3rd Week of Advent: Candle of Joy

Now we enter the third week of Advent. For this week The Pink candle - "Candle of Joy" will be lighted. It recalls the Angel singing about the birth of Christ. It was once a tradition for the pope to give someone a rose on the fourth Sunday of Lent before Easter to "liven up" the somber tone of the season. Before the mass commercialization of Christmas, Advent was also a solemn time, as people fasted to prepare for the holiday. The rose custom became part of the third Sunday of Advent. Eventually, the third candle turned pink as well. 

Third Advent Sunday's Gospel
John 1:6-8, 19-28

 
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
   He said, “I am not.”
   “Are you the Prophet?”
   He answered, “No.”
 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
 Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.