Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: CREVICES You must block every crevice in the walls of the stable, so that the wind and cold don’t enter [...]
The Second Coming is of course closely connected to the doctrine of God’s kingdom. To believe in Jesus’ New Advent is to believe that he is the true king, that he will return to take his rightful place as ruler of the world, setting everything right again and governing a heavenized earth in justice and [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: THE ROOF The roof of the stable needs to be in good condition, so that the Holy Family is protected [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: THE STABLE The stable is your heart. Ask Jesus to make His home in your heart as He will soon [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: THE WELCOMING INNKEEPER Let the compassion and generosity of the Innkeeper be your example by finding an opportunity to offer [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: ARRIVAL AT BETHLEHEM GATE On arriving at the gate of the city, share Mary’s joy at reaching her destination. Pray [...]
Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.—Romans xiii 11. Awake—again the Gospel-trump is blown— From year to year it swells with louder tone, From year to year the signs of wrath Are gathering round the Judge’s path, Strange words fulfilled, and mighty [...]
T.S. Eliot’s “The Journey of the Magi” is as sincere a conversion poem as one can have it: No fancy light shining down from the heavens or a thunderous call to holiness; just one small event that left a Magus perplexed by a new worldview that was unsettling and strange, for it put into question [...]
In my Advent Anthology from Canterbury Press Waiting on the Word, we come to the last of the Seven Great O Antiphons, which was sung on either side of the Magnificat on Christmas Eve, O Emmanuel, O God with us. This is the antiphon from which our lovely Advent hymn takes its name. It was also this final [...]
The poem I have chosen for December 17th in my Advent Anthology from Canterbury Press Waiting on the Word is my own sonnet “O Sapientia,” the first in a sequence of seven sonnets on the seven great ‘O’ antiphons which I shall be reading to you each day between now and the 23rd of December. You [...]
As fall gives way to winter and the night grows gradually longer, we find ourselves in the midst of a transition. In the course of the liturgical year, we find ourselves in a similar transition and we must wait. As much as society plays Bing Crosby’s Silver Bells, it is not Christmastime in the city. It [...]
Early Fall is delightfully deceiving. The golden light and turning leaves are signs of things to come. They promise apple picking, hikes, and cool nights by the bonfire. They promise joy just on the horizon. But the anticipation is always better than the fruition. And once they’re had they flee. By December we’re left wondering [...]
Let us remember this day in Advent as a reminder of the true spirit of Saint Nicholas—a valiant defender of the faith, a tender-hearted lover of the poor and a kindly, generous soul, who saw that the true message of Christ’s nativity was that unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the [...]
Advent is a season for stillness, for quiet, for discernment. It is a season of active waiting, straining forward, listening, attentive and finely tuned. Its good to keep a quiet space, a sacred time, an untrammelled sanctuary away from the pressures, to be still and hear again one’s deepest yearnings for a saviour. I hope [...]