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It’s already the Third Sunday of Advent. That’s cause for joy! We call this Sunday Gaudete, which means “Rejoice” in Latin. The priest may wear rose vestments, and we light the third candle (often rose) on our Advent wreaths. The Sunday readings encourage us to be patient, joyful, and hopeful. Christmas is getting closer, and there is light—the Light of the World—at the end of this dark period of waiting and preparing.
My family traditionally puts up our Christmas tree on the Third Sunday of Advent. This is one of our ways of “keeping Advent.” Our other decorations slowly come out in the first couple weeks of Advent, but we save the tree for this Sunday of joy.
We pray that you seek and find all the joy God offers you this week.
Image credit: Corinne SIMON/CIRIC