“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

Editor’s note: This Advent, the Catholic Women in Business team is exploring the many ways God calls us to cooperate with his will and how we can proclaim our own “fiat.” Join our writers as they share their personal and professional experiences, lessons learned, and reflections from Scripture and the saints on discernment, trust, and surrender. Read more here.

Joy to the World

The Third Sunday of Advent, often referred to as “pink candle Sunday,” is called Gaudete Sunday, and it is all about joy.

Strike that: It’s not about joy with a small “j.” It’s about Joy! Better yet, make it JOY!

On Sunday, we were reminded by the lighting of the rose candle on the Advent wreath to rejoice. (“Gaudete” means “rejoice” in Latin.)

Why are we called to rejoice more than a week from the celebration of our Lord’s birth?

In our world of instant messaging, it’s hard to fathom waiting for generations (about 250 generations!) for the occasion expressed in this Sunday’s first reading (ultimately meaning Jesus’s birth): “Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you” (Isaiah 35:4). But that is what our ancestors in faith had to endure.

We rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because every Christmas, we have the benefit of already knowing that the Savior of the World will come to us, for us, in the middle of our desert and during the middle of our darkest days. With this advance knowledge, there is good reason to be joyful in the final days of preparing our heart for the imminent glorious holiday. Even so, we are reminded to “be patient … brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7).

Go. Go and Tell.

As our understanding of the Good News continues to unfold not only every Christmas but throughout the year, we are called to share it. As noted in the Gaudete Sunday Gospel reading:

“Jesus said to them … ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them’” (Matthew 11:4-5).

No matter how winding or straight our path has been, we are called to share the joy from our personal encounters (quiet and dramatic alike), when the scales fell away from our eyes and we were touched by the divine goodness, beauty and truth of the faith. As we conclude our Advent season preparations, we can infuse some “pink-candle Sunday” vibes in our communications with others—people comfortable in their faith and people who have only a distant memory of it. A few ideas include:

• Give a pink candle (not necessarily an Advent taper) to a friend who may have forgotten about the tradition of the third Sunday of Advent.

• Bring someone pink flowers, ice cream, or gum and reference the inspiration for your particular selection.

• Surprise a friend or contact with a tiny stocking with a pink lipstick, and include a note referencing the color’s relationship to Gaudete Sunday.

• Include pink, rose, and violet color schemes in social media platforms.

• Shop for a pink item of clothing, and strike up a conversation with other shoppers and the clerk as to what prompted this particular purchase.

• Invite a friend or acquaintance to Mass, followed by a meal at a restaurant that has “joy” or a similar word in its name or in a menu item.

Not only does Gaudete Sunday remind us that joy is around the corner when our hearts are open to the Lord, but it features a physical sign—a simple rose candle—that there is reason to “rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). As an Advent people, we are called to go out and share the Good News that leads to such heartfelt and life-changing joy.

Linda A. Burrows is an attorney specializing in trusts and estates in southern California. She is the founder of Soul Soda, a non-profit with the mission of refreshing faith in those, particularly Catholics, who are feeling disconnected from their religious roots. She is a wife and mother of three teens. Linda’s Confirmation name was that of St. Gabriel the Archangel.