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
Comments
Post a Comment