We are in the pink this Sunday—it is Laetare Sunday!  This practice, echoed in the Advent season ( Gaudete Sunday), is part of the “discipline” of our Church (discipline meaning something from which we should learn).  Both Latin words mean Rejoice! As you may realize, Sundays are not counted in the 40 days of Lent.  This is because we are ultimately an Easter people.  However, in our history, the Church has realized that people have a tendency to say we are not worthy and to go overboard with “beating ourselves up,” while not really changing our deeper attitudes.  Those external signs may make us feel better, but the call of this season is to a REAL internal change.  And so the Church takes this Sunday to “lighten” the penitential violet to rose in order that we remember this Easter call and Easter Joy.
 
Another Church practice that is rooted in this season (and Easter) is what we call “Easter duty.”  Since Lent is a Penitential season, celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation makes a great deal of sense in this time.  It is required in the case of serious or mortal sin.  But that requirement is applicable at ANY time of year.  In order that we may enjoy the graces of Reconciliation, we are ALL invited to celebrate the Sacrament at least once a year during Lent, even if we are dealing with lesser sins—venial sins.  We can always use God’s grace to become better followers of Christ!
 
But there is an even more important aspect to Easter duty that is hard to understand in this day and age, when almost everyone receives Communion every Sunday.  In the 13th century, most people did not come to receive Communion.  The feeling was that we were not (and are not) worthy to receive the Lord in the Eucharist.  People would go years and years—sometimes virtually their whole life—without Communion.  In the year 1215, that was addressed at the Fourth Lateran Council, when “Easter duty” was first voiced.  The people were told to receive Communion—and if necessary, Reconciliation—at least once per year in the Lenten or Easter seasons. 
 
As Pope Francis has gone out of his way to remind us, the Sacrament of Communion is not a reward for being good enough.  If it were, then we wouldn’t ever receive it!  Pope Francis reminds us that it was given us by Jesus to be shared as a reminder of what God has done for us.  As such, it is the medicine we need to share in the healing brought about through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.  Easter duty is too often spoken about as referring only to Reconciliation, but the Church established it to ensure that people would receive Communion at least once a year.