To the left of my work area is a table where I keep all my religious artifacts that don’t make the first cut for my prayer table (not seen, it’s to the left of the bookcase). The table itself is rickety and worn; I believe it goes back to Depression-era times or shortly thereafter when it belonged to my grandparents, and I was allowed to take it when I first moved out of my parents’ house – therefore, it has always had special meaning for me. On this table I keep whatever cross is not being used on my prayer table – currently, it’s the stained glass one I use during Christmastide, Epiphany, Eastertide, and the season after Pentecost; alternatively, I have a simple wooden cross for the seasons of Advent and Lent – plus some cards given to me after my reception into the Roman Catholic Church, a Byzantine Catholic Church litany for a house blessing, a cruet of holy water, and a candle I light ever Sunday.

The candle I light every week has come to have great meaning to me. I won’t lie to you – I’m not the most faithful Roman Catholic in the world and don’t attend Mass every week. But that doesn’t mean my heart and mind aren’t pursuing God and spirit in the manifestation of the earthly realm my soul inhabits – far from it. No, my candle is my prayer for the world at any given week in time. In a perfect world I would have been a monk, my calling being simply to pray for the world. Well, this candle in some small way allows me to do just that. I light a new one every Sunday, and it’s good for about six days. One week, the candle might be lit in prayer for a co-worker with health issues in her family; another week it might be for my grandparents or my godfather Milt. Still another week I might light it in prayer for friends or family members struggling through tough times; another week it might be for cats and rabbits we’ve loved who are no longer with us; still another week for the people of Japan.

This week, I lit my candle for all those in the Midwest and South who have lost loved ones, homes, or their livelihoods as a result of the severe weather last weekend. And in doing so, it also burns in a prayer for protection for those in good friend and frequent commenter Jana’s area of Louisville, Kentucky who appear to be under the gun this week.

I know that some might see this as a pointless gesture, something that, while making me feel good, does little else beside filling the room with a little extra warmth and light. But I believe God hears all prayers in all forms and answers them in His own way. C.S. Lewis once wrote that we pray to know we’re not alone. That’s as good an explanation as I’ve ever heard. I have incense to light as well if I wanted to, but the office area is a very small room and it doesn’t take much to turn the room into clouds of aromatic smoke, so there’s no need of going overboard!

If anyone who reads this blog would like my weekly candle to be lit and prayers offered up for someone they know, just drop me a line at richard0928@cox.net or drop me a comment. In the kind of world we live in, you can never have too much prayer – or candles.