5TH-WK! REJOICING IN SIGNS OF HOPE AND FAITH AND LOVE ... ON THE ROAD!

Fr. Charles "Chuck" Wood

Fifth Sunday of Lent

"I continue my pursuit in hope ..." (Phil. 3:8-14)

How’s it going as we keep on keepin’ on, reading the document by Pope Francis announcing the Jubilee Year and “Looking for Signs of Hope during This Lenten Season”? If you’re finding those signs, rejoice.

“Rejoice?” If you remember that last Sunday was when the Church aims its headlights at rejoicing in Lent, you might ask yourself, “Is Fr. Chuck asleep at the wheel?”

In last week’s post, I decided not to head into an explanation/reminder about “Laetare Sunday,” “laetare” being a Latin verb we translate as “Rejoice!” This encouraging call is the first word in the Entrance Antiphon of Lent’s Fourth Sunday, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning ….” (see Is. 66:10-11).

So, why am I now looking in the rearview mirror on Sunday of Rejoicing? I mean, we’ve reached the Lenten milepost of the Fifth Sunday, with Holy Week right around the corner. Well, first, I’m inviting you to look back at the Church’s theme for last Sunday because we need a lot of “Laetare” every day of our lives, not just one Sunday in Lent.

Plus, I direct you to an intersection of 1) Philippians 3:8-14, the second reading for this Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year C, 2) the section, “A Journey of Hope” (Articles 5-6), in the pope’s Jubilee announcement, 3) looking for signs of hope, and 4) our need for rejoicing and being lighthearted to sustain our quest for hope.

St. Paul tells the Philippians about an urgent longing that drives him to “know [Christ] and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death….” (Phil 3:10-11).

But, he continues, “It is not that I have already taken hold of it … but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it…. [I strain] forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:12-14).

Pope Francis writes, “the Christian life is a journey calling for moments of greater intensity to encourage and sustain hope as the constant companion that guides our steps towards the goal of our encounter with the Lord Jesus…. Setting out on a journey is traditionally associated with our human quest for meaning in life” (Article 5).

St. Paul and Pope Francis pack these writings with images of movement and travel. Those images partly inspired the way I’ve packed this blog post with figures of speech about cars and driving.

Another inspiration for my wordplay is a desire to include you in the joy of looking for signs of hope, faith, and love in a lighthearted way. What’s that “way?” It’s coming up with spiritual messages from car company names. This has amused me, parishioners, and visitors to the parish I pastor since the Sunday before Lent. That Sunday’s Gospel included Christ’s call, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Part of my preaching included the mercy hidden in the history of Mercedes-Benz.

See, one of that company’s founders had named his daughter “Mercedes.” Then he named a car in honor of her and his business partner, Benz. Mercedes-Benz eventually became the company name. But the spiritual honor behind naming a baby girl “Mercedes” already had roots in Spanish Catholicism, honoring St. Mary as “Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes” (Our Lady of Mercies). So I preached that owning or seeing a Mercedes-Benz can remind us to be merciful as God is merciful and to say, “Our Lady of Mercies, pray for us.”

Since then, more spiritual messages from car company names have come to me and my parishioners, separately or in collaboration. Join this verbal scavenger hunt. Let the Holy Spirit be creativity’s spark plug. Let this lighthearted effort fuel “a lot of ‘Laetare,’” sustaining your journey of hope.  

Audi               Act Under Divine Influence 

BMW              Be Merciful, Widely (from the hymn, “There’s a Wideness in God’s                           Mercy”)

                        Blessed Merciful Woman

                        Be Merciful Whenever

Tesla               The Eternal Savior Loves All

Tied for First Place in the Winner’s Circle:

Subaru           St. Ursula, Blessed Advocate, Remember Us

Chrysler         Christ, Holy and Righteous, Your Selfless Love Expresses Redemption

Author: Pastor, Fr. Charles “Chuck” Wood, St Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church – A friendly, Christ-centered parish in the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon (stelizabethportland.net) Member of the African American Catholic community of Oregon, outreach organization.   

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