Often falling on the Advent weekdays approaching Christmas, and likely overlooked, are the feast days of particular saints.  Of course, we acknowledge the holy day of our Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Conception on the eighth of December each year; but we move our attention away from another Marian feast day just four days later: Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Appearing to a modest man of Indian descent, Juan Diego, nearly five hundred years ago, Mary’s apparition transformed the faith and people of Mexico.  In one of his four trips to Mexico Pope John Paul II shared this sentiment with the people: “to all of you, Mexicans, who have a splendid past of love for Christ, even in the midst of trials; to you who bear in the depths of your heart devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Pope wishes to speak today about something which is, and must increasingly be an essential Christian and Marian feature of yours: faithfulness to the Church.”
In the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, St. Lucy—whose feast day is December 13—is celebrated annually with great festivity.  Within this winter celebration of Santa Lucia, the focal point is the adults, teens and children who have prepared and wear flowing white cotton gowns, carrying candles, led by a designated “St. Lucy” who leads the procession with a crown of lit candles.  For generations the Scandinavian countries have celebrated this saint, though St. Lucy was born and raised in Italy.  She was one of the earliest saints formally canonized in our fledgling Church; a child handing out donated food and other items to the poor and street people, guided by her Christian faith.  Doing so and moving in and of dark areas she would often be guided by a single candle or a couple fastened to her head.  In a cruel twist of fate she was martyred for her faith, and with her canonization, she has been the patron saint of the blind. 
And of course, St. Nicholas whom we recognize each year on December sixth, with the tradition of anonymously giving simple gifts of fruit or other simple gifts to family members, reflecting the story of his efforts as a bishop to help a certain poor family with his quiet generosity.  We know little else of this fourth century saint other than mythical stories attached to his ministry as a bishop, and his continued awareness and outreach to parishioners who struggled.  As generations passed, the story of Saint Nicholas’s quiet charity and giving spread, the tradition of of secretly giving gifts to others grew more popular and widespread throughout many countries. Over time, Saint Nicholas transformed into our modern-day Santa Claus.  And the words attributed to him: 
“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God’s giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves."
And this Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, gives us pause as we light the third Advent candle, rose colored, symbolizing ‘joy’; or in the Latin translation of the word Gaudete: “rejoice.”  Our first reading from Isaiah begins with the exhortation, “Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem.  Sing joyfully, O Israel.”  Followed by the St. Paul’s greeting to the Philippians, our second reading: “Rejoice in the Lord always, I say it again: rejoice!”  With ten days separating us from the 25th, focused on what we have to do beforehand, the colder weather and darkening days, Pope Francis’ provides the concise meaning of Gaudete Sunday in an excerpt from his apostolic exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel: “Whenever we encounter another person in love [by giving], we learn something new about God.” A spirit of joy overtakes our awareness, our duties and activities, our relationships, as we become closer to God.  
Notably, this Advent theme of joy and rejoice on this Gaudete Sunday is not a facade, covering up the presence of grief, loss or sorrow that can often accompany this otherwise season of hope.  Henri Nouwen, in his spiritual musings differentiates between happiness and joy.  Happiness is an immediate feeling dependent on external circumstances.  Joy is something deeper as he explains, "the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing -- sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death -- can take that love away. . . . "I remember the most painful times of my life as times in which I became aware of a spiritual reality much larger than myself, a reality that allowed me to live the pain with hope ... Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day."
May Gaudete Sunday give each of us pause to set aside our wants, our desires, our ‘yet to do’ list and take a moment or two—longer if you have the personal freedom to do so—to witness the grace of God’s presence in our surroundings.  As Epictetus, the second century Greek philosopher said, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
God Bless, Fr. Tim 
FYI:  “And therefore, Uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that Christmas has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol)