The third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called “Gaudete Sunday.” “Gaudete” is a Latin imperative—it’s a command—which means “rejoice.” The Church is telling us to be happy. And in the first reading—a marvelous passage from the sixty-first chapter of the prophet Isaiah, which presents the motif of the “anointed one”—it gives us the reasons why we should rejoice.
Mass Readings
Reading 1 – Isaiah 61:1-2A, 10-11
Psalm – Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54
Reading 2 – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel – John 1:6-8, 19-28