Twelve candles

For the past two weeks I’ve been maintaining, editing, and adding to my blog behind the scenes; so I’ve had ample opportunity to think about my next post.  Opening the “churches” folder on the external drive this afternoon, I wondered which of the many files-in-waiting I should peek into.  Then Martha came to mind.

Thanks to our beloved friend, we shared an incredible adventure in Mundelein before driving to Marytown for noon Mass at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe.  The church, managed by Conventual Franciscans, hosts a multitude of statues everywhere and a seemingly endless array of holy relics.  I thought my heart would burst!

Connections

Viewing the photos again after two years, my thoughts ricocheted from one post to another to another.  I added St. Anthony Mary Claret’s relic photo to Kylie’s story and then—  Oh, my gosh!  Providential!

Earlier in the day, I’d happened across the “twelve candles” draft from last December.  Not sure when I’ll get to that, I thought, dismissing any effort to get it published.  And here, out of the blue, in the photo files from our day with Martha was a photo of a prayer posted at the shrine.  Oh, perfect sentiment!  Who says the Hallmark Channel owns Christmas in July?

Twelve candles

December 27, 2013, Steven and I started an annual tradition.  For our anniversary we gift ourselves with a day trip to the St. Joseph Chapel in Alamo: Steven makes a special contribution to the Capuchin Poor Clares, and he lights twelve candles.  We remember “everyone and everything everywhere”— most, specifically by name— and we give thanks and praise for “all God’s blessings in the new year to come.”

December 2015, we visited St. Joseph’s twice, the second time on Christmas Eve.  And, because it was our first time attending Mass at the chapel, we chose to light our candles in the spirit of the Holy Family.  So, twelve candles, twelve months of blessings.  When we say “you’re in our thoughts and prayers daily,” we really mean it.  God bless you sweetly!

       

       

Prayer

I don’t know how to pray.  I don’t know what to say.  I haven’t much time….

The light which I am giving is a little of what I have— a little of my time, a little of myself— which I am leaving before the Lord and the Virgin Mary.

This light symbolizes my prayer, which I continue even as I go my way.

Lord, may this candle I am lighting be the light with which you enlighten me in my difficulties and decisions.  May it be the fire with which you burn away the selfishness and impurity in me.  May it be the flame with which you warm my heart.

I cannot remain for long in your church.  By leaving this candle burning, I want to give you something of myself.

Help me to continue to pray in the midst of my daily activities.

Amen (National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe, n. d.).

Quote

We often think we receive graces and are divinely illuminated by means of brilliant candles.  But from whence comes their light?  From prayers, perhaps, of some humble, hidden soul whose inward shining is not apparent to human eyes (St. Thérèse of Lisieux).

December 21, 2016

God is our light.  The farther the soul strays away from God, the deeper it goes into darkness (St. Alphonsus Liguori).

December 22, 2016

A single sentence, a single word, a single awareness may turn life around; and, while you may not yet be found, you are no longer lost.  It is impossible to express.  Your dream of the world is unmasked, creating an opening.  The night, however dark, is not endless because, in that smallest opening, you glimpsed light moving in the dark.  It was the first real thing you have known (Paula D’Arcy in Stars at Night: When Darkness Unfolds as Light).

December 25, 2016

In the Word made flesh, God has sent his last Word, his most profound Word, his most beautiful Word, into the world.  And that Word means I love you, world and humanity.  Light the candles!  They have more right to be here than darkness! (Karl Rahner, SJ).

January 3, 2017

Oh, how great is your name, O Lord!  It is the strength of my soul.  When my strength fails and darkness invades my soul, your name is the sun whose rays give lights and also warmth (St. Faustina Kawalska).

February 2, 2017

How far that little candle throws his beams!  So shines a good deed in a weary world (William Shakespeare).

February 5, 2017

“Your light must shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Mt. 5:16).

May 16, 2017

Eternal God, who are the light of the minds that know you, the joy of the hearts that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you, grant us to know you that we may truly love you and so to love that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom (St. Augustine).

June 2, 2017

O gracious Parent!  Elevate our souls, and give us access to thy sublime throne, that stable seat of pure delight!  All earth-born cares remove; dispel the mists of sense; and with a ray from heaven illumine our darkened minds.  Allow us to see thy light; let us view the source of good unveiled; and fix, O ever fix, our eyes on thee (Roman Boethius in The Saint vs. The Scholar: The Fight Between Faith and Reason).

July 19, 2017

There is a life force flowing through the universe, and everything exists in a single moment, forever unfolding.  I open myself to the stream.  I want to be emptied and purified so that the past is no longer my lens— so that it no longer colors what I see.  What will it be like to look without fear or expectation, to see things with nothing in the way?  Who will I be if I am not afraid, but alive?  There is everything to experience, and the portal beyond the darkness to know (Paula D’Arcy in Stars at Night: When Darkness Unfolds as Light).

August 11, 2017

Faith is the first light, the heralding light, the foundation placed in us of what in its final perfection will be the Beatific Vision of God.  It is the beginning of the eternal ways in us, the commencement of our union with God” (Fr. William Ullathorne in Patience and Humility).

October 14, 2017

Whenever you’re humble enough to ask people to help you pray for an intention, any intention, you’re reminding me that even when I don’t think God is listening, you at least think that he is.  Your own faith makes up for what is lacking in my own (Anna O’Neil).

October 18, 2017

I will always make the case for hope.  In my eyes, it is the most important thing to have in life’s toolbox.  Even if that hope is something that feels nearly impossible, like the hope that one day your words will change the way people treat one another (Shanna Johnson).

February 27, 2018

“It is no advantage to be near the light if the eyes are closed” (St. Augustine of Hippo).

June 14, 2018

“Those who believe see; they see with a light that illumines their entire journey, for it comes from the risen Christ, the morning star which never sets” (Pope Francis).

June 15, 2018

Jesus, may your divine light live in me and in the life I choose to live.  Let all the choices I make be guided by this light, and may I reflect that light to the world.  Amen (Steve Givens in Crossroads: Stations of the Cross for Times of Change, 2018).

October 2, 2018

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.  Happiness never decreases by being shared (Buddha).

February 18, 2020

To see light, all we need do is open our eyes; the light comes in by itself.  There is no other path that we need to take to light.  Now truth is more light than light itself, so nothing can take us to truth other than truth itself.  It must approach us, humble itself, and make itself lowly (Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet in Meditations for Lent).

January 14, 2021

“Good people are like candles; they burn themselves up to give others light” (Unknown).

St. Joseph & St. Rita Monastery – 725 E. Bowie Avenue – Alamo, TX 78516-5500

Links of interest…  Alamo, TX: Capuchin Poor Clares / cloistered life / monastery…  All things new: Yes, it’s cold & dark but there is light…  Case for hope…  Five ways to put all those Christmas cards to good use…  How beeswax candles opened my eyes to the beauty of Mass…  Light a candle…  Lighthouses, an ancient symbol of Christianity…  Like a moth drawn to the flames of church candles…  Living an unending Christmas…  Old lamps shed new light on ancient world…  Our Lady of the Rosary Library: prayers to the Blessed Virgin for every day of the week…  Perspective in the battle between darkness & light…  Pope Francis: Light of faith…  Prayer: devotions to the Blessed Mother / library / ten ways to grow in prayer / treasure of 4,128 / why we must pray…  Praying to the saints: gracious advocates / intercessory prayer…  Reasons to request prayer on social media…  Secret Santa for the soul…  Seeing others with the light of Christ…  Six ways St. Clare shines her light…  Ten reasons to be filled with hope…  Time to put out electric votive candles…  Unexpected graces of offering daily prayer for others…  Why do we give Christ the title Light from Light / light votive candles / use candles at Mass…

WP posts…  Capuchin Christmas…  Christmas blessings…  Clarisas cookies…  Marytown shrine…  Slice of heaven