both Christian works and faith; ——–by living as a Christian and not by faith alone.

     Well, I’ve wandered a little away from the joyful theme of the day. Joy is an essential Christian characteristic, and as Christians we have much to joyful about, especially in this season of Lent. The Church in this liturgy tries to remind us that this Christian joy should be present at every moment of our lives, no matter what our situation. There is joy in all the graces and the gifts that we receive from God, especially the gift of his Son who gave his life for us. So, for today and the rest of Lent, as we get closer to Easter let us meditate on the Joys of our Christianity; first and foremost, the joy of the cross. For Christians, the joy of the cross is the same as the joy that comes from being united to Christ. It’s in our union with Christ that God will bring us to the ultimate joy——–eternal life with him. St Paul repeatedly tells us that in order to rise with Christ, we must also die with him. The joy of the cross is ours to share. The waters of our baptism are what opened the door for us to this gift. The Cross of Christ should be the source of our greatest happiness, as well as the source of our strength and support. Whatever misfortunes our human condition lays on us; whenever we experience sorrow, undergo suffering, or even fall into sin, our thoughts should turn to the cross and the one who always loves us and with his infinite love will help us overcome any trial.

    Let us also meditate on the fact that we are each a beautiful, individual handiwork created by God. These are just some of the joyful messages that we celebrate on this Laetare Sunday.

Follow up:

After one of the Masses that I preached this homily, a young boy (7 or 8) came to me and asked, “Don’t Protestants believe that through faith comes works?”   I thought “WOW”. First, I was amazed that this young person had even paid attention through the homily; and secondly that he understood the subject enough to ask such a question. He caught me by surprise, and I had to think for a moment but then I answered, “Yes, most Protestants do believe that though faith comes works; but the big difference is that that they believe works have nothing to do with their salvation. That they are just that, “good works”, nice things to do, but not tied to their salvation. They still believe that their salvation comes through faith only.