Gaudete Sunday, Day 15!

Gaudete Sunday, Stubborn Sin, and the Eucatastrophe That Teaches the Church to Rejoice

Hope and love, and today, the church lights the candle of joy, signified by the color pink. We call this third Sunday in Advent Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin word meaning “rejoice.” The Church interrupts the purple sobriety of Advent with a flash of rose because God insists that His people learn joy before the feast arrives. Today, God’s people commit themselves to fight against their sins—those vices that so easily entangle us: anxiety, anger, apathy—not merely with grit or resolve, but with the posture of joy.

Christians need joy to fight sin. You cannot defeat the flesh by making a mental note or filing away a good intention. You need a disposition. You need a settled gladness that says, even in weakness, “I will work against my sin because Christ is at work in me.” Joy stiffens the spine of repentance. It gives courage to confession. It trains the heart to resist despair.

The Spirit of God is building a temple of joy within us. This is not a quick renovation but a long obedience. Yet for this work to bear good fruit, it must be grounded in the joy of the Lord, which is our strength. Joy is not the reward at the end of faithfulness; it is the fuel along the way.

These virtues are essential to the Church when everything feels dark, when transgressions cling tightly, when destruction seems near, and when the world looks hopeless. J. R. R. Tolkien had a word for this moment. He called it eucatastrophe—the sudden, unexpected happy turn in a story that pierces the heart with joy.

Advent calls us into the presence of our God, who takes our deepest longings and transforms them into everlasting pleasures. Jesus is the Father’s great eucatastrophe. In Him, the story of the world turns suddenly and gloriously toward joy, and that joy does not merely inform us; it pierces us, steadies us, and teaches us how to rejoice even now.