On these final quiet days before Christmas, Advent invites us into stillness. The waiting has thinned to a hush. What remains is not urgency, but reverence.
Mother is a holy word. It names a sacred role—the calling to receive what is given, to guard what is vulnerable, and to bring forth life. It is not defined by gender, but by devotion: the steady offering of oneself so that life, hope, and promise may emerge into the world.
In the mystery of God’s coming, this role stands at the center. Before the Word is proclaimed, it is carried. Before light is revealed, it grows in hiddenness. God entrusts divine life to patient care and faithful presence. Life is brought forth not through force, but through attentiveness, surrender, and love that abides.
Advent teaches us that holiness often takes this form: life forming in silence, grace unfolding slowly, faithfulness practiced when no one is watching. To “mother” is to participate in God’s creative work—to nurture life until it can breathe on its own, to trust the process of becoming without rushing the birth.
In a restless and weary world, the work of bringing forth life continues quietly. It is present wherever someone tends what is fragile—new beginnings, restored relationships, healing communities, rekindled faith. Life is born whenever dignity is protected, hope is sustained, and love refuses to let death have the final word.
On this sacred threshold of Christmas, we are invited to contemplate:
What life is God bringing forth through us in this season of waiting?
What promise are we called to hold, protect, and nurture until it is ready to be revealed?
The word mother draws us into the heart of God, whose love continually brings forth life—gentle yet powerful, hidden yet transformative. God comes near through care that sustains, through patience that trusts, through love willing to dwell in the quiet work of creation.
As Advent draws to a close, may we honor the holiness of this calling. May we receive the life God is forming within and among us with humility and awe. And may we wait with tenderness, trusting that what has been nurtured in silence will soon be born as grace for the world.
Inner Altar 