As dark misery settles down on us, and our refuges of lies fall in pieces one after one, the hearts of men, now at last serious, will turn to refuges of truth. The eternal stars shine out again, so soon as it is dark enough.
— Thomas Carlyle from Past and Present
The Time Of No Room
Into this world, this demented inn
in which there is absolutely no room for him at all,
Christ comes uninvited.
But because he cannot be at home in it,
because he is out of place in it,
and yet he must be in it,
His place is with the others for whom
there is no room.
His place is with those who do not belong,
who are rejected by power, because
they are regarded as weak,
those who are discredited,
who are denied status of persons,
who are tortured, bombed and exterminated.
With those for whom there is no room,
Christ is present in this world.
He is mysteriously present
in those for whom there seems to be nothing
but the world at its worst …
With these He conceals Himself,
In these He hides Himself,
for whom there is no room.
— Thomas Merton from Raids on the Unspeakable
See also: 2017 Advent Daily Meditations
My Soul In Silence Waits 