Dear Gabriel,

I was reading a homily. The author said that at Christmas people who never attend any kind of religious service “at least got to a carol service”. But a carol service can be an intensely moving religious experience. At Downside Abbey, at the start of the service, the whole church is swathed in darkness, only lit by candlelight and sounded by plainchant. And it is only with the first great sound of the first carol that the lights illuminate.