Gaudete Sunday ( ) is the third Sunday of
Advent
Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity.
The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''.
In ...
in the
liturgical calendar
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...
of Western Christianity, including the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
,
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
Churches, and other
mainline Protestant
The mainline Protestant churches (also called mainstream Protestant and sometimes oldline Protestant) are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States that contrast in history and practice with evangelical, fundamentalist, and charis ...
churches. It can fall on any date from 11 December to 17 December.
Gaudete
The day takes its common name from the Latin word ''Gaudete'' ("Rejoice"), the
first word of the
introit
The Introit (from Latin: ''introitus'', "entrance") is part of the opening of the liturgy, liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, Psalms, psalm verse and ' ...
of this day's Mass:
This may be translated as: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob."
Philippians 4:4–6;
Psalm 85 (84):1
Background
The season of Advent originated as a fast of 40 days in preparation for Christmas, commencing on the day after the
feast of Saint Martin
Saint Martin's Day or Martinmas, sometimes historically called Old Halloween or Old Hallowmas Eve, is the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours and is celebrated in the liturgical year on 11 November. In the Middle Ages and early modern period, i ...
(11 November), whence it was often called ''Saint Martin's Lent'', a name by which it was known as early as the fifth century. In the ninth century, the duration of Advent was reduced to four weeks (a period starting four Sundays before Christmas), and Advent preserved most of the characteristics of a penitential season, which made it a kind of counterpart to Lent. Gaudete Sunday is a counterpart to
Laetare Sunday
Laetare Sunday (Church Latin: ; Classical Latin: ; English: , , , , ) is the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent, in the Western Christian liturgical calendar. Traditionally, this Sunday has been a day of celebration, within the austere period ...
, and provides a similar break about midway through a season which is otherwise of a penitential character, and signifies the nearness of the Lord's coming.
The spirit of the liturgy throughout Advent is one of expectation and preparation for the feast of Christmas as well as for the second coming of Christ, and the penitential exercises suitable to that spirit are thus on Gaudete Sunday suspended, as it were, for a while, in order to symbolize that joy and gladness in the promised Redemption.
Theme
While the theme of Advent is a focus on the coming of Jesus in three ways: his first, his present, and his final Advent,
the readings for Gaudete Sunday deal with rejoicing in the Lord – Christian joy – as well as the mission of
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
and his connection with Advent. The theologian
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
described the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is the final end of man, eternal contemplation of God, which is an act of the intellect. Joy, however, is itself not a virtue, but is an effect of the virtue of charity ("love"), which is full if its object is eternal and the greatest, i.e. God. Joy admits no sorrow for it is not an act of the sensitive faculties, e.g. enjoying food is a natural joy for Thomas, but supernatural joy which is spoken of on Gaudete Sunday and in the Gospels is an act of the intellectual appetite known as the will.
In his 2014 Gaudete Sunday homily,
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
said that Gaudete Sunday is known as the "Sunday of joy", and that instead of fretting about "all they still haven't" done to prepare for Christmas, people should "think of all the good things life has given you."
Liturgical colour
On Gaudete Sunday
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
-coloured vestments may be worn instead of
violet
Violet may refer to:
Common meanings
* Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue
* One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly:
** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
Places United States
* Viol ...
(or instead of deep blue, in some Anglican and Lutheran traditions), which is otherwise prescribed for every day in the season of Advent. Gaudete Sunday was also known as "Rose Sunday".
In churches that have an
Advent wreath
The Advent wreath, or Advent crown, is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the Western church. It is traditionally a Lutheran practice, although it has spread to many othe ...
, the rose-coloured candle is lit in addition to two of the violet- or blue-coloured candles, which represent the first two Sundays of Advent. Despite the otherwise somber readings of the season of
Advent
Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity.
The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''.
In ...
, which has as a secondary theme the need for penitence, the readings on the third Sunday emphasize the joyous anticipation of the Lord's coming.
In
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
, the use of rose-pink, previously informally observed, was formally noted as an option in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
in the
Common Worship
''Common Worship'' is the name given to the series of services authorised by the General Synod of the Church of England and launched on the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. It represents the most recent stage of development of the Liturgical Movemen ...
liturgical renewal.
[The traditional use of rose-pink vestments on this day is suggested in the liturgical colour sequence notes of ]Common Worship
''Common Worship'' is the name given to the series of services authorised by the General Synod of the Church of England and launched on the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. It represents the most recent stage of development of the Liturgical Movemen ...
of which a
on-line version may be found here
See also
*
Advent Sunday
*"
Gaudete
''Gaudete'' ( or , ; "rejoice ye.html"_;"title="wikt:ye.html"_;"title="/nowiki>wikt:ye">ye">wikt:ye.html"_;"title="/nowiki>wikt:ye">ye/nowiki>"_in_Latin.html" ;"title="wikt:ye">ye.html" ;"title="wikt:ye.html" ;"title="/nowiki>wikt:ye">y ...
", a Christmas carol
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
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{{Use British English Oxford spelling, date=December 2018
Advent
Christian Sunday observances
December observances