Although I am not from a Catholic background, I have always been strongly drawn to the spiritual practice of lighting candles as an accompaniment to prayer. I like the idea that our prayerful communication with the Divine continues while the candle burns. Spiritually, it's a wonderful idea. From a fire safety point of view, not so much.
That's why I love the website of Brother David Steindl-Rast, a now-elderly Benedictine monk who has made prayer and gratitude his life's work, along with ecumenical dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism. On his site (www.gratefulness.org), you can light a virtual candle which will burn for a full 48 hours, accompanied by your prayer (which can reflect any form of spirituality, of course). Over 7 million of these free candles have been lit since 2001. Simply click on the "Light a Candle" button on the left side of the website's homepage and follow the easy instructions!
5 comments:
What a wonderful site. Thanks for posting this.
I found the easiest part of my transition from Catholicism to Paganism was that both value ritual.
This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
I love this site...I have not been there for so long! It felt so nice to say a prayer and light a candle today. Thank you for the reminder and the link!
everyone that knows I'm a pagan find it extremely funny that I go to Saint Mary's and light candles and pray for my friends and family...makes perfect sense to me..I tell Mary to tell her son to watch out for my friends..my problem is I do it out loud and freaks out the little czech ladies who come in to pray..they think I should do it silently...I'm under the impression that after all these years the dieties have bad hearing...
Thanks for your comments, everyone! I KNEW I couldn't be the only one who likes to light votive candles!
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