On December 12th, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications called for live moments of silence during these days of Advent.

The encounter with the Lord has many facets. Being personal, it is always also of the community; it happens in solitude and silence, but also in a privileged way in liturgical celebrations and in family life. It is nourished by dialogue and community prayer, expressed in song, in catechesis and ends in action and service.

I am taking the next two weeks to contemplate, reflect, and pray. I am going to contemplate the year to come, reflect on the past year, and pray about the future to come.

That is why, on this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I would like to invite you, precisely as men and women communicators, to enjoy once more the experience of encountering Christ. I invite you to live moments of silence during these days of Advent, to hear Jesus' voice who speaks to our heart.

I'll be back January 1. I hope to see you when I return.

Neva Patterson, who played Cary Grant's fiancee in the 1957 classic "An Affair to Remember," has died. She was 90.

Her daughter, Megan Lee, tells the Los Angeles Times that Patterson died Tuesday at her home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. She suffered complications from a broken hip.

Rest In Peace, Neva.

When Julie Andrews began writing her 2008 autobiography, "Home," her husband Blake Edwards had just one piece of advice: "Characters make your story."

In an up-and-down career that spanned writing, directing and producing nearly 50 films, Edwards, who died Wednesday, cultivated more than his share of indelible characters: Peter Sellers' bumbling Inspector Clouseau of the "Pink Panther" movies, Dudley Moore's equally clueless George Webber from "10," Audrey Hepburn's high fashion wild child Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

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Edwards is survived by his wife, five children, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. His family says a private memorial is planned and a public memorial will be scheduled in the new year.

Rest In Peace, Blake.

Enrique Morente, one of the world’s most celebrated flamenco singers, whose work embraced both traditional styles and contemporary influences as diverse as George Gershwin and Leonard Cohen, died on Monday in a Madrid hospital. He was 67.

Hospital officials confirmed the death to The Associated Press, giving no cause. According to many reports in the European news media, Mr. Morente died as a result of complications of surgery he underwent earlier this month.

Rest In Peace, Enrique.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2009 and a diplomatic troubleshooter who worked for every Democratic president since the late 1960s and oversaw the negotiations that ended the war in Bosnia, died Monday evening in Washington. He was 69 and lived in Manhattan.

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Mr. Holbrooke was hospitalized on Friday afternoon after becoming ill while meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in her Washington office. Doctors found a tear to his aorta, and he underwent a 21-hour operation. Mr. Holbrooke had additional surgery on Sunday and remained in very critical condition until his death.

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In 1964, Mr. Holbrooke married the first of his three wives, Larrine Sullivan, a lawyer. The couple had two sons, David and Anthony, and were divorced. His marriage to Blythe Babyak, a television producer, also ended in divorce. In 1995, he married Kati Marton, an author, journalist and human rights advocate who had been married to the ABC anchorman Peter Jennings until their divorce in 1993. He is survived by Ms. Marton; his two sons; his brother, Andrew; and two stepchildren, Christopher and Elizabeth Jennings.

Rest In Peace, Richard.