Candles
Friday July 17, 2009
All over Sicily, we lit candles for Daddy.In Erice: In Siracusa: (Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime) In Modica:..and some other places. Not as many as they would have liked. Partly because in most of the churches we were able to get...
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This blog is no longer updated and is closed for comments. We welcome your comments about Catholicism in our Catholic forums.
Amy Welborn is the author of 17 books on prayer, saints, apologetics and church history. Her articles and columns have appeared in Our Sunday Visitor, Commonweal, First Things, Catholic Digest, Liguori, and been syndicated by Catholic News Service.
Amy has an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University and spent several years working in Catholic schools and parishes before taking up writing full time. She was married to Catholic author Michael Dubruiel until his unexpected death in February of 2009. She has five children ranging in ages from 4 to 26.
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Lighting candles in prayer is a wonderfully simple but powerful Catholic tradition. Thanks, Amy, for highlighting it in this poignant and moving entry.
Lighting candles is a beautiful style of prayer; my nieces and I lit them in the Cathedral in St Augustine when they were small, and it's a tradition they still remember. Someday little Michael will teach it to his own children.
I just love your entries!!!! The way you talk about faith is inspiring.... you have such good children... you should be proud of them and their powerful insights...
God bless y'all
Lighting candles for a special person or intention is one of the things I have always loved about being Catholic. You know that you'll see candles in every Catholic church, in every country around the world, even in the most obscure locations.
I am always moved by them when I see them and wonder who or what is represented by each candle..personal stories, personal emotions, but somehow bound together with a common Light.
I don't really have anything against the electric, coin-operated candles in churches in Rome (there seem to be very good reasons for the practice) but somehow it's just not the same. And children love to light the real ones...
Thanks for this, Amy. I was in our parish church earlier this evening, after reading it, and lit a candle for Michael and also for his family.
My children love lighting candles for others. There is something great about the tangible expression of our prayer. God bless you all!
I had not seen many churches in our country (New Zealand) that offered the lighting of candles, and when I travelled around Europe over 20 years ago I did not try it because I thought there must be some protocol or discipline to doing it and was too embarrassed to ask. However, over xmas 2008 I travelled again around Europe and age has made me bolder because I lit candles in each church while my family walked around waiting. It’s a lovely practice, made even more special when I read your comments on your experience. Again, you write and explain things so well Amy, thank you for keeping this up while you are on holiday.
How quickly we can forget the dead when they are gone from our midst. How well we can remember them with a physical reminder of their life and presence with God.
I love learning more about Michael through these stories.
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