 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 Feria Friday post is a little early this week as we will be away from the computer for All Saints and All Souls Days. Don't forget to enter our November Give A Way!
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. 1894 November 2.—ALL-SOULS. THE Church teaches us that the souls of the just who have left this world soiled with the stain of venial sin remain for a time in a place of expiation, where they suffer such punishment as may be due to their offences. It is a matter of faith that these suffering souls are relieved by the intercession of the Saints in heaven and by the prayers of the faithful upon earth. To pray for the dead is, then, both an act of charity and of piety. We read in Holy Scripture: "It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." And when Our Lord inspired St. Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, towards the close of the tenth century, to establish in his Order a general commemoration of all the faithful departed, it was soon adopted by the whole Western Church, and has been continued unceasingly to our day. Let us, then, ever bear in mind the dead and offer up our prayers for them. By showing this mercy to the suffering souls in purgatory, we shall be particularly entitled to be treated with mercy at our departure from this world, and to share more abundantly in the general suffrages of the Church, continually offered for all who have slept in Christ.
This weeks Friday Fare
 The month of February is dedicated to the Holy Family. This piece is taken from Catholic Life Impr. 1908
"And He went down to Nazareth, and was subject to them."
- St. Luke 11.51
God the Son became man not only to redeem us, but also to be our model; and as the family circle is the source whence future generations are supplied, He, in union with His Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, made the house at Nazareth the model for future homes.
The foundation of society is authority, properly used and obeyed; and this principle received its consecration in the perfect obedience of the Man-God, Who for love of us was obedient to two of His own creatures. Our Lady, too, despite her superiority to St. Joseph, obeyed his least wish. On such a foundation it can be easily understood how a perfect superstructure of domestic virtues and happiness was erected.
Heavenly peace reigned; harmonious order prevailed; pious conversation intervened between the labours of the workshop and the times allotted to prayer; a godlike love pervaded all; and kindness, supported by mutual forbearance and self-denial, completed the cup of domestic happiness. "Fathers of families have in Joseph a most perfect model of watchfulness and paternal care; mothers have in the Virgin Mother of God the most beautiful and admirable example of love, modesty, humility, and perfect faith; whilst children have in Jesus, who was subject to them, the Divine example of obedience which they should admire, worship, and imitate" (Leo XIII.).
All, then, during this month, ought to compare their lives with those at Nazareth, and see what can be done to make our homes more like that of the Holy Family - what we ought to correct in our manners, temper, or words; what we can do to make the family reunions more happy, and thus remove the desire of seeking happiness elsewhere.
A practical help will be to join the Association of the Holy Family, so richly indulgenced, and so necessary in these times, when clubs and other social gatherings are threatening to take the place of, or to destroy, domestic happiness.
"Deeds no grander, ways no stranger,
Simple duties as they came,
Made their lives so like all others
That they almost seemed the same.
But below that even surface
Love was welling to the brim,
Turning every thought to Jesus,
Bearing every pain for Him."
Example- Sir Thomas More's Family
More's family was a large one. It consisted of his old father, his wife, his daughter Margaret and her husband, William Roper, his daughters Elizabeth and Cecily, his only son John, and his step-daughter Alice Middleton and her husband; also Giles Heron, his ward, who afterwards married Elizabeth More, Margaret Giggs, an orphan relative, whom he brought up as one of his own children, and her husband John Clement.
His great-grandson says: "It might well be said of him what the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon: "Blessed art thou; and blessed be thy Lord God; and blessed are all they that attend and wait on thee" (3 Kings x. 8,9). For no doubt there was the spirit of God in that family, where every one was busied about something or other...as it were in some religious house, all chaste, all courteous, all devout." Erasmus says: "His wife, who excels in good sense and experience rather than learning, governs the little company with wonderful tact, assigning to each a task, and requiring its performance, allowing no one to be idle or to be occupied in trifles."
Special Happenings & New Downloads for February
 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.
|
RSS Feed