Praying Candles VID 5



Opening Doors is all about Connecting
Tandem Blog Article for Vid 5



Perhaps you’ve caught the simple, profound mystery of household Heaven Door spirituality.  It’s all about encounter.  Pope Francis lives this mystery each day in his deep desire to meet and interact with people.  The key to understanding his spirituality is the Hispanic preference for Encuentro.  Encountering, better yet “connecting with others,” is one of the richest gift of Latin American culture to Universal Catholicism. Roman Catholics are global by nature.  We draw on the unique riches of all believing nations: respecting and fostering the diverse  gifts and adornments of all races and peoples (1963).

The last four videos of this domestic church series delved into installing a Heaven Door to connect the family with its ultimate destiny. They considered how the Patron of the home, the first hinge, its Sacred Image, opens the Door leading individual members and the entire household to the knocking Lord Jesus. The Series then discussed the Door’s second hinge or family Bible opening our eyes and ears to encounter the Risen Lord through Good News events.

These two hinges allow the family’s Saint and God’s Living Word to energetically throw open the Door and reach out to our Baptismal destiny. We get a peek at dwelling forever and ever in the household of Heaven, the blessed Trinity.  Our true home, therefore, is made of divine persons, our God-in-relationship: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Wise and holy Catholic teachers of the centuries have considered the Holy Spirit a perpetual and dynamic exchange of love between the Father and the Son and vice versa.  So vibrant is this love it is a divine Person, Love, the Comforter, the Spirit-breath of God.  This is why Catholic art often presents the Holy Spirit as a dove, with rays of light emanating from it.

You may need a breather now.  Take a Trinity one. Breathe a total of three times, one for each Trinitarian person. Slowly, yes slower and more mindfully than usual, breathe in through the nose and feel the cool air entering.  Then after holding your breath ever-so-shortly and comfortably, breathe out your mouth.  Feel the sometimes hot-and-bothered air exit outward. Repeat this three times, one time for each Trinitarian person. The first time quietly say: “In the name of the Father;” the second time “and of the Son,” and the last time, “and of the Holy Spirit.”  I call this “Spirit Power or Spirit Love praying.” Back now, to Praying Candles. When you’re ready.



Nowadays the fantastic, safe, automatic, battery operated, versatile, and flickering LED lights are excellent stand-ins for traditional wax-burning vigil lights. An illuminated vigil candle for the family Patron can mean the automatic, battery operated (AA driven is the best) LED light variety, which turns on at the same time every day.  Another possibility is a small, timer-set, soft-glow evening or morning spot.  Remember, neither Praying Candles nor their electric counterparts are ornamental accessories or wall decorations. They are a sacred tools, the lighting of which is an action prayer, each family member can utilize daily.

A smaller version vigil lite, available by the hundreds at Christmas time, could be placed separately at the Heaven Window. It could switched on by a family member during a personal need: a bout with anxiety, relationship stress, sports or school challenge, need for forgiving, etc..  The reason for lighting it remains anonymous, yet anyone passing the Heaven Door, on noticing the extra lite, symbolically “hears,” the call “Somebody needs an extra special prayer today.  I’ll do just that.” This is particularly meant to capture your adolescent’s attention, who may not always be ready to reveal personal issues. For them, lighting the vigil light could be a perfect nameless spiritual outlet.

One of the most traditional and ancient of intercessory candles, lit during times of inner or outdoor storms, is the Thunder Candle.  Lit during a thunderstorm, from which it is named, these 51-100% beeswax candlesticks are annually blessed on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, sometimes called Candlemas (Feb 2).

I remember my mother receiving a midnight call to my Dad’s hospital, bedside. He was critically suffering from double pneumonia and pleurisy. Before her strange night departure, my mother called out, “Light the Thunder Candle.”  Then, I knew it was something serious. After surviving that precarious night, his doctor was asked to write a report for a medical journal on he treated my father. We honestly gave thanks to God that the blessed flame kept us connected, attributing Daddy’s surprise recovery to that intercessory gesture.



Next Saturday: Action-Prayer Tool Box: Playful Sprinkles


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