A revised précis of a sermon delivered at the Liberal Catholic Church of Saint Francis, Gordon, New South Wales, Australia, on 18 March 2007 - published in Communion [The Magazine of The Liberal Catholic Church in Australia], Vol 25, No 5, Annunciation/Easter 2007 - Copyright Ian Ellis-Jones 2007 - All Rights Reserved.

1. SPIRITUAL REFRESHMENT
Being a revised précis of a sermon delivered at
the Liberal Catholic Church of Saint Francis,
Gordon, New South Wales, Australia, on 18 March 2007
by The Rev. Dr Ian Ellis-Jones
Published in Communion [The Magazine of The Liberal Catholic
Church in Australia], Vol 25, No 5, Annunciation/Easter 2007
“This is the refreshing” (Is 28:12).
Today, this fourth or middle Sunday of Lent, is known as “Refreshment Sunday”,
with the intent being “spiritual refreshment”. This Sunday is also known as
“Laetare Sunday”, “Mid-Lent Sunday”, “Rose Sunday”, “Mothering Sunday”, and
“the Sunday of the Five Loaves”.
“Laetare Sunday” is so called from the incipit (first words) of the Introit in the old
Roman Mass, Laetare Jerusalem (“O be joyful, Jerusalem”), hence the idea of
joy and rejoicing in this otherwise subdued period of Lent.
The Sunday is also known as “Mid-Lent Sunday” (mi-carême, or mediana) for the
following reason. During the first 6 or 7 centuries the season of Lent commenced
on the Sunday following Quinquagesima and comprised 36 fasting days. Later,
the 4 days preceding the First Sunday in Lent were added to this period, thus
creating a 40-day period of fasting. Now, strictly speaking, the Thursday before
Refreshment Sunday is the middle day of Lent. Indeed, it was once observed as
such, but later this Sunday, Refreshment Sunday, took on the mid-Lent character
of a somewhat joyous albeit still restrained dispensation, with the hope of giving
some positive and further encouragement to the faithful in this special season of
penance. The special signs of joy permitted on this day (in contradistinction to
the other Sundays of Lent) were, firstly, the presence of flowers on the altar,
secondly, the use of the organ, thirdly, the wearing of rose-coloured vestments

2. 2
(as opposed to purple), and, fourthly, the wearing by the deacon and subdeacon
of dalmatics (instead of folded chasubles).
This Sunday is also known as “Rose Sunday” (Dominica de Rosa) because it
was on this Sunday that the “Golden Rose”, sent by the reigning pope to all
Catholic sovereigns, was blessed.
In days gone by, this Sunday was known, at least in England, as “Mothering
Sunday”, a day when people in domestic service, who, as a result of the
Industrial Revolution, often were required to live and work some distance from
their home communities, and who would not otherwise be at home for Easter
itself, were given the day off so that they could return to their respective home
communities and visit their mothers as well as worship and make their offerings
in the cathedral or mother-church on this day. It would be a time of celebration,
and people would gather at the church to play games, eat pastries (especially
Simnel Cake) and engage in various festivities. This Sunday was well-
established in England as Mothering Sunday in the 19 th century. The words
“Mothering Sunday” have been said to be in allusion to the Epistle in the old
Roman rite (namely, Galations 4) which refers to our right to be called sons of
God as the source of all our joy. The name, “Mothering Sunday”, is still kept up in
some parts of England, despite the fact that the practice just described no longer
takes place in any formal sense.
Today is also known as “the Sunday of the Five Loaves”, from the traditional
Gospel reading for the day, namely, the Story of the Feeding of the Five
Thousand. I will return to that story and its allegorical and symbolical significance
for us today shortly.
The designation of this Sunday as “Refreshment Sunday” denotes a special
moment in liturgical time when people are expressly invited to relax, or rather
ease, their Lenten discipline for a day and refresh themselves through feasting
and resting. As Carl Jung pointed out, we must be careful not to deny ourselves

3. 3
too much! The intent for today is, as mentioned, “spiritual refreshment”. The
collect in the old Roman missal asks that we may be “revived” by the comfort of
God’s grace. When we speak of spiritual refreshment, we mean a non-physical,
non-transient reinvigoration of our spirituality, the latter being, as the great
Jewish theologian Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan pointed out, a composite word
referring to that special domain where mind, personality, purpose, ideals, values
and meanings dwell and which is otherwise “beyond words”. We are here
concerned with the proper and orderly development of one’s mind, emotions and
will, with a genuine and heartfelt longing to be connected with the “largeness” of
life, that it, to something larger than one’s own ego. In his wonderful little book
Meditation for Beginners, first published in 1918, Bishop James Wedgwood
referred to spiritual refreshment and wrote of the importance of meditation as a
means of spiritual refreshment. Our collect for today refers to God as the source
of wisdom, strength, beauty and harmony. We are called to seek refreshment by
the continual outpouring of God-power from on high (that is, from a power-not-
oneself). Clearly, there is an important nexus between prayer and meditation, on
the one hand, and the attainment of spiritual refreshment on the other.
Our Epistle for today comes from the 4th chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the
Philippians. At first, there would not appear to be any obvious link between the
subject-matter of this reading and the theme of spiritual refreshment, but it is
there. We are told to be “content” with what we have. We are told to develop and
practice a calm acceptance of whatever is, for “whatever is, is best”. Why?
Because whatever is is our reality, and problems only arise when we fight against
that reality and refuse to accept things as being exactly the way they are
supposed to be at that moment. We are told that we can do “all things” with the
assistance of the indwelling Christ, and we are told to focus on those things that
are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. We are to think on those
things, and do what is right. Finally, we are told to rejoice in the Lord always
(Laetare Jerusalem, “O be joyful, Jerusalem”) and practice moderation, not
forgetting that the Lord is “at hand”. Yes, if we really do these things, we will not
only be spiritually refreshed, we will stay that way, for is it not written, “… they

4. 4
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings
as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Is
40:31)? The answer is to be found in contentment, in giving thanks, and in
rejoicing in our innate oneness with the Christ within.
Our Gospel reading comes from the 6th chapter of the Gospel of Saint John. The
Story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand can be found in all 4 gospels. We are
told that there was a great crowd of some 5,000 people who had gathered on a
remote hillside near the Sea of Galilee to hear Jesus speak. The people had
listened to Jesus all day, but now it was getting late. The people were getting
hungry, so Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus to send the crowd away so that they
would be able to find food in some neighbouring village. Interestingly, the
disciples sought a physical, non-spiritual solution to the immediate problem of
feeding this huge crowd of people. However, Jesus sought a spiritual solution to
the challenge of finding sufficient food for the multitude. What did he do? He
looked to “heaven”, the source of all good things. He fixed his attention on
spiritual “substance”, that is, the realm of divine ideas which is the source of all
manifestation, including abundance. He did not think about lack at all. He thought
only of abundance, and he thanked God for the supply at hand, notwithstanding
that it comprised no more than 5 barley loaves and 2 small fishes. Yes, we are to
praise God, the Good, and thank God for all that we have, no matter how
seemingly small. (Here is also a connection with the Epistle’s emphasis on
contentment.) This story makes it clear that there is always enough Good (or
Love) to go around. There is no lack of Good, because God is Good, and God is
omnipresent. There is only a lack of faith and realization on our part that God’s
limitless substance - God’s power and love - is available to all of God’s children.
Dr Norman Vincent Peale, in his treatment of the gospel story in his book Bible
Stories (1973), refers to the symbolism of the food, and notes that, “the supply -
like the love of God, which indeed it was – never grew less”.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus personifies that truly enlightened, God-filled
person who is able to mold the ever-present substance of divine ideas and bring

5. 5
them into manifestation. Like Jesus, we must never forget to centre our attention
on God whenever we are faced with a problem. If sickness is our problem, we
should focus on the idea of God as Perfect Health. If lack of supply be our
problem, we should focus on God as Abundant Life, for did not Jesus say, “I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jn
10:10)? We are to “seek first the Kingdom of God … and all these things shall be
added unto [us]” (Mt 6:34). If we do that long enough and strongly enough, our
earthly needs will be met. The cosmic law is that we must give in order to
receive, and we must give thanks for all that we have, no matter how little may
visibly be ours, never forgetting that “what is essential is invisible to the eye”
(Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince).
The livingness of life consists of life’s ongoing givingness to itself. It is limitless
and boundless, symbolized in our Gospel story by the 12 baskets of leftover
food. The Story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand is nothing less than an
acted parable or dramatization of the ongoing cosmic sacrifice - the self-limitation
of life itself - in which the Spirit of Life ever descends into matter, ever offers
itself, and ever gives of itself to itself in manifestation, so that life, in all of its
multiplicity of form, is perpetuated. In this sacrificial outgiving - the putting forth of
the Eternal Principle of Life as the Logos who freely offers Itself as the ensouling
life of matter - the one life manifests itself in all things as all things but ever
remains. Said the great avatar Sri Krishna, "I established this universe with a
portion of myself; and I remain." This is the enduring, eternal sacrifice by which
the world is nourished and sustained, the sublimest myth known to humanity, the
“Man Crucified in Space” of Hindu mythology, the “Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world” of Christianity - the Self-Givingness of life. This
boundlessness of life - infinity to the power of infinity - is nothing less than the
very Presence, Power and Love of God, and it is in that Presence, Power and
Love that we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
-oo0oo-