How time flies past! Yet another Advent will be upon us - time again to prepare for Christ's coming into the world. But, as Meister Eckhard the medieval Dominican mystic said, "What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the Divine Son takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself. ….What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture?" To grow in God we need to give him time. Marcellino d'Ambrosio in his article "Contemplation for Busy People", stresses how important it is for all of us to find time for prayer in our busy lives and gives some practical suggestions. I myself found how beneficial giving up television for Advent was to give me the space I needed to focus more on God during this time. Mary Taylor, in a new series of craft ideas for children "Pass it On", explains how to make a fun alternative to the usual advent wreath.

In this issue we continue with our feedback from the Newman Consultation, which took place earlier in the year in June. This includes the second part of Archbishop Kevin McDonald's talk to us, in which he told the CCR how we could best the serve the Church and gave us some priorities to focus on. Charles Whitehead gives us an interim report of how things are going, in collating the mass of information that we have received from the questionnaires, the small groups, and prophetic words etc.

Although it has developed a necessary institutional side (NSCs, DSCs etc) the Charismatic Renewal is essentially about the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individuals. Spiro Sueref from the Welsh NSC tells us about the amazing grace that was experienced at this year's Welsh conference in Carmarthen and the signs that were made manifest through prayer and expectant faith. Fr Pat Collins CM meanwhile explains how we can learn to recognise the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the fruits that can come from this. This can be difficult as Sherry Weddell shows in her article about the charisms. In it she reminds us that human emotions and feelings can often get confused with the work of the Holy Spirit and on their own are an unreliable guide. Ralph Martin, one of the early leaders in the CCR from the USA, shares some of the wisdom of John of the Cross, about the charisms in the Christian life, stressing their importance, but that they should not be focused on unduly as we should love the giver not the gifts. He also underlines that there is no contradiction between the contemplative and charismatic dimension of the spiritual life.

It's always good to have contibutors from other movements in the Church and in this issue we have an article by Fr Bernd Bilger from the Schoenstadtt community. In his article "Helping others to see God", he draws on the book of Judges in the Old Testament and sees parallels with our own times. In it he underlines the importance of believers witnessing to how God works in their lives so that others might see his hand in their lives too. Martyn Green, who comes from an orthodox Jewish background, does precisely this, telling how the Holy Spirit led him to the Roman Catholic Church. One of the amazing signs of this along the way, was when he heard what he thought was a friend praying in Hebrew, but which turned out to be speaking in tongues.

Our experience of the Holy Spirit is always to equip us for service of our neighbour and the Church. Dave Palmer and John Edwards, two of our Goodnews team, tell us how for them, this led to them training for the diaconate. Fr Chris Thomas on the Agape page challenges us that sometimes it is those outside the Church who show the face of Christ more than those of us in it, and stresses the importance of being open to seeing the hand of God wherever He chooses to reveal himself. This has undoubtedly been difficult for those in New Orleans which experienced such terrible devastation a couple of months back. Patti Gallagher Mansfield, one of the earliest people involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, who is based in New Orleans with her husband Al, shares how they managed to cope at this difficult time.

On top of this there are the usual regular news pages from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and Sue Whitehead's inimitable Other Half. And readers in Ireland have their own special insert.

Kristina Cooper