December 2018 |
PROLOGUE TO DECEMBER 2018 The first Christmas card arrived on a dull dismal day. It had been raining steadily both during the night and in the early morning. It was indeed a pleasure to know that we, as a community, are remembered by friends. Deo gratias. *
ADVENT HYMN
Light -bearing Christ, come down to us And light in darkness sow ; Come down and save our fallen world Whose sinful ways you know.
Prepare us for your light and truth, Who watch and wait for you; Restore lost dignity to man: Come down and make us new.
Almighty Father, speak the Word Your children long to hear, And with your Spirit dwell with us: Lord, God of love, draw near.
FROM A STANBROOK HYMNAL * Advent means the coming, and refers to the four week season of preparation for the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day and the anticipation of His coming again. Advent begins on the Sunday nearest November 30th and continues until December 24th. *
* THE LIVING SPIRIT
The Advent we keep is not a poetic make belief, or a nostalgic historical pageant, or even an exercise in remembering our roots.... The coming of God in Christ still continues ..... We are an Advent people.
The season of Advent celebrates in symbolic form a reality of our own lives and of all mens destiny with God, because he came in Bethlehem he is who will come again.
Dame Maria Boulding O.S.B. * Tuesday 4th of December
It rained heavily during the night and sunshine was rare during the day. The gulls clamoured for food, shrieking for it with determination ! The sky was overcast by mid afternoon and silence descended.... * Some years ago I copied a picture of a herring-gull waiting on a derelict roof somewhere ....
They are less raucous than the gulls and more patient. * The deciduous trees in our garden are almost completely bare and so we can just see the faded Welsh Hills in the distance. * Feast of Saint Nicholas 6th December The rain ceased during the night, leaving our garden soaked in much needed water. Perhaps that was a gift from Saint Nicholas ? His feast is celebrated on the Continent on this day. * During the Second World War, when my brother and I were children, and there was a general scarcity of food, let alone chocolate, our mother made us a raw potato beast, with match sticks for its legs .... There was nothing else she could give us.
After the War, one of our young apprentice servants gave me two pieces of milk chocolate which an English soldier had given to her. I did not enjoy that, either ...... ! *
Seasons Greetings
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Ingathering |