Tag: Church Customs

Candlemas

Candlemas

This feast marks the official end of the “Christmas season,” and serves as something as a fulcrum between the first part of the liturgical year, Christmas and Epiphany, and the second part, Lent, Passiontide, and Easter. For while the joy and charm of Christmas and the Birth of the Christ Child are renewed with prayers that proclaim Him “the Light of the World,” this event in Our Lord’s life was His “Offertory” – the prelude to His sufferings and redemptive work. It is also the day designated for the special blessing of candles, an important Sacramental for the Church.

We also introduce new our new offering of scented candles and give suggestions for Lenten reading. Read more…

Look Up, Lift Up Your Head

Look Up, Lift Up Your Head

Throughout the important Feastdays celebrated this past month (Christ the King, All Saints Day, Commemoration of the Poor Souls), one cannot help but turn one’s thoughts to one’s own eternal destiny. The joys of Heaven, the purifications of Purgatory….all are brought before our minds just as the Liturgical Year comes to a climax. It is the intention of Holy Mother Church that we turn our meditations towards our death and judgment, and ultimately the Last Judgement, which is both the theme of the last few Sundays of the year and the focus of the penitential season of Advent.

Meditating on the Last Judgement, and even our own death, has a very specific and salutary purpose in the spiritual life: it serves as both warning and consolation.

In WEBSITE NEWS we explore some of the meaning Catholic meaning behind popular Christmas customs and give recommendations for Spiritual Reading. Read more…