The Third Sunday of Advent is nicknamed “Gaudete Sunday” from the first word of the entrance chant, or Introit: Rejoice! Today we relax slightly our penitential focus during Advent. Advent is joyous, but also penitential. Remember: we fast before our feasts.   At the beginning of Advent we begged God for the grace of a strong will as we prepare for Christ’s coming. In the second week, we asked God for help and protection to overcome the obstacles we encounter in the world. Today we glimpse the joy that will soon be ours at Christmas. Before returning to violet, we relax our penitential joy into joyful penance for a day. Flowers and instrumental music are to be excluded during Advent, as during Lent, but today we can use them and our Mass vestments can warm up with a rosy hue. This reflects and imitates what we do even more solemnly during Lent which has its own “Rejoice” or “Laetare Sunday”. Our Collect in the Novus Ordo, not in the pre-conciliar Missale Romanum, is lifted in large part from the Rotulus of Ravenna, which has prayers as ancient as the 5th century: