The star and the discerning heart (Happy Christmas!)

I know that my blogging has gone beyond sporadic to rare. For much of this year I shut down my blog. I feel I still haven't given the explanation you deserve as to why this was. Suffice to say I have been experiencing the most considerable period of discernment of my life. I do want to share more but I feel I need more time to reflect upon how to share it. Equally, I am not at the end of this period at the moment. Perhaps I never will be.

Christmas is a good time to consider the journey one is making in life and faith. It is the rhythm of returning to the crib and looking back on the path one has taken there. In looking at Mary and Joseph one cannot help but feel humbled in faith. How great was the journey they made in faith and grace on all levels? How much they must have both wandered and wondered amidst the will of God. Yet we gaze upon them in a static scene, just a snapshot of a real life of movement, of fleeing of sorrow and protection on the road of life. How great their journey and how great its capacity to keep me on mine. We cannot always see the road ahead but in trying to hold onto the goodness of faith, even in our weakness and doubt, the way ahead will always be lit; illuminated before us. We cannot know the shape ahead of us but we can know that there is light.

I wish you all a peaceful and holy Christmas. I assure you of my prayers and my thanks for all that fellow bloggers write.

In the love of Christ.

A word from our sponsor (St Bernadette at Christmas)

On Christmas Eve 1871 Bernadette attended midnight mass and sat with her fellow sister Victoire Cassou, who later gave this account:

With her veil drawn around her, nothing could avert her attention. After holy communion, she was so deep in prayer that she did not even notice that everyone had gone out. However, I remained close to her for I did not like the idea of going to the refectory with the other sisters. I contemplated her for a long time without her noticing me. Her face was radiant and heavenly as during the ecstasy of her apparitions. When the sister responsible for shutting the chapel doors came, she made a lot of noise with the bolts. Then Bernadette came out of what seemed to be an ecstasy.

Bernadette's body (left) and the chapel at Nevers (right).

This week is my blog's birthday and Bernadette has been a big part of its content so that seemed appropriate. Thanks to you all for reading and a very Merry, peaceful Christmas to you all!

Only 31/2 hours to go till midnight mass in the UK!

Hanging out with Carthusians (in spirit)

With a lack of Internet access in my life over the last month or so I have been spending my time doing lots of extra reading - you don't need technology to procrastinate and I'll always find a way. So what have I been reading dear readers, who have been kind enough to return after I have neglected you for so long? Well, among other things the writing of various, unnamed, Carthusians. This has largely happened by accident. It's strange when things seem to converge and by coincidence several people give you things to read which are connected and that is what happened to me at the end of the summer. I was given a book of Carhtusian writings and then a friend sent me a few extracts from the book he had been reading and before I knew it I was hooked. John Paul II said there is no such thing as a coincidence and I think I quite agree.

 Despite their enclosed nature it quickly became clear to me that these guys have a better handle on human nature and the modern world than those of us trapped in the grind. Advent, though it is almost at a close, has been the perfect ground for nurturing this reading for it has been born in the stillness and the silence of waiting and for this reason it is profound in its simple truths. I just wanted to share a little of my most recent reading with you, from a chapter entitled 'Christmas':

"For the world has need of love, for love alone gives joy. And grace is of itself fruitful; it cannot burn within us without lighting up other souls.

May the Blessed Virgin, hidden and silent in the cave of Bethlehem, help us to imitate her in her recollectedness and purity"*

I hope you all have a blessed and peaceful close to Advent.

*PAGE 89 The Prayer of Love and Silence, Gracewing, 2006 (originally published in 1962 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd.)

COPYRIGHT - The Carthusian order in England

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

At this time of year there is so much joy and life in the darkness of winter. Christ who brings such hope in the mystery of the little cave and in the humility of coming so gently into the world to rest with the poor and the powerless. I think a lot about Mary and her courage and love in the midst of this darkness; her joy, her worries, her responsibilities and her ultimate trust in something much greater than all of us. Her trust in that great mystery which had brought her to the manger in the first place. I think of Joseph; her quiet and valiant protector who must have had to grow in trust and strength in order to rise to the challenge of being so close to the humanity and divinity of the little baby he looked upon that night in Bethlehem. Bernadette said whenever you can't pray go to Saint Joseph because he knows how to speak to Mary and Jesus- he was husband and father- no one was closer yet he is so often forgotten about. Before she was found to be intact and exhumed Bernadette lay in the little chapel of St Joseph. This seems fitting.

Christmas is also a lovely time to reflect and sometimes that brings a little sadness. I have been reading about the FOCA bill which Obama plans to pass in the US when he becomes President in January. In England most of those things contained within the FOCA bill are already being practised and it is a terrible thing. America has held fast for many years and this is important considering its population. The possible implications of this bill fill me with a deep sadness especially at a time when we gather round the crib. Do not forget the unborn - as Mother Teresa reminds us- it was the unborn child, John the Baptist, who leaped for joy; who first recognised the incredible identity of Jesus. It fills me with joy that American Catholics are up and fighting already. I join my prayers to theirs and though I may be far away I am thinking of them and their noble mission. We should never give up hope for we have been told- 'My immaculate heart will triumph' and if the Christmas story teaches us anything it is that trust is key.

Happy Christmas!

The photograph is of 'Our Lady of the Waters' the statue Bernadette said bore the closest likeness to Our Lady .