On this “Rejoice” (Laetare) Sunday we find a reason to celebrate in the otherwise somber first reading from the Second Book of Chronicles. Amid a lament for Israel’s stubborn refusal to observe the covenant, we find that God coaxes the nation—almost despite itself—into ever closer friendship and union. We learn from the Prophet Jeremiah, who speaks of a blessed time when “the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths.” 

    While the phrase recalls the language of the book of Leviticus (Lev 26:34–35), Chronicles is speaking of the Babylonian Captivity, a period of mournful exile that Israel attributed to its own lack of faith. Before the exile, Israelites hadn’t been taking the time out for the Lord; they had ignored prayer and sacrifice; they had focused exclusively on personal achievement; they had turned to idols. So when the Lord saw that the Promised Land wasn’t receiving the “rest” or “sabbath” that it deserved, he found a way to provide it. Through trials and hardships, the Lord would have the nation step back and redirect their hearts to receive again his mercy.

    I try to think of “lost sabbaths” every time God finds a way to interrupt my plans so that I can refocus on his love, often in ordinary, trivial situations. Stuck in line at the grocery store? Maybe now is a time to pray, to give God the time I forgot to carve out this morning. God finds a way to regain my attention.

    Thus the image of “lost sabbaths” is especially relevant to the past year under the pandemic. Most of us agree that we have been forced to slow down and take stock. True, many have suffered anxiety and agitation, which make it hard to focus and offer praise. But in the process we’ve begun to identify what really matters. In lockdown many have spent more time with their families. Others have turned to prayer and meditation, both as a response to their worries and as a means of bolstering their relationship with God.

    You might consider the past year, then, as a period when God has been recovering lost sabbaths, making up for the times that raced by while we hurtled through life. Like Israel, we had lost track of the call to worship God alone and to love our neighbors as ourselves. God has found a way to remind us of that call.

    But there is a second way that the image applies to us. For the past year many of us have literally lost our sabbaths: for the good of communal health, we have refrained from gathering on Sundays and receiving the Eucharist. Those lost sabbaths have added up, and many are eager, even desperate, to return to their parishes and to recoup what has been taken from them.

    We can rejoice, then, to hear that God will recover the lost sabbaths, that, somehow, good will come of the devastating loneliness that so many have experienced, and that our own “exile” will prove a period of renewal for our spirits and for the Church.  

    The second reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians suggests how Lent can be a special time when lost sabbaths are recovered. Paul speaks to the temptation to look to ourselves rather than to God, our tendency to imagine that our successes and our virtues matter most. His reminder, that we are saved by God’s grace, puts all of our Lenten efforts into perspective. Thus, in these forty days, we fast, and pray, and give more of ourselves in preparation for Easter. But as long as everything we offer is on our own terms, we’ll start to take credit and to look to ourselves, and, little by little, to forget our sabbaths and our God. Something is off if you find yourself admiring what you’ve accomplished since Ash Wednesday rather than relating to the Lord, who loved us so much that he gave his only Son to save us and to fill us with his grace.

    As a reminder of our neediness, God recovers his lost sabbaths through the action of grace. And while grace can feel cheerful and uplifting, sometimes it knocks us over the head. Grace can come even in the form of a year of death, sickness, and isolation. 

    This Laetare Sunday, then, we have real cause to rejoice. If we are returning to church for the first time in over a year, ready to make up for lost sabbaths, or if we can now see the past year in a new light, as a time when God drew us from idle and passing pursuits to focus on his love, we can indeed rejoice that God has restored us to the rest and consolation that we desire.