At Christmas-time we are called on to dwell with special attentiveness on the truth conveyed in the startling proclamation that the darkness is past and the true Light now shineth. Further, we need also to dwell on the truth that we ourselves are meant to shine in this same Light; or, as the Second Epistle of St. Peter expresses it,

The object of meditation is to help us to accept truth in a living way, so that the Light, which is Christ, may permeate the whole consciousness. Without the faithful practice of meditation it is very easy to keep the words from the Bible on the surface of the mind, where we enjoy their beauty indeed, and perceive something of their intellectual worth. But they may or should become more to us than beautiful ideas about which we are content to sing in hymns and carols; more, too, than intellectual tenets firmly held. Rightly used in meditation they become the vehicle through which we may receive and assimilate the Truth as vital energy and creative power capable of changing our consciousness, so that what is within us gives way before the incoming of Light.

The truth of the words of the meditation, is not self-evident when we begin to listen inwardly to them as spoken to our own personal consciousness. We are usually far less aware of the presence of Light than of much in ourselves that makes us feel perturbed, downcast, or lacking in harmony in some respect. And yet as we continue to dwell on the words something in each one of us begins to respond to the truth that the Divine Light come, and is within, the Light which is Life and Peace and Joy. The response may be very weak, no more than a flickering wish expressed half-wistfully, But this wish, self-regarding though it often is at first, will grow into a purer desire to know the truth; and such desire will gain in strength if we do not stifle it, but, instead, cherish it by asking for deeper knowledge:

In the practice of meditation we do not refuse to recognise the fact of in our own consciousness or in the state of the world - a state which, as we are continually reminded nowadays, is an enlarged reflection of the characteristics of our own individual consciousness. The practice does, however, enable us to refuse to be hypnotised by the transient into believing that it constitutes the of any given situation. We deliberately fix the attention on some aspect of the Eternal, which, for the very reason that is it Eternal, is not bounded by conditions but is Omnipresent. Therefore we are not guilty of intellectual dishonesty when, though not yet feeling it, we affirm the Omnipresence of Light, seeking to become aware of its shining first in our own little section of the temporal, namely our personal consciousness. Indeed, in so doing we are acting on Christ's injunction concerning prayer as given in St. Mark's Gospel.

in various passages in , has beautifully described the dynamic power of desire in bringing us into knowledge of the Light that shines within, the indwelling Christ. In the Second Dialogue, Law shows how desire, when ardent, involves the offering of the whole self to become a faithful, thankful instrument in the hands of God. Such an offering of the self must, Law says, become

This Light is the shining forth of Divine Love in us; and

Surely it follows that no , however impermeable it seems to ourselves ,can withstand the might of Love, once our desire opens the heart to its entry.

Every time we resist the temptation to judge by only, we strengthen our ability to respond to the Eternal. Every time we meditate we perceive and assimilate a little more of the Love that is Infinite, but which yet for every meditation helps us to see a little less dimly what is the nature and quality of that transcendent Love when it comes into relationship with man. The Love which was incarnate in lowly guise at Bethlehem is still among us as (Third Dialogue) op: cit: