CAMBRIDGE - 26 November 2004 - 350 words
Lighted
Windows: a book for Advent
Sr Gemma Simmonds
Lighted Windows, Margaret Silf, Bible Reading Fellowship, Oxford 2002, ISBN: 1 84101 255 6, £6.99
Christmas is coming. The Christmas decorations
have been in the shops for weeks, B list starlets have turned
up at town halls to switch on the lights and the latest must-haves
are already running out in shops, as anxious parents stockpile
for the big day. Christmas is coming, and what are we doing about
it? If you are like me, one part of you wants to get under the
duvet and stay there until Boxing Day, or run away to a desert
island where the liturgical calendar doesn't exist. And another
part of you begins to finger the pages of the missal for the start
of the new liturgical year this Sunday, and looks forward to all
those gorgeous Advent readings that seem to come and go so fast,
rather like the rest of the goodies in store for Christmas, too
much, too rich, all at once.
So an Advent book is an excellent help in a prayerful preparation
for this wonderful feast, at a time of the year when most of us
have little mental space for personal reflection. Margaret Silf's
'Lighted Windows' offers abridged scriptural readings with a personal
reflection, topics for thought during the day and a prayer. The
topics are inspired by the readings and range widely from risks,
plans, suffering and belonging to emptiness, surprises and surrender.
The material would be suitable for reading on the bus into work,
or for a ten to fifteen minute session over a cup of coffee, or
a full half hour's silent prayer, depending on what you can give
to Advent. I suspect that the thoughts inspired by your reading
would resonate throughout the day, however busy you might be.
This is a handy book that would fit comfortably into a bag or
briefcase or onto a kitchen shelf or next to your computer. The
wondrous gift of God-with Us is given silently. Think about giving
yourself an early Christmas present this year.
© Independent Catholic
News 2004
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