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some of the signs by which she manifests her joy to
appear the use of the organ, the deacon s dalmatics
the sub-deacon s tunic and the rose-colored vestments,
which replace the purple ones.
These rose-coloured vestments may remind us, of the
blessing of the GOLDEN ROSE. This rose is blessed the Pope
by
himself who during the Mass holds it in his
hand. The Holy Father afterwards sends this rose to
one of the Christian rulers as a reward for his devotion to
the Church. This golden rose is figurative of Jesus
"
Christ Who is called in the sacred Scriptures the flower
He attracts souls to Him
of the root of Jesse ".
self by the odour of His perfumes and the splendour of
His virtues. On account of this ceremony the fourth
Sunday of Lent is sometimes called the Sunday of the
Golden Rose. It is also called the Sunday of the Five
Loaves from the miracle recorded in the Gospel of the
day.
The Church REJOICES ON THIS SUNDAY because, Lent
being now more than half over, her children have as
cended the slope which inclines towards the end of the
Lenten term of trial, and because the anticipation of
Easter, now drawing near, should fill the hearts of the
faithful with happiness. The Epistle recalls to us the
figures of Hagar and Sara, the one a bond-woman, the
other free. The first represents the Jewish synagogue
subject "to the yoke of the Mosaic law ; the second re
presents the Church set free by the Gospel and rendered
fruitful by the labours of Jesus Christ. This freedom
and fruitfulness of the Church are for all her chil
dren a cause of rejoicing in the Lord. Another cause for
rejoicing is the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves
recorded in the Gospel. For our divine Saviour, by
thus manifesting His power and goodness, won the sym-