"Be awake, guard your heart. Let’s add an essential ingredient: the secret to being watchful is prayer," Pope Francis reminded the faithful as Christendom observes the Third Sunday of Advent on December 12, thirteen days before the Nativity of Christ.
"Jesus says: 'Keep awake at all times praying' (Luke 21:36). It is prayer that keeps the lamp of the heart burning. Especially when we feel that enthusiasm is cooling, prayer rekindles it, because it brings us back to God, to the center of things," the Pontiff said in his message for Advent.
The Holy Father stressed that “prayer awakens the soul from sleep and focuses it on what matters on the end of existence. Even on the busiest days, let’s not neglect prayer,” Pope Francis said as he advised an easy prayer to say during Advent: “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”
"Let’s repeat this prayer throughout the day, and the soul will remain alert,” he added.
Also known as Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent is considered as a Sunday of joy to highlight the nearness of the Birth of Christ.
According to Church leaders, “Gaudete Sunday signifies the nearness of the Lord’s second coming. The observance reminds the faithful to meet the coming Savior with prayers, supplication, and thanksgiving.”
The entrance antiphon in today’s masses, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” (Gaudete in Domino semper) serves to remind the faithful of the significance of Christ’s birth.
Church rites will include the lighting of the sole pink candle, the candle of joy, in the Advent wreath, to emphasize the shift in focus from the penitential mood of the first two Sundays of Advent to the joyous expectation of Christ’s birth. The two purple candles, which symbolize penance and hope respectively, will also be lit.
Church leaders continue to call on the faithful to strengthen their relationship with God, to go to confession (if available in their area), to do charity work amid the pandemic and to observe the joyous season in a solemn manner.