We are joyful this day because Easter draws near. Our priest may wear rose-colored vestments instead of purple or violet. It’s a good time to add to our joy by going to Confession, preparing for receiving Our Lord at Easter. Church flowers and more music are allowed today before we return to a penitential mode. At Mass, we hear the reading from Samuel recounting the discovery and anointing of David, the shepherd youth, as the future king of Israel. In keeping with the shepherd theme, our Psalm is No. 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Next, we pass on to the message of light, as Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians exhorts to shun the works of darkness, to “Awake, O Sleeper … and Christ will give you light.” The Gospel from St. John continues this motif with the story of the blind man.