“Rejoice, O Jerusalem,” is the entrance antiphon for this Sunday’s liturgy. The day is sometimes called Laetare Sunday, “laetare” meaning “rejoice.” During our journey through Lent the celebration for this Sunday calls for the priest and deacon to wear rose-colored vestments. The liturgy reminds us that as we journey through Lent we have great reason to rejoice for the Lord loves us, and through his passion, death and resurrection frees us from sin and death. The first reading from Second Chronicles first recalls the situation in Israel that led to the Babylonian exile. “Infidelity” was added to “infidelity.” Prophets were sent and ignored. The Lord’s Temple was profaned. Then the Babylonians came, conquered and destroyed the country. The Temple of the Lord was desecrated and destroyed as was the holy city of Jerusalem. The peoples were exiled as captives and taken to the faraway lands of Mesopotamia (present day Iraq).