Unearthly Beauty by Magdalen Smith

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This is an odd book, the sub-title is “Through Advent with the Saints”, but it is divided into 2 part “Advent Saints” and “Christmas Saints”.

The Advent Saints start with St Andrew, remembered by the Church on 30^th November and make their way with 11 reflections to Eglantyne Jebb (founder of Save the Children) who is remembered on 17^th December – remembering people in the order they appear in the calendar, but as some share the same day you end up with two reflections that might seem to be associated with a particular day.

Then comes the Christmas Saints, first up are John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph, The Wise Men, Shepherds, and the Inn Keeper.

Clearly Mary’s significant to the Christmas story is not sufficient for her to merit a day to herself although she does feature in some of the other reflections, while meeting the Wise Men before either the Shepherds or the Inn Keeper is perhaps a reminder that God is not bound by chronology.

You then get St Stephen, Holy Innocents, Thomas à Becket and a couple of others who have a place in the calendar between Christmas and New Year.

So you end up with 23 reflections, and despite half of them being “Christmas Saints” all are written in the context of Advent which seems to suggest that Magdalen Smith expects readers to be reflecting on even those date specific Christmas Saints before we have actually got to Christmas.

I also found that some of the reflections while sound in themselves seemed to have little or nothing particularly to do with the Saint that was in theory our starting point.

Despite those structural criticisms there were some interesting reflections within the midst of it.

For example, on the business of the run up to Christmas, in particular the challenge for the regular Church goer of those services that draw many, carol services / crib services / Midnight Mass, who are unfamiliar with Church and bring a perhaps unwelcome air of chaos to proceedings she suggests that “through it all, if we let it, holiness will descend. It will descend because within that two-second stillness, that reverent hush… we will experience that warm feeling which tells us we are so happy to be with those we really love...”

While in the reflection on the Holy Innocents she quotes Sarah Bessey “What do I say? There is nothing to say? Stop thinking there is something to say to make it go away. It won’t go away. Abandon your answers. Avoid clichés. Don’t blame God. Learn to sit in the sadness. This is not the end.” Sometimes life is inexplicable terrible, people are inexplicable murderous, illness or natural disaster cruel and tragic – and we need to hold the pain for and with people, not try to explain it away.