Lighting Candles

I have long enjoyed lighting candles in churches and saying a little prayer for someone. There's something comforting and beautiful about watching the wick catch and seeing the smoke rising like the thoughts in my heart and in my mind. I have lit a few candles since I came to live in Dublin, especially for my Grandma Alice whom I miss dearly.

Yesterday morning I had a strong urge to go light candles and offer a little prayer for each person who was on my mind. So I walked to the beautiful church in Rathmines (which I think is the church of Christ the King...the same name as my primary school in California) and lit my candles and said my prayers.

When I woke up this morning, I felt the urge to do it again. So I walked down again, timing it today so I would be there for the mid-morning mass. It was the first mass in years I've attended that wasn't a funeral. I remembered all the prayers with only a few stumbles over the Confiteor (I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters...) which we never said with regularity in my parishes.

I don't know if this is going to become a habit, but it does feel good to make this little offering to my loved ones, especially when I am caught up in my own business most of the time.