THE LISTENING HEART OF ADVENT Advent invites us to listen deeply and attentively. It is a contemplative listening which Thomas Merton says is “essentially a listening in silence, an expectancy”. As the Advent season shifts to the “O Antiphons” at this time, let’s take a few moments to cultivate a listening heart as we anticipate with joyful expectation the coming of Emmanuel, God-with-us.

Barbara Hughes, O.C.D.S. has a master’s degree in Formative Spirituality. A wife, mother and grandmother, she is author of Ministry and the Mystical Path, a regular columnist in “The Catholic Virginian” and has been published widely in numerous Catholic periodicals. Her book, Mary the Perfect Contemplative: Carmelite Insights on the Interior Life of Our Lady is available [...]