I thought this meditation on the eve of Christmas was appropriate:

The Advent

The events of history were controlled for my coming to this world
no less than for the coming of the Saviour.

The time had to be ripe, the place just right, the circumstances ready, before I could be born.

God chose the parents of his Son and endowed them with the personality
they needed for the child that would be born.

I speak to God about the man and woman that he chose to be my parents
until I see that they had to be the kind of human beings they were
if I was to become what God meant me to be.

The Christ child comes, like every other child, to give the world a message.
What message have I come to give?
I seek guidance from the Lord to express it in a word or image.

Christ comes into this world to walk a certain path, fulfil a certain destiny.
He consciously fulfilled what had been "written" for him.
As I look back I see in wonder what was "written" and has thus far been fulfilled in my on life,
and for each part of that script, however small, I say, "Thanks" to make it holy with my gratitude.

I look with expectation and surrender at all that is to come and, like the Christ,
I say, "Yes. Let it be done."

Finally I recall the song the angels sang when Christ was born.
They sang of the peace and joy that give God glory.
Have I ever heard the song the angels sang when I was born?

I see with joy what has been done through me to make the world a better place,
and I join those angels in the song they sang to celebrate my birth.

Anthony deMello-Wellsprings. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash. booksgsp@gmail.com