The Mass for the Third Sunday of Advent strikes a note of joy amidst this penitential time of preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas. The priest wears a rose-colored chasuble in place of the accustomed violet vestments. The entrance antiphon, taken from the fourth chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, proclaims: “Gaudete in Domino”—“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” In the Collect of the Mass, the Church prays that God, who sees “how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity,” would “enable us to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing.” This prayer to attain the joys of salvation points us to our heavenly homeland, where there is only “glad rejoicing” as the blessed worship God forever in spirit and in truth. All sorrow is gone; those who see God face to face have the gift of perfect peace. …