Today is Candlemas also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord. It is a day when candles are traditionally blessed.
As we woke up to a layer of ice this morning, many of our local churches cancelled their early morning Masses. An idea came that maybe we should take a bus to the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut as they had a 12:10 Mass. We packed our bag with some candles and set out. It seemed an extra blessing to be at the Cathedral for the Feast today. Another surprise was when they announced the Mass was offered for Fr. John Blackhall. Some may recall it was Fr. Blackhall's sign in his window "Patiently Waiting" that inspired our Children's Rosary yearly Patiently Waiting campaign leading up to Christmas. As today is the last day of the Christmas season, we traditionally take down our Christ is Born sign in our window. A practice also inspired by Fr. Blackhall. So it was indeed a wonderful surprise to be at a Mass offered for his soul. At the conclusion of Mass they had blessed candles available for those in attendance to take and we also were able to have the candles we brought blessed. A wonderful Spanish priest was visiting from Monasterio del Escorial. He spoke only Spanish. Thankfully, Asher was with me and could speak to him in Spanish and of course tell him about the Children's Rosary.
We share the picture taken above of one of our blessed candles burning tonight. As the Christmas season comes to a close there are many things for which we are grateful. The Lord has been very generous with His blessings. We wanted to close the season with a special thank you to God. A Mass was celebrated in thanksgiving today.
In the coming week we hope to share with you many blessing that have been coming.
God bless you all.
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