Few people are as hands-on when it comes to reconciliation as Donegal-born Rev Dr Ruth Patterson, OBE, the first female to be ordained by the Presbyterian Church. She tends to be confused with the Belfast DUP Councillor of the same name, but Rev Ruth is very much her own person.

For not only is she in demand as a speaker and as the author of a number of books, the latest of which was released last week, she has a unique ministry.

She runs, with the help of some full-time and volunteer staff, Restoration Ministries in Dunmurray in South Belfast. This is a small group that seeks to draw people together in conversation and to honestly look at differences, especially in regard to religion and politics.

Her latest book, 'Proclaiming the Promise' is imbued with that reconciling spirit and, in fact, it had a double launch - in the offices of its publishers, Veritas Publications in Dublin's Lower Abbey Street and back home in Dunmurray where the guest speaker was Denis Bradley, the former Catholic priest who, until last year, was vice chairman of the Policing Board.

The Veritas launch, which was chaired by its chief executive, Maura Hyland, was special in that, in all, eight books with a religious/community theme, were launched.

The other seven include - '12 Days of Christmas', which, along with, 'The Cat Did Not Know' is directed at children; 'Vatican 2: Facing the Future - Historical and Theological Perspectives', 'Welcoming the Stranger: Practising Hospitality in Contemporary Ireland', 'On The Way To The Wedding': The Complete Guide to Planning Your Wedding Ceremony'.

With the ongoing rising hopes of a resolution among the political parties and, aware that her book would be launched at the mouth of Advent (3rd December), Rev Ruth Patterson's book is a timely one.

Under the binding umbrella of, 'reflections on the God of love', it contains some two dozen separate but related articles, all of which express the hope of a new coming (advent).

In her role as director of Restoration Ministries, the author would have played a primary role in helping some members of Jean McConville's family come to terms with her disappearance on 7th December, 1972.

It would be, as she recalls, 31 years before the family would be allowed to assuage that grief by being able, eventually, to give their mother a Christian burial, her body having been recovered on 27th August, 2003 following an IRA tip-off.

Ironically, Mrs McConville's funeral was attended by only 200 other mourners but, at least, her immediate family had the pleasure of burying her remains on All Saints' Day and at the spectacle of seeing a white dove, released by her grandchildren, circling the cemetery twice before disappearing into the sky.

Adopting a technique that is repeated in the book, the author firstly addresses her subject, in this case, 'the disappeared' in prose form and follows it up in verse.

It is doubtful if there is a more powerful treatment of such a sensitive issue in any of the seven other books at the Veritas launch than the poem, 'A Mother Speaks' (In memory of Jean McConville).

One stanza reads (it is the mother speaking to her children, 'my ten beloved'):

From that Advent place beyond the grave, I speak.

Know that, as on All Saints Day, the dove circled

and soared above you,

my spirit too has taken wings.

I stand innocent of all accusations before my Maker and my Lord.

I am whole now and complete,

and in eternity, I am near to you,

so near'.

The 'Advent' theme, as indicated, is pervasive in the book and, in dissecting the various areas through which the Advent light will shine, if it is permitted, Rev Ruth resorts easily to wordsmanship of a high degree to get across her message.

"Words have always fascinated me", she writes. "Over the last few years in Northern Ireland, so many words have been used, often in a condemnatory or a preachy sense, that they have lost something of their potency".

So, she asks herself, why is she piling more words on the mountain of words that is already there?

She explains that thoughts (reflections) such as those relating to Advent and Christmas, to the current political scene, and to her devoted nephews and nephews, have come to her when she has stepped aside into her own space and has been embraced by peace. It naturally followed that the only way they could be expressed is through words.

So, what is her reading of the body language of Paisley, Adams, Empey, Durkan and the Alliance leader, David Forde?

Locally, she remains optimistic, but in her 'Advent' prose piece, she quickly reins in any over enthusiasm by highlighting, 'the wider scale global insecurity'. And, yet, speaking as an ordained Church minister, she suggests that the 'in between time', the period between the present gloomy now and the uncertain destination is, 'perhaps the most challenging and the most exciting of all for those with eyes to see'.

As an appropriate Christmas present, 'Proclaiming the Promise' which, really is a collection of reflections, many of which have appeared in the monthly newsletter of Restoration Ministries, has no equal. Rev Ruth Patterson writes about weighty matters in a simple, yet effective, manner.

Along with the other books listed above - it, and the unforgettable, 'The Cat That Did Not Know', written by a Dublin teacher, Margaret McCarthy for children about a cat that follows Our Lord's journey, from birth to Calvary - are now available from Veritas.