Ave Maria Meditations
The Advent, the seed of the world’s life, was hidden in Our Lady. Like the wheat seed in the Earth, the seed of the Bread of Life was in her. Like the golden harvest in the darkness of the Earth, the Glory of God was shrined in her darkness.
Advent is the season of the secret, the secret of the growth of Christ, of divine love growing in silence. It is the season of humility, silence, and growth.
For nine months, Christ grew and His Mother’s body. By His own will, she formed Him from herself, from the simplicity of her daily life. She had nothing to give Him but herself. He asked for nothing else. She gave Him herself. Working, eating, sleeping, she was forming His body from hers. His flesh and blood. From her humanity, she gave Him His humanity.
This time of Advent is absolutely essential to our contemplation too. If we have truly given our humanity to be changed into Christ, it is essential to us that we do not disturb this time of growth. It is a time of darkness, of faith. We shall not see Christ radiance in our lives yet; it is still hidden in our darkness; nevertheless, we must believe that He is growing in our lives; we must believe it so firmly that we cannot help relating everything, literally everything, to this almost incredible reality. ..
This Advent awareness does not lead to a selfish preoccupation with self; it does not exclude outgoing, love to others: far from it. It leads to them inevitably, but it prevents such acts and words of love from becoming distractions. It makes the very doing of them reminders of the presence of Christ in us. It is through doing them that we can preserve the secrecy of Advent without failing to offer the loveliness of Christ in us to others.
+Caryll Houselander, “The Reed of God”
