 Coming this next Saturday is the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary also known as Candlemas. Below is a short little explanation of what the Church does for new mothers by following that example Mary gives us on Candlemas Day.
Could you Explain Catholic Practices?
By: Rev. Charles J. Mullaly, S.J.
Imprimatur 1937
THE CHURCHING OF WOMEN
The beautiful ceremony of blessing a Catholic woman after childbirth dates back to the earliest days of the Church. It is commonly called "The Churching of Women," though the Ritual makes it perfectly clear that it is a special blessing for the mother and her child and not a ceremony of removing a legal defilement or of granting permission to enter God's temple as was done by the Jewish Rite of legal purification, to which our ceremony may be traced. The exhortation before the blessing, commonly given at the altar-rail though the Ritual places it as the church door, explains its nature:
"According to a very laudable custom, you have come to request the blessing of the Church upon yourself and the child that has been committed to your care. While you return thanks to God for the many favors which He has bestowed upon you, at the same time fervently consecrate yourself and your offspring to His holy service. Be careful, both by word and example, to impress upon its youthful heart the principles of solid piety, that you may correspond to the views of Divine Providence in placing it under your charge, and may have the happiness of seeing your children attentive in their duties to God, and zealous for their own eternal welfare. You hold a lighted candle in your hand, to signify the good works by which you should express your thanks to God for the benefits which He has bestowed upon you, and the pious example by which you should lead your children, and all around you, to the love and practice of virtue. Endeavor to enter into this disposition, and to cultivate it all the days of your life, that you may obtain and enjoy the blessings which I am now about to ask for you, in the name of holy Church."
The priest sprinkles the kneeling woman with Holy Water and recites Psalm xxiii and then places these tole in her hand and bids her enter the temple of God. As she kneels before the altar, gibing thanks for the benefits bestowed upon her, the beautiful prayer is read: "Almighty, Everlasting God, who through the Delivery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, hast turned the pains of the Faithful at childbirth into joy: look mercifully on this Thy handmaid, who cometh in gladness to Thy holy temple to offer her thanks: and grant that after this life, through the merits and intercession of the same Blessed Mary, she may prove worth to obtain, together with her offspring, the joys of everlasting happiness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
There is no obligation requiring a Catholic mother to receive this blessing and it is never given to a woman whose child is born outside of valid wedlock, for the latter case is not one for rejoicing and thanksgiving.
 Our wonderful friends, the Willsons, have put out another great newsletter as part of their homeschool project.
This month you will find:
* Coloring pages for the Holy Family, St. Blaise & Our Lady of Lourdes
*Word Search
* The Purification
*St. Blaise and the Blessing of Throats
*Lost in the Temple
*A story called Two Good Friends
* The Blessing of Persons
May you enjoy and have a wonderful February!! God bless!
 These next two weeks of Keeping It Catholic Monday will feature books that share information on the great feast of Candlemas, the end of the Christmas Season. For recipes, customs, traditions, crafts and more on Candlemas, please visit the Feast of the Purification page.
Today's information comes from The Holyday Book By: Francis X Weiser, S.J. Impr. 1956The Law of Moses prescribed that every Jewish mother after giving birth to a boy child was to be excluded from attendance at public worship for forty days. At the end of that period she had to present a yearling lamb for a holocaust and a pigeon for sin-offering, thus purifying herself from the ritual uncleanliness. In the case of poor people, two pigeons sufficed as an offering (Lev. 12, 2-8). The Gospel reports how Mary, after the birth of Jesus, fulfilled this command of the Law, and how on the same occasion Simeon and Anna met the newborn Savior (Luke 2, 22-38).Since Christ Himself was present at this event, it came to be celebrated quite early as a festival of the Lord. The first historical description of the feast is given in the diary of Egeria, a lady from the Roman province of Spain, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 380. She mentions that the services in Jerusalem began with a solemn procession in the morning, followed by a sermon on the Gospel text of the day, and finally Mass was offered. At the time of the festival was kept on February 14, because the birth of Christ was celebrated on the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6). It had no special name but was called "the fortieth day after Epiphany."From Jerusalem the feast spread into the other churches of the Orient. The Armenians call it the 'Coming of the Son of God into the Temple" and still celebrate it on February 14th. In the Coptic (Eqyptian) Rite it is termed "Presentation of the Lord in the Temple." East Roman Emperor Justinian I in 542 prescribed it for the whole country as a public holyday, in thanksgiving for the end of a gerat pestilence. By that time it was known in the Greek Church under the title Hypapante Kyriou (The Meeting of the Lord), in commemoration of Christ's meeting with Simeon and Anna.According to the Gospel, Simeon, holding the Child in his arms, said, "Now doest thou dismiss thy servant, O Lord...." The word "now" prompted the Christians of the Orient to believe that Simeon, having seen the Saviour, died on the same day. Thus they made Candlemas also the annual feast of Simeon. Hence the Chaldeans and Syrians even today call the festival "id Sham'oun al-Shaikh (Feast of Simeon the Old Man).In the Western Church the commemoration of this event appeared first in the liturgical books (Gelasianum, Gregorianum) of the seventh and eighth centuries. It bore the tile "Purification of Mary" and was listed for February 2 (forty days after Christmas). It has often been said that the feast was introduced in Rome to replace by a liturgical procession the pagan torch parades of the Lupercalia, which had been held in ancient Rome on February 15. Such explanations however, are judged erroneous by modern scholars, for the festival was never kept on February 15 in the Western Church; moreover, there was no procession of lights in the beginning, and the pagan custom of the Lupercalia had one been discontinued by the time the procession was inaugurated. As a matter of fact, over three hundred years intervened between the last parade of the Lupercalia and the first procession of Candlemas.It was Pope Sergius I (701) who prescribed the procession with candles, not only for the feast of the Purification but also for the other three feasts of Mary which were then annually celebrated in Rome (Annunciation, Assumption, Nativity of Mary). The procession was first instituted as a penitentiary rite with prayers (litaniae) imploring God's mercy; hence the Church uses the penitential color (purple) even now for the blessing of candles for the procession. The original right of Pope Sergius did not provide for any blessing of candles. The celebrant in those early centuries distributed to the clergy, for the procession, candles that were neither blessed nor lighted. The ceremony of blessing originated at the end of the eighth century in the Carolingian Empire, as did most of the other liturgical blessings (Easter fire, Easter water, palms, ect.)In present liturgical usage the officiating priest blesses the candles before the Mass. He sings or recites five prayers of blessing, two of which are given here in English translation:O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, thou hast created all things from nothing; thou has commanded the bees to produce this liquid of wax which has been made into a perfect candle; thou has on this day fulfilled the petitions of the just Simeon: We humbly implore three through the invocation of thy holy name and through the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, who's feast we devoutly celebrate today, also though the prayers of all thy saints: Deign to bless and sanctify these candles for human use, for the welfare of body and soul both on land and on water. These thy servants desire to carry them in their hands while they praise thee with their hymns: Hear their voices graciously from the holy Heaven and from the throne of thy majesty; be merciful to all who cry to thee, whom thou hast redeemed by the precious blood of thy Son, who lives and reigns with thee, God for ever and ever. Amen.Lord Jesus Christ, true light that enlightens ever man who comes into this world, bestow thy blessing upon these candles, and sanctify them with the light of thy grace. As these tapers burn with visible fire and dispel the darkness of night, so may our hearts with the help of thy grace be enlightened by the invisible fire of the splendor of the Holy Ghost, and may be free from all blindness of sin. Clarify the eyes of our minds that we may see what is pleasing to thee and conductive to our salvation. After the dark perils of this life let us be worthy to reach the eternal light Through thee, Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, who in perfect Trinity livest and regnest, God, for ever and ever. Amen.After the blessing the celebrant distributes the candles to the clergy and faithful, who carry them in their hands during the solemn procession. Meanwhile the choir sings the canticle of Simeon, Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2, 29-32), and various antiphons. The symbolism of the light procession is obvious from the antiphon that is repeated after every verse of the canticle, Lumen ad revelationem gentium (a light of revelation to the gentiles). It represents Christ, the Light of the World, at His presentation in the temple of Jerusalem. From the blessing of candles and the procession of lights come the names of the feast in most countries: Candlemas (English), Lichtmess (German), Candelas (Spanish), Candelora (Italian), Chandeluer (French), Hromnice (Feast of Candles among the Slovaks and Czechs), Svijetlo Marijino (Light Feast of Mary in Yugoslavia). The Salvs of the Earstern Right (Russians, Ukrainians) call it "Meeting of the Lord" (Stretenije Gospoda).The procession is always held on February 2, even when the Mass and Office are transferred to another day. In most places it is now held inside the church, but in past centuries the clergy used to proceed into the open and walk through the churchyard past the graves of departed parishioners. During medieval times the custom developed in Rome of the pope distributing blessed candles after the services from a window of his palace. Naturally, many incidents and accidents occurred. People pressed and pushed each other, quarrels and frighting ensued, and sometimes a person was trampled to death . Pope Gregory XIII abolished the ceremony in 1573 because of these abuses. In its place there appeared another custom at the end of the eighteenth century: representatives of the clergy and laity of Rome offer large and beautifully decorated candles to the Holy Father every year on February 2. The pope receives the candles in the hall of the Consistory, and afterward distributes them to poor churches in his diocese.In some countries the faithful use large and adorned candles, which they bring along for the blessing. Among the Syrians and Chaldeans the sexton of the parish church prepares these candles, which are made of unbleached wax and pained with designs of gold. In central and eastern Europe people bring candles and tapers of various colors, decorated with flower motifs, holy pictures, and liturgical symbols. After the blessing they take them home and keep them all through the year as cherished sacramentals, to be lighted during storms and lightning, in sickrooms and at the beside of dying persons. The Poles have a beautiful legend that Mary, the "Mother of God of the Blessed Thunder Candle" (Matka Boska Gromniczna) watches on wintry nights around Candlemas, when hungry wolves are on rampage outside the sleeping village. With her thunder candle she wards off the ravenous pack and protects the peasants from all harm.In ancient times the tenant farms had to pay their rent at Candlemas. After this disagreeable task they were entertained by the landlord with a sumptuous banquet. Candlmas is also the term day for rural laborers in most countries of central Europe in England. Both farm hands and maids who have hired themselves out for the coming season move in with their new masters and begin work on February 3.All over Europe Candlemas was considered one of the great days of weather forecasting. Popular belief claims that bad weather and cloudy skies on February 2 mean an early and prosperous summer. If the sun shines though the greater part of Candlemas Day, there will be at least forty more days of cold and snow. This superstition is familiar to all in our famous story on the ground hog looking for his shadow on Candlemas Day. In rural sections of Austria it is held an omen of blessing and good luck if the sun breaks through the cloudy skies just for a few minutes to t cast its radiant glow over the earth. Children wait for this moment and greet the appearance of the sunlight with little sons like this one from the province of Vorarlberg:Hail, glorious herald, holy light,God sends you from His Heaven bright.Your cheerful glow and golden raysMay bring us happy summer days.Lead us through earthly toil and strifeTo everlasting light and life.Finally, Candlemas Day use to be, and still is in many countries, the end of the popular Christmas season. Cribs and decorations are tken down with care and stored away fro the following Christmas season. The Christmas plants are burned, together with the remnants of the Yule log, and the ashes are strewn over garden and fields to insure wholesome and healthy growth for the coming spring.LITURGICAL PRAYER:Almighty and eternal God, we humbly beseech Thy majesty: as Thy only-begotten Son was presented in the temple this day in the substance of our flesh so let us be presented unto Thee with cleansed souls.
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