All posts filed under: Candlemas

Candlemas 2021

Happy Candlemas! Today, we’re sharing a charming new coloring page from Michelle Abernathy Art (and consequently updating this site for the first time since May!). Download the Candlemas proverb coloring page here. What are your plans for today? Besides this coloring page, in my home, we’ll be praying this Candlemas Family Liturgy for evening prayer. I’m planning a candlelit breakfast-for-dinner with the traditional crepes. And, last night, I filled some birthday balloons with water so that we can put out ice luminaries this evening in our front yard. We’ll see how that works out. Here is a link to last year’s quick Candlemas post (which includes links to all of our resources for this feastday.) “Today as we bear in our hands lighted candles, how can we not fail to remember that venerable old man Simeon who on this day held the child Jesus in his arms — the Word who was latent in a body, as light is latent in a wax candle — and declared him to be ‘the light to enlighten the …

A Quick Post for Candlemas

Tomorrow, February 2nd, is Candlemas! At right is the painting I’m printing out for picture study– Simeon and Anna at the Temple by Rembrandt (1627).  We’ll see if it works out as well this time to print it through Walgreens (In this post, I explain my goal to print out more great art for feast days). This year, I’m rolling some beeswax candles to take to our blessing at church tomorrow morning. We’ve used the Toadily Handmade Advent candle kit for the past two years. Last year (2018), I let my kids help me make them and the candles melted very very fast. But, this past year (2019), I was amazed how long the candles lasted when I tightly rolled them, so I decided to buy the kit with the natural beeswax color. Today, I will let my kids each make their own token candle– that I will expect to swiftly melt — and I’ll keep the rest to roll on my own at a good time.These will be the candles that we use throughout the year …

Candlemas: Celebrating at Home

Candlemas is a beautiful day — the third “Festival of Light” that rounds out our winter celebrations. Our priest, Fr. Wayne McNamara, wrote a helpful explanation of the meaning of Candlemas. He believes it is important for the modern church to recover this feast: “Candlemas articulates the necessary future of this beautiful Light coming into the world. Our celebrations so far have dwelt on the joyful implications of the Son of God’s arrival, our redemption, salvation, and deliverance. Candlemas reiterates in a pointed way that the coming of the Lord includes difficult things – the persecutions of Jesus in His ministry and the call of the Christ to suffer the Cross. Candlemas rounds out our thoughts regarding the significance of the Word become flesh, and moves us forward to Lent.” This year, Michelle Abernathy made a lovely coloring page printable based upon the painting displayed in the header for Candlemas: you can download a printable pdf here. We also have a Candlemas family liturgy: You can download that here.  In the devotional Celebrating the Saints, I loved …

A Candlemas Gift from Hearthstone Fables

Kristin Haakenson is the artist behind Hearthstone Fables. I truly gasped when I opened Kristin’s email with these Candlemas images. What a gift! When I think of Hearthstone Fables, I think of St. Francis of Assisi. In his Canticle of the Sun, he saw all creation as family —  “Brother Sun,” Sister Moon,” Brother Wind…” The legends say that he preached sermons to birds and befriended wolves. In this way, Kristin’s art at Hearthstone Fables seems very Franciscan to me. And, with these beautiful Candlemas gifts, I think we can look to “Sister Swan” and “Brother Fox” as we carry the light in our homes. In her lovely website, Kristin says: “In the magical world of Hearthstone Fables, I’ve sought to express my passion for faith, nature, & mythic storytelling through art.  I aim to create simple, quiet narratives that convey a sense of wonderment at the sacred world, with the various flora and fauna of nature weaving enchanting stories together. I’ve always been enamored with mythic storytelling, both through written narrative and the visual arts.  Humanity so often expresses a sense of displacement…a nagging feeling …