Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas

This collection, born of obvious passion and graced with superb writing, is a welcome even necessary addition to the glutted holiday bookshelves. – Publishers Weekly (starred review)Though Christians the world over make yearly preparations for Lent, there’s a conspicuous lack of good books for that other great spiritual season: Advent. All the same, this four-week period leading up to Christmas is making a comeback as growing numbers reject shopping-mall frenzy and examine the deeper meaning of the season.Ecumenical in scope, these fifty devotions invite the reader to contemplate the great themes of Christmas and the significance that the coming of Jesus has for each of us - not only during Advent, but every day. Whether dipped into at leisure or used on a daily basis, Watch for the Light gives the phrase “holiday preparations” new depth and meaning.Includes contributions by these and other writers: C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, Thomas Merton, and Philip YanceyDorothy Day, Henri Nouwen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Oscar Romero, and Edith SteinMartin Luther, Meister Eckhart, Eberhard Arnold, and Christoph Friedrich BlumhardtT. S. Eliot, John Donne, and Sylvia PlathKarl Barth, Will Willimon, Jüuuml;rgen Moltmann, and J. B. PhillipsKathleen Norris, Brennan Manning, and Evelyn UnderhillAnnie Dillard, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Gerard Manley HopkinsRomano Guardini, St. John Chrysostom, and Giovanni PapiniJane Kenyon, Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster, Isaac Penington, and Alfred Delp