Hi, I'm Edward Sree, and welcome to all things Catholic Catholic where real faith meets real life.

Hello and happy advent to you all I have just returned from Canada. I was in Calgary

Alberta this weekend for a wonderful marriage conference and met so many

wonderful couples, young couples newly newly married, couples getting ready for marriage,

couples who've been married 10, 20, 30 years, and it was so edifying to see these couples coming

out to enrich their marriages.

It's just a reminder that we should all take time.

If you're married, take time to invest in your marriage.

Take time if you can to go on some kind of marriage retreat or read a good marriage

book. I was so encouraged seeing a couple hundred of these married couples coming out there

for a little tune up, a little deepening in their married life, especially here in the middle of the busy advent season.

And that's what I want to turn our attention to today, because did you know we're halfway through advent already?

Can you believe it? We're already let that second candle this way. you know we're halfway through advent already.

Can you believe it?

We're already lit that second candle this weekend and

we're approaching that third candle,

which is the one that changes color.

That's what I want to focus on in this week's podcast. It is Gaudate Sunday coming up around the

corner. That's when we turn to the from the purple to the color rose. I know

people call it pink, but technically it's a rose color and and it brings to mind the theme of joy.

In fact that's what the word Gaudate means, rejoice and it brings to mind many of the great

passages of the Old Testament where people and individuals and nations are called to

...