Suppose you wished to live the season of Advent this year in the spirit of St John Henry Newman, what would you do? You would reflect seriously on two things and then devote yourself to a third. At least, so the saint tells us in his great Advent sermon, “Worship, A Preparation of Christ’s Coming”.
You would put yourself in the right frame of mind first by reflecting on old age and death. We may think of children awaiting Christmas presents as conveying the true spirit of the season. Yet, for Newman, it is not an accident that Advent arrives at the same time as winter, which stands for the end of life, not its beginning:
