Blog

March 30, 2025

As Catholics, we have special names for a lot of things! We even have a special name for this Fourth Sunday of Lent, which we also call “Laetare Sunday.” The word “Laetare” means “Rejoice,” and it comes from the first word in Latin of the proper Entrance Antiphon for this Sunday’s Mass. Although it is common to recite these antiphons at the beginning of Masses celebrated without music, usually during the week, the Church actually provides them for every day of the year. In most parishes we don’t hear them on Sundays, because another hymn takes their place at the beginning of Mass.

The full text of the proper Entrance Antiphon for this Sunday’s Mass is:

Lætare Ierusalem: et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum lætitia, 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.”

These words from Isaiah 66:10-11 were spoken by the prophet Isaiah to the People of Israel while they were in exile, to comfort them and give them hope of an eventual return to the Promised Land, where they would receive blessing and consolation from the Lord. Today, the Church uses these words to invite us to rejoice as we continue our journey through the season of Lent, and to give us hope of the blessing and consolation that come from Christ’s Resurrection, which we will celebrate at Easter.

This Sunday isn’t the only Mass named after its Entrance antiphon. We call the Third Sunday of Advent “Gaudete Sunday” for the same reason, and before it became “Divine Mercy Sunday,” the Second Sunday of Easter was sometimes called “Quasimodo Sunday.” The Mass for the Dead is also called a “Requiem” Mass for this same reason.

Fr. Berhorst