Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent in the
liturgical calendar of the Western Church, including the Roman Catholic
Church, the Anglican Communion, many Lutheran Churches, and other mainline
Protestant churchesThe 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). The season of Advent originated as a fast of forty days in preparation
for Christmas, commencing on the day after the feast of St. Martin (12
November), whence it was often called "St. 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, and Advent preserved most of the
characteristics of a penitential seasons which made it a kind of counterpart to
Lent. Gaudete Sunday is a counterpart to Laetare Sunday, 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 all through 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
were, for a while in order to symbolize that joy and gladness in the promised
Redemption ■
