This weekend is Laetare Sunday, you will notice by the bright ROSE vestment. Laetare is Latin for ‘Rejoice’ it is kind of like we have
reached that halfway point of Lent (it’s really a little more than halfway if you are counting).

In the Gospel today we hear that most famous line, or best known, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”
There is sooooo much more to the Gospels, but yet this one line is a great place to start. Love is always a great place to start. God’s love
for us is something we should never forget; it can be easy sometimes when things are hard, to start to think that God does not love us. I
sometimes think when things are hard and we can’t see God, it’s because he is behind us to catch us if we fall.

I know I have had some of those times in my own life, one more recently, where I have questioned what God was asking me to go
through. It is only after the fact and looking back, I can see that God was there with me. At a hard moment, feeling strength. At a sad
moment, a moment of laughter. I think all of these can be moments of God saying, I am here. I think we can all have those moments that
may be a little harder to see God than others, but if we can take a good hard look, God is there. It is easy to see the darkness at times,
but it is at those times we should look for the light. It is not that God has left us; it is that we are looking at other things.

When we look at the gift that God has given to all of us, the gift of His son Jesus Christ, as we are fast approaching Holy Week: His
passion, death, and resurrection. Yes, it can be hard to see the suffering and death of a man as a gift, but this was more than a man. It
was a total self-sacrifice of God. A total giving of self. In a few short weeks we will be celebrating some wonderful Liturgies. Please
plan to join us this year, take the time, make the time, to come and pray, to come and reflect.

I also can’t help but think about my favorite season at this time of year. Spring. Easter can also get us thinking about spring. Easter is
early this year, however, at this writing it is almost looking like winter missed us this year. I could go for an early spring; I have already
seen one of my tulips poking up out of the ground. It’s a time of excitement as well as worry, if things start growing too soon and we
have a cold snap, they may be stunted or even killed. Each year, Minnesota brings its own challenges and trials. Each season has a pur-
pose and function. Too much rain or too little, each brings its own challenges. I have started to see, like the rest of our lives, we can only
see the bad, or we can try to see the good.

What has your outlook been like? What would you want it to be like? Sometimes this is where the Lord is looking for us to change.
There is a lot of darkness in our world today, keep looking for the light.

Blessings,
Fr. Backer