Our Holy Father said, Advent “invites us to pause in silence to grasp a presence.”

He continued: “It is an invitation to understand that every event of the day is a gesture that God directs to us, sign of the care He has for each one of us. How many times God makes us perceive something of His love! To have, so to speak, an ‘interior diary’ of this love would be a beautiful and salutary task for our life! Advent invites and stimulates us to contemplate the Lord who is present. Should not the certainty of His presence help us to see the world with different eyes? Should it not help us to see our whole existence as a ‘visit,’ as a way in which He can come to us and be close to us, in each situation?”

—Pope Benedict XVI, First Vespers, Saturday, November 28, 2009