Theme: Advent is a time of waiting and preparing for the coming of the Savior. Mary, the Mother of God, waits patiently for the birth of her Son and Savior, Jesus Christ to Whom she has given her life.

Grace: I pray for the grace of Marian surrender and anticipation of the Savior during this holy Advent and Christmas season.

“And when the hour had come that was to move the long days onward to Bethlehem…a moment paused, above a quiet place, and found, just this, a woman wrapped in silence, and the seed of silence was her heart that tried to give all that it held to give, and ever more.”
                        ~John W. Lynch,
excerpt from A Woman Wrapped in Silence

For Reflection:
These beautiful words poetically describe Our Lady as she waited for and anticipated the birth of her Son. What thoughts and insights come to you through the description “a woman wrapped in silence?” What interior attitude marked Mary’s silence? What does the poetry suggest? What about Luke 2:19, 51? Consider these lines in light of the quotes of Father Marie-Dominique Philippe and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. How can I imitate Our Lady and also become “a woman wrapped in silence?”