Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent
in the liturgical calendar of the Western Church, including the Catholic
Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Churches, and other mainline
Protestant churches. It can fall on any date from 11 December to 17 December. On
Gaudete Sunday rose-coloured vestments may be worn instead of violet. The day
takes its common name from the Latin word Gaudete ("Rejoice"), the
first word of the introit of this day's Mass: Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum
dico, gaudete. Modestia vestra nota
sit omnibus hominibus: Dominus enim prope est. Nihil solliciti sitis:
sed in omni oratione petitiones vestræ innotescant apud Deum. Benedixisti
Domine terram tuam: avertisti captivitatem Jacob. 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 ■
