4th Sunday of Lent

Since our local newspaper (The St. Louis Post Dispatch)  is just slightly left of Pravda I rarely read more than the funnies, the sports, and the business section.  Beyone that, if there's anything interesting my wife will point it out to me.  Yesterday morning at breakfast she did just that.  "You have to read this article in the "Lifestyle" section."  I especially don't read "Lifestyle".  Even though I definitely have a life, I don't have much style, so I don't find the articles in the section particularly interesting.

Normally when she does point something out there's about a 9 in 10 chance it's going to make me mad.  This time was no exception.  The article, written by Aisha Sultan was called "The prom invitation from hell".  To make a long story short, the theme for a local high school's senior prom is "The Seven Deadly Sins."  

Quoting from the article, "The junior class, which hosts the prom, voted for the Seven Deadly Sins as its theme. The invitations calling all "sinners" and beckoning them to "hell" went out about three weeks ago. The invitations feature illustrations of the various deadly sins (the one for lust (at the left)has a buxom woman in a long red dress ) and a fiery pentagram. It states: "Let the Sin Begin."


OK, teenaged cans can make some stupid decisions.  It happens all the time.  But where were the adults?  Didn't some alleged grown-up have enough sense to say, "Wait a minute.  This isn't right."?  Aparently not.  That's disturbing, but it gets better.

The school in question is the most expensive private school in St. Louis.  It will set you back about twenty grand to send your kid there for one year.  For those of us who went to public school and received little or no education in math, that means $80,000 total.  For that kind of change, parents expect a lot but apparently a foundation of ethics and moral behavior isn't part of the expectation.

Sultan posted photos of the prom invitation on her parenting blog and asked for comments.  Here are some of those comments from people who identified themselves as either parents from the school or alumni.


"Look at the college attendance rate, which colleges are being chosen by Burroughs grads, SAT/ACT score, accomplishments ... then you will see a true reflection on John Burroughs."


"The main voices going against the theme are coming from public school parents wanting to justify their own greed by not putting forth the effort to secure the highest education for their children."

Are you listening, public school parents.  Sending your kids to a public school means you're greedy. Here's a similar sentiment,

"These responses are the feeble attempts of parents to justify their poor choices that lead them to sending their kids to mediocre public schools."

You public folks aren't just greedy, you make poor choices.


Here's a personal favorite,

"John Burroughs' students routinely place in the top ½ of 1% of academic achievement in this community. Don't they deserve a night to kick loose in between their acceptance into the Ivy Leagues?"

Of course they do.  Nothing like a night of paying tribute to lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride to get teenagers ready for college.

Finally, my personal favorite,

""Inevitably, it will be these same students who designed this 'Horrific and satanic' invitation who will be well-regarded members of society and will be paying taxes that go towards your friend's wellfare (sic) allowance 10 years from now.""

He (or she) can't spell "welfare" thinks that anyone who doesn't attend this particular school is going to end up on it.

We're living in a sinful world, but it's nothing new.  Look at today's first reading:

In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and poluting the LORD's temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.

But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy.

No, sin and evil are nothing new.  So here we are at the 4th Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday.  Latare!  Rejoice!  But what is there to rejoice about?  High schools celebrating sin and depravity?  An economy in the toilet as a result of greed and dishonesty?  Thousands of abortions each day?  Wars?  Terrorism?  Rejoice?  For what reason?

To find the reason we only have to go to the second reading.  Paul writes to the Ephesians:

God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ--by grace you have been saved--raised us up with him....

 That's why we rejoice.  Because God is a God of mercy.  He loves us so much that He's willing to overlook all the stupid, irresponsible, sinful things that we do and offer us hope.

In John's Gospel Jesus says to Nicodemus those"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone  who believes in Him (that means you and me) might not perish but might have eternal life".  That's our faith!  That's our hope!  That's our promise from God.  "Believe in His Son and you can live forever!

That's why, on this fourth Sunday of Lent, in the midst of all the immorality in the world, all the problems, all the trials and tribulations, we have the courage to stand up and say "Laetare!  Rejoice!"