Advent Caryll 25 Archives

Day 20: Christ, the Word of God’s Love – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 20: Christ, the Word of God’s Love

Neither have we any words to tell of God’s love for us, but God gave His Word, Christ is the Word, telling how God loves the word. Everything that Christ said and did and experienced on earth is the Word saying, “see how God loves you!”

Not content to be a human being, Christ wishes to be each human being, and is in fact born in the soul of every one who will receive Him; and in each one in whom He lives, whose life He lives, He is loved infinitely by the Father, loved as what He is, the only Son.

Commentary: Caryll Houselander expresses the profound mystery of God’s love made manifest in Christ, the Word. Everything Christ did, said, and endured on earth was a living proclamation of God’s love for humanity. This love is not distant or abstract; it is personal and intimate. Christ’s Incarnation reveals that He not only lived as one among us but desires to live within each of us. When we open our hearts to Him, Christ is born anew in our souls, and we are drawn into the infinite love between the Father and the Son. This insight highlights the Catholic understanding of union with Christ, particularly through the sacraments, where we receive Him and participate in this divine love.

Personal Reflection: Reflect on how Christ is born within you, calling you to live in a way that expresses God’s love. How might you embrace this intimate union with Him today, allowing His love to flow through you to others?

Caryll Houselander The Passion of the Infant Christ, Sheed & Ward, 1949,

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

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Image used with permission
To purchase your own copy, visit Trinity Icons

Day 19: The Incarnation in Our Suffering World – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 19: The Incarnation in Our Suffering World

Christ was born not because there was joy in the world, but because there was suffering in it. Not to riches, but to poverty. Not to satiety but to hunger and thirst. Not to security, but to danger, to exile, to homelessness, to destitution and crucifixion.

His incarnation now, in us, is in the suffering world as it is; it is not reserved for a Utopia that will never be; it does not differ from His first coming in Bethlehem, His birth in squalor, in dire poverty, in a strange city. It is the same birth, here and now. There is incarnation always, everywhere.

Commentary: Caryll Houselander reflects on the profound reality of Christ’s Incarnation, emphasizing that He entered the world not in comfort but in suffering, poverty, and vulnerability. Christ came to meet humanity in its brokenness, and Houselander reminds us that His presence continues to dwell within the hardships and suffering we encounter today. His Incarnation is not only a historical event but an ongoing reality in our lives, as Christ is continually “born” in our own moments of poverty, pain, and uncertainty. For Catholics, this resonates with the call to see Christ in the marginalized, the suffering, and the forgotten, understanding that He is especially present in places of need.

Personal Reflection: Today, reflect on an area of suffering in your life or in the world around you. How can you recognize Christ’s presence there, meeting you in that place? Consider how you might bring hope and compassion to a person or situation where His love is needed.

Caryll Houselander “The Passion of the Infant Christ”

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Image © Trinity Icons / Joseph M. Malham
Image used with permission
To purchase your own copy, visit Trinity Icons

Day 18: Seasons of Rest and Trust – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 18: Seasons of Rest and Trust

If Christ is to come to flower and bear fruit in individual lives, there must be seasons of rest in which there is almost no activity but the giving wholly of self to nourish the supernatural life; just as the earth in which the seed is buried is given to nourish the bread. But, and this is even more important, there must be a permanent state of inward rest, founded in the peace of mind which comes from complete trust.

Commentary: Caryll Houselander emphasizes the importance of rest and trust as essential for spiritual growth. Just as a seed needs time in the earth to take root and grow, our souls need periods of stillness to allow Christ to take root within us. She encourages a state of “inward rest” based on complete trust in God, allowing us to nourish the supernatural life without constant activity or striving. For Catholics, this aligns with the value placed on contemplative prayer and the peace that flows from entrusting ourselves fully to God’s care, knowing that His work within us unfolds in His time.

Personal Reflection: Consider how you can create moments of stillness today to nourish Christ’s life within you. How can you cultivate a deeper sense of peace and trust, letting go of the need for constant activity and control?

Caryll Houselander “The Passion of the Infant Christ”

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Image © Trinity Icons / Joseph M. Malham
Image used with permission
To purchase your own copy, visit Trinity Icons

Day 17: Welcoming Christ in Others – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 17: Welcoming Christ in Others

It is part of God’s plan for us that Christ shall come to us in everyone; it is in their particular role that we must learn to know him. He may come as a little child, making enormous demands, giving enormous consolation. He may come as a stranger, so that we must give the hospitality to a stranger that we should like to give to Christ.

Commentary: Caryll Houselander beautifully reminds us that Christ often comes to us through other people, inviting us to recognize His presence in each person’s unique role. He may appear in the form of a child who requires our patience and love, or a stranger who calls us to show hospitality and generosity. This teaching echoes Christ’s words in the Gospels, where He says that whatever we do for the least of His brothers, we do for Him. For Catholics, this perspective challenges us to approach each encounter with the reverence we would give to Christ Himself, recognizing His face in those around us.

Personal Reflection: Today, be mindful of seeing Christ in each person you meet. How can you respond to others—as children, strangers, or friends—with the same love and attention you would offer to Christ Himself?

“A Child in Winter: Advent, Christmas and Epiphany with Caryll Houselander”.

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Image © Trinity Icons / Joseph M. Malham
Image used with permission
To purchase your own copy, visit Trinity Icons

Day 16: Trusting Christ’s Quiet Growth in Us – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 16: Trusting Christ’s Quiet Growth in Us

It is only necessary to give ourselves to that life, all that we are, to pray without ceasing, not by a continual effort to concentrate our minds but by a growing awareness that Christ is being formed in our lives from what we are. We must trust Him for this, because it is not a time to see His face, we must possess Him secretly and in darkness, as the earth possesses the seed. We must not try to force Christ’s growth in us, but with a deep gratitude for the light burning secretly in our darkness, we must fold our concentrated love upon Him like earth, surrounding, holding, and nourishing the seed.

Commentary: Caryll Houselander invites us into a deeply contemplative attitude, one where we allow Christ to grow within us naturally, without forcing or striving. She reminds us that prayer is not always a focused effort of concentration but a quiet awareness that He is forming Himself within us, even in darkness. Like the earth holding a seed, we are called to embrace Christ’s presence within, trusting that He is quietly working in the hidden places of our lives. For Catholics, this reflects the contemplative tradition of silent prayer and trust in God’s unseen work within our souls.

Personal Reflection: In moments of prayer today, try to simply rest in God’s presence without striving. Imagine yourself as the earth surrounding and nourishing the growth of Christ within you. How can you deepen your trust in His quiet work, even when you don’t see immediate results?

Houselander quote from: Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God, Sheed & Ward, 1944

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Image © Trinity Icons / Joseph M. Malham
Image used with permission
To purchase your own copy, visit Trinity Icons

Day 15: The Sacred Vigil of Love – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 15: The Sacred Vigil of Love

The fostering of an infant’s life is a thing of terror as well as of beauty. We are face to face with life at its most precious, housed in its frailest. That life depends for its survival upon us, upon the intelligence, the skill, the perseverance, the unceasing, untiring vigilance of our love.

It requires of us love that is as strong as the worn and hollowed rock, as delicate as the dew that trembles in it.

We stand on one side of the cradle, death stands on the other. The new life is still a spark, a spark that we kneel to fan with the warm breath of our own life, a spark that death could blow out so easily.

So is it with the Christ-life in each of us and in the world. It is lodged in little ones, in the weakest and puniest, and love and death stand over it, face to face. In the mysterious period of natural life between birth and babyhood, there is a parable of the Christ-life in the soul.

Commentary: Caryll Houselander draws a powerful parallel between the fragile care required for a newborn and the nurturing of Christ’s love within our souls. She conveys the delicate responsibility we have in fostering the Christ-life, which, like an infant, relies on our unwavering vigilance and love. Just as a newborn depends completely on those who care for it, the life of Christ within us depends on our attentiveness, our perseverance, and our willingness to protect and nurture this divine presence. Houselander reminds Catholics of the awe-inspiring and at times fearsome responsibility of sustaining this spark of Christ’s life, which requires both tender love and strong resilience.

Personal Reflection: Reflect on how you might nurture the life of Christ within yourself and others. How can you protect and foster this divine presence with loving vigilance? Consider small ways in which you can cultivate patience, care, and attentiveness to keep this spark of Christ’s love burning brightly.

Houselander quote from: Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God, Sheed & Ward, 1944

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Image © Trinity Icons / Joseph M. Malham
Image used with permission
To purchase your own copy, visit Trinity Icons

Day 14: Patience in the Hidden Growth of Sorrow – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 14: Patience in the Hidden Growth of Sorrow

Sometimes this Advent season of the soul is a recurring rhythm through life, deliberately chosen as such or simply given to us. Sometimes it is the immediate result of conversion or of a new awareness of God or of an increase of Love.

Sometimes it is a painful experience. It may be that a soul brimmed with love becomes dumb, inarticulate, blind, seeing only darkness, unable to give things that it longs to give to a world of children asking for bread.

This simply means that the Holy Spirit of Love, by which Christ was conceived in that heart, is compelling it to suffer the period of growth.

The light is shining in the darkness, but the darkness does not comprehend it.

To a soul in such a condition, peace will come as soon as it turns to Our Lady and imitates her. In her the Word of God chose to be silent for the season measured by God. She, too, was silent; in her the light of the world shone in darkness. Today, in many souls, Christ asks that He may grow secretly, that He may be the light shining in the darkness.

We ought to let everything grow in us, as Christ grew in Mary. And we ought to realise that in everything that does grow quietly in us, Christ grows. We should let thoughts and words and songs grow slowly and unfold in darkness in us.

Commentary: Caryll Houselander reflects on the “Advent season of the soul” as a time when, even in silence and darkness, Christ grows within us. This hidden growth can be challenging, especially when we feel brimming with love yet find ourselves unable to express or act on it. Houselander encourages us to look to Mary as a model of patient, silent surrender. Just as she held the Incarnate Word in silence and allowed Him to grow within her, we too are called to let Christ grow in us without rushing the process. Even in the moments when we feel unable to give or express ourselves fully, God is at work in our hidden depths, transforming us.

Personal Reflection: Consider a place of silence or frustration in your spiritual life where you feel “in the dark.” How might you imitate Mary’s trust in God’s timing, allowing Christ to grow quietly within you, even if you don’t yet see the fruit? Embrace this season as an opportunity for Christ to unfold slowly in your heart.

Houselander quote from: Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God, Sheed & Ward, 1944

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Day 13: The True Fruit of Advent in Suffering – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 13: The True Fruit of Advent in Suffering

“We need the season of Advent; we need it in suffering, in joy, and in thought. We need it in everything that is to bear fruit in our lives. People sometimes get disheartened because they have read that suffering ennobles and have met people who seem to have come out of the crucible like pure silver, made beautiful by suffering; but it seems to them that in their own case it is quite the opposite. They find that, however hard they try not to be, they are irritable; that astonishing stabs of bitterness afflict them, that far from being more sympathetic, more understanding, there is a numbness, a chill on their emotions: they cannot respond to others at all; they seem not to love anyone any more; and they even shrink from, and dread the very presence of, those who are compassionate and who care for them. They say that in their case suffering is certainly a failure.

The truth is that they are too impatient to wait for the season of Advent in sorrow to run its course; a seed contains all the life and loveliness of the flower, but it contains it in a little hard black pip of a thing which even the glorious sun will not enliven unless it is buried under the earth. There must be a period of gestation before a nything can flower.”

Commentary: Caryll Houselander reminds us that Advent is a time not only for joyful expectation but also for deep, sometimes painful growth. She speaks to those who, in the face of suffering, feel they are failing because they don’t experience immediate transformation or nobility. Instead of emerging like “pure silver,” they may find themselves bitter, numb, or unable to connect with others. Houselander encourages us to understand that suffering doesn’t always yield visible or immediate beauty. Like the silent growth of Christ in Mary, the fruit of our suffering may be hidden, slowly transforming us in ways we cannot yet perceive. Advent teaches us to be patient and gentle with ourselves in these times, trusting that God is at work even in our apparent failures.

Personal Reflection: Consider any struggles or difficulties you may be facing. Rather than judging yourself for not “feeling” transformed, allow yourself to rest in God’s silent work within you. How can you cultivate patience with yourself, trusting that this season will bear fruit in time?

Houselander quote from: Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God, Sheed & Ward, 1944

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Day 12: The Virtue of Patience in Small Things – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 12: The Virtue of Patience in Small Things

“There are things that refuse to be violated by speed, that demand at least their proper time of growth; you can’t, for example, cut out the time you will leave an apple pie in the oven. If you do, you won’t have an apple pie. If you leave a thought, a chance word, a phrase of music, in your mind, growing and cherished for its proper season, you will have the wisdom or peace or strength that was hidden in that seed. In this contemplation there is great virtue in practising patience in small things until the habit of Advent returns to us”

Commentary: Caryll Houselander uses the analogy of baking an apple pie to illustrate the importance of patience in spiritual growth. Just as rushing the baking process would ruin a pie, so too does rushing spiritual insights or growth deprive us of the full fruit they can bring. She encourages us to hold thoughts, words, and inspirations in our minds and hearts, allowing them the time they need to deepen and mature. This practice of patience, even in small things, helps us enter into the “habit of Advent”—a season of waiting and readiness for Christ to manifest more fully within us.

Personal Reflection: Identify an area of your life where you may be tempted to rush. How might embracing patience in this area help you develop a deeper sense of peace or insight? Allow yourself to hold this moment gently, trusting that it will bear fruit in God’s time.

Houselander quote from: Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God, Sheed & Ward, 1944

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Day 11: Letting Christ Grow Within Us – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Day 11: Letting Christ Grow Within Us

“We ought to let everything grow in us, as Christ grew in Mary. And we ought to realize that in everything that does grow quietly in us, Christ grows. We should let thoughts and words and songs grow slowly and unfold in darkness in us”

Commentary: Caryll Houselander invites us to approach our inner life as Mary did, allowing Christ to grow quietly within. She encourages us to embrace a gentle, patient approach to spiritual growth, letting our thoughts, words, and prayers unfold naturally, as seeds growing in the darkness. By not rushing or forcing our spiritual development, we create space for Christ to shape us from within, revealing His presence through every part of our being. This quiet, humble growth mirrors the Incarnation, reminding us that even in silence and simplicity, profound transformation is taking place.

Personal Reflection: Consider what areas of your spiritual life need a slower, more patient approach. How can you create space in your heart for Christ to grow quietly, like a seed in the dark?

Houselander quote from: Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God, Sheed & Ward, 1944

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit: Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

For more reflections visit:
Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts