The Fourth Sunday in Lent has for centuries been commonly called “Refreshment Sunday.” It marks the mid-point of Lent. In many churches the vestments and altar hangings change from purple to a rose color, marking the day as a mild break from the rigors of the season.
The name also derives from the Gospel for this Sunday, which tells the story of the Lord Jesus miraculously refreshing the hungry multitude that followed Him, from a basket containing five loaves of bread and two small fish. “What do they amount to for so many people?” His disciples groused. The Lord took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to His disciples to distribute. The five loaves and two fish satisfied the hunger of 5000 people.
Since the earliest times, Christians have taken this miraculous feeding as a type of the Holy Eucharist. Faded pictures on the walls of the Catacombs in Rome, eighteen hundred years old, depict the basket of five loaves and two fish near early Christian Altars. This association continues today as Refreshment Sunday calls to mind the gift of Christ, Who gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
Every Sunday for almost 2000 years, Christians have gathered to offer this “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving,” as Christ Himself commanded us to do. Why is it so important?
In the Eucharist, the Lord Jesus Himself comes to be with us. “The same One Who came down to Blessed Mary, and was born in Bethlehem, comes to us on the Altar,” says St Bernard, “as our Savior and Food.” He comes to be with us and feed us on Himself. We bow and kneel in His Presence with us at the Altar just as any of us would bow and kneel before Him if He were to walk into the room.
He comes, St Bernard remarks, as our “Food.” By eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He gives Himself to us. His life becomes ours. The Catechism teaches us the sacrament is “an outward, visible sign of an inward spiritual Grace.” Grace isn’t stuff. We can’t bottle it or put it somewhere. Grace is God’s presence and power among us.
In the Eucharist, during Holy Communion, you and I eat and drink Grace, “that He may dwell in us, and we in Him.”
What could be more refreshing-more satisfying-to the hearts of His faithful people?—Fr Gregory Wilcox
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