Today we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent, which is also known as Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” is a Latin word that means “rejoice.” Today is a day that the church calls to focus on the realities that we are near to both the celebrations of the birth of Christ and His Second coming. And so we hear the wonderful words of the prophet Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God. I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels.” And we hear Saint Paul saying, “Rejoice always in the Lord,” and we hear St. John the Baptist described as a man who was sent to testify to the light. We also light the third candle which is rose colored, rather than purple, and we wear rose colored vestments (yes, they are rose, not pink; not that I would have any problem if they were pink, mind you, but they not, they are rose!) because rose symbolizes rejoicing. However, I must admit, that this whole theme of rejoicing does present me with a bit of a challenge. I wish I could say that it never presents a challenge for me, but indeed it does. But it shouldn’t. Not for me and not for you. Ultimately there is never a reason for us not to rejoice in the Lord. No matter what we are facing in this life, the Lord is always there loving us, consoling us, healing us, forgiving us and giving us hope. But we let other, small realities pull us down. Now I don’t mean we don’t face real challenges and real suffering, but they all fade in comparison to what God has for us, what He does for us and who He is for us. If we keep our focus on preparing the way of the Lord, as John the Baptist exhorts us to do throughout the ages, we will be able to rejoice heartily in the Lord. For me, one of those things which keep me from rejoicing at this time of year are those confounded lists to which we keep subjecting ourselves. You know what I mean-especially now that we are within 12 days of Christmas. I’m talking about those “people to see, places to go, things to do, gifts to buy, cards to write, etc. etc. lists. Of course we make up these lists to try to get ourselves organized- which is all well and good, but one of my problems is that I can never even finish writing the lists, any list. They just keep growing and expanding. Before you know it, we become slaves of the list, and can no longer see the forest for the trees. This doesn’t mean that lists can’t be useful; it does mean we can’t let them take control of us. What we need to do is to keep our focus on our goal which is to rejoice heartily in the Lord. Always. And at all times-especially now when the celebration of the birth of the Lord is near.