Miracles lead to Love, more so than Logical explanations

I need to go to work, but I wanted to make this post this morning, in honor of today being the Feast of the Presentation of Mary. (see below for more on this)

Last week I was in church taking photos, playing with my new camera. There were only a few candles lit at this shrine/altar. I tried to light one…, but there was not enough wick in anyof the holders to make a flame. There was a woman at the altar of Joseph cleaning the candle holders so I didnt try to find one.
After I snapped this shot I looked back at the photos I had taken on the camera lcd. I noticed that in this photo, there appeared to be a candle that was not in the rest of the photos. A taper on a round pillar it seemed. I went back over to the shrine and looked but couldn’t see anything that looked like the taper in my photo. It was a miracle. I brought the lady cleaning the candles over and showed her and she saw it too. Now..it was not long before I had the logical explanation figured out. More on this later.

The crux of the matter is that I was “presented” with the lit candle, after I could not light one at the altar. It was a gift from the Blessed Mother to me. This kind of “gift” may seem illogical or meaningless to you, but it put a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart that I have held since then. What does that mean? It means I feel a little more secure, a little less likely to get irritated, a little more willing to roll with the punches…a little more spiritual, a little more loving hopefully.

I don’t know what you believe about Mary, but she too was prophesied in the Old Testament and then ofcourse written about in the New Testament. The Koran has as much, if not more written, information about Mary – including the “virgin birth”.
In essence. Mary was the bearer of the Light for the World. In a miraculous way. I believe this.
One more thing about the Catholic church, perhaps Orthodox Anglican others too..I don’t know. Catholic Christian faith embraces relationship with our angels and saints and loved one and friends who passed to the other side. The Roman Catholic Churches, at least in the big city, are open most of the day and well into the evening, 7 days a week 365 a year.
Churches will always be needed as long as there are lonely people. Churches with place for prayer and connection like this shrine, provide many sad, scared and lonely people a place to feel safe and loved. A light, when they cant make one on their own.

Have a great day!



November 21, 2008

Feast of the Presentation of Mary

Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the sixth century. A church was built there in honor of this mystery. The Eastern Church was more interested in the feast, but it does appear in the West in the 11th century. Although the feast at times disappeared from the calendar, in the 16th century it became a feast of the universal Church.
As with Mary’s birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the temple only in apocryphal literature. In what is recognized as an unhistorical account, the Protoevangelium of James tells us that Anna and Joachim offered Mary to God in the Temple when she was three years old. This was to carry out a promise made to God when Anna was still childless.
Though it cannot be proven historically, Mary’s presentation has an important theological purpose. It continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary. It emphasizes that the holiness conferred on Mary from the beginning of her life on earth continued through her early childhood and beyond.

From American Catolic on line. (will provide link)