One of my favorite Advent books is A Child In Winter: Advent, Christmas and Epiphany with Caryll Houselander. It draws on all of Houselander's writings and is beautifully edited by Thomas Hoffman.
Especially in this season when so many feel blue amid the glitter of the the red and green, these words are beautiful. Perhaps this passage from A Child In Winter will help move you to prayer in these busy days...
Christ never goes away, never forgets,
all day long ,
however you are,
whoever you are,
whatever you are doing.
His whole heart is concentrated on you.
He watches you with the eye of a mother
watching an only child.
He sees not the surface things,
not the imperfections inevitable to human frailty,
but the truly lovable in you,
your dependence on him,
your need of him.
Does a mother love her child less
because it fallen and bruised herself?
No, indeed; only (if that is possible) more!
What then must we do?
Listen.
Be silent.
Let Christ speak to you.
Forget yourself,
do not be self-centered,
let him tell you how he loves you,
show you what he is like,
prove to you that he is real.
Silence in your soul
means a gentle attention to Christ,
it means turning away from self to him,
it means looking at him,
listening to him.
God speaks silently.
God speaks in your heart;
if your heart is noisy, chattering,
you will not hear.
Every ordinary thing in your life is a word of God's love:
your home, your work, the clothes you wear,
the air you breathe, the food you eat,
the friends you delight in, the flowers under your feet
are all the courtesy of God's heart flung down on you!
All these things say one thing only:
"See how I love you."
God asks only one thing,
that you will let God tell you this, directly, simply;
that you will treat God as someone real,
not as someone who does not really exist.
