By Fr. Benedict Kiely, The Catholic Thing - To begin Advent in darkness, both physical and metaphorical, seems very appropriate. It is a gloomy time of year, the nights are drawing in early, the atmosphere is cloudy and damp: gloomy is the right description. From the Old English for darkness, we know it can describe despondency and a lack of hope, a sense which approaches despair... There is much that might make us gloomy at the moment, not least the awful vote in the British House of Commons on Friday allowing the euthanizing of those deemed not worthy of life. ...