Reaching for the knob of the back bedroom door I turned it slowly, opening the door, unexpectedly finding the boy’s room wrapped in cold. I had come to put the space in order, making the bed and sweeping things clean, and I found a picture of my interior life at Advent. In the rush of the season, the wrapping and baking, making and taking, I find my soul left in the cold as my self must attend the world’s gatherings.
A little piece of me would like to sit by the fire and be fed, have a guest (maybe two at most) and enjoy the peace and joy that Christ comes to bring. Instead I find one day runs into another; words remain unwritten and thoughts unspoken as life crowds out the warmth of the Light. Sickness comes, a loved one dies, an old grief holds us in despair, disappointment suffocates, deadlines press us and ends beg to be met with some kind of holiday cheer. We must serve up eggnog, enthusiasm and goodwill and yet the hearth of our hearts burns so small it refuses to fuel the pace we keep.
This December morning I sit in the radiance of the sunshine streaming into our sun room as the temperatures outside hover below zero. This, too, seems a picture of our deeper life; we can seek refuge and find inner joy, a holy fire that will dispel the dark and cold we find waiting in the world.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
“How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still
The dear Christ enters in.”
Anyone coming to you for Christmas? Have you made their room ready?
Medicine from Sacred Writing:
“He enters by the open door; He has promised to come in and He cannot deceive...Embrace Him, the One you have sought; turn to Him and be enlightened; hold Him fast.”
~ St. Ambrose of Milan fourth century ~
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