If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come, Winter, have another flight. If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Go, Winter, and come not again.
Happy feast of the Presentation of Our Lord! It’s also known as “Candlemas,” because, well, it’s the Mass where we bless all the candles. This feast, celebrating the event we find in Luke 2:22-40, reminds us that Christ is the Light that has come into a dark and pining world. For those of you who are patrons and might have missed our January Bible study, it was all about the richness of that event in Luke’s Gospel. If you aren’t a patron yet and are interested in the study, consider supporting me today. In addition to a monthly Bible study (live on YouTube or archived to watch later), you’ll have access to all our past Bible studies, too.
Anyway, I love Candlemas for a number of reasons - the beautiful event in Jesus’ life that we celebrate, the faith of Simeon (you can read more thoughts about that by me here), and the fact that it’s a liturgical transition from the joy of Christmas towards the preparation for Lent. In fact, I usually take down my Christmas decorations on this day. There are plenty of great traditions around this feast (see poem above - predictions about spring were not originally about Punxsutawney Phil…) including transitioning from holly in decorations to boxwood. You can read more of my thoughts about all of that here.
A few weeks ago, I headed out to the Pacific Northwest for the first time. I was the speaker for Marian Fest at the parish of Mary Queen of Peace. January 24 is the feast of Mary Queen of Peace, and the parish had a novena leading up to the celebration, culminating in a weekend that included a multi-lingual living rosary and Eucharistic Procession, Mass with the auxiliary bishop of Seattle, and my talks.
Whenever I travel to a new parish or a new group to give a talk, I’m reminded of why I do this and how much I love it. The parish was beautiful - and by that, I mean the people were beautiful. The diversity, the joy, the love for our Lady… it felt like an oasis, to be honest! I love speaking to “people in the pew” … people like you and me, sinners striving for sainthood. And so often I don’t feel like I’m “speaking to them” … I feel like I’m walking with them. It’s a blessing and an honor, and one I don’t take for granted.
A huge thank you to my friends, Lauren and Tim, who hosted me; the parish administator Rich who, if that weekend was any indication, goes above and beyond for his work and the Church; and to Father Chad, a faithful priest of Jesus Christ who made me realize I could move to Seattle if I could go to MQP.
And while I didn’t see much sun while I was there, it gave me good fruit for reflection… A Life Lesson in the Fog
You can see my Monday evening talk over on MQP’s YouTube channel here.
Interested in bringing me to your parish, workplace, diocese, apostolate, etc? Let’s talk!
Just before flying to Seattle, I was able to return to the microphone of a recording studio to record an episode of Faith in Business for Nashville Catholic Radio. A huge thank you to Ron Fleitz, host of the show, who invited me on and let me talk about pretty much whatever I wanted to talk about. Those of you in Nashville, you can hear the interviews on 100.5 FM or you can listen live on their website. My show will air today (Wednesday) at 11:30 AM Central Time, Saturday at 10 AM Central Time, and Sunday at 4PM Central Time. It may be on their YouTube channel in the future.
I’m staying busy with content for the Amen app - if you haven’t checked out this new free prayer app, you should. You can find it in your app store by searching Amen Catholic. Reviews like the one below make this work incredibly rewarding.
In the future, I’ll be including a book or movie recommendation in these occasional updates. Until then, I’ll just tell you to check out Encanto. I had my doubts when I saw the trailer, but that is a movie which deserves a discussion group! I’ll be giving some thoughts about it on my Integrated Catholic Life post this Friday, but here’s a sneak peek:
There are probably five or six posts swirling in my head about Encanto. Don’t worry - I hate spoilers, so you can keep reading, whether or not you’ve seen it. I have to admit: the trailer didn’t pull me in and I thought it looked a little odd. My sister’s endorsement convinced me I should give it a chance, and I am glad I did.
It doesn’t spoil anything to say that Encanto is about a family that has been given magical gifts. They live in a magical house, and each member of the family has a unique gift that is their own. The problem is … what happens when the gift becomes more important than the family member themselves? …
Thanks to all of my new subscribers who jumped on during the O Antiphon days prior to Christmas. If you’re interested in more meditation content like that, please drop me a line. (Do people still drop people a line these days? Hm.) I have the ability right now to pivot my apostolate to provide what people are looking for and need, but I can only do that if I know what people want!
God bless you and your family, and thank you again for your support. Know of my prayers!
Thank you very so much! All the points addressed in this article are near and dear to my heart, including Seattle. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide you in all that you do!
Mary W. Nashville, TN.