“Then he was told. ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.’  For at that moment Yahweh was going by.  A mighty hurricane split the mountains and shattered the rocks before Yahweh.  But Yahweh was not in the hurricane.  And after the hurricane, an earthquake.  But Yahweh was not in the earthquake.  And after the earthquake, fire.  But Yahweh was not in the fire.  And after the fire, a light murmuring sound.  And when Elijah heard this, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.  Then a voice came to him, which said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’”[The First Book of Kings, 19: 11-13]

“Why not now? why not is there this hour an end my uncleanness?  So was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter condition of my heart, when, lo! I heard from the neighboring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, ‘Take up and read; Take up and read.’ Instantly, my countenance altered …So, checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, and read the first chapter I should find… Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle [Saint Paul] when I arose thence.  I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: ‘Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence’. [Epistle to the Romans 13: 13-14] No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.”  [The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Book VIII, Paragraphs 28 and 29]

One does not need to be a prophet and hear “a light murmuring sound” or a saint and hear “a voice” to experience what Henri Cartier-Bresson, the famous French photographer, called “images a la sauvette”.  During several Advents, the four weeks before Christmas, I remained in heightened anticipation for those “decisive moments”, which usually came in a flash, with no opportunity for a series, while, for the most part, driving my car in winter darkness.  Although there were days when none appeared or went unnoticed, in most others one or two came to fill my heart with such “serenity” that “the darkness of doubt” disappeared. 
W. H. H. Rees

----Introduction to Advent