31 Days of Prayer: Let's light a candle

The holiday season is upon us and it is wonderful! But for people who have lost a loved one or are experiencing tough times, this time of year may not be joyful.

It's a Catholic tradition to "light a candle" for someone on your heart, to pray for their peace and safety. There is a song by the Christian recording artists AVALON simply called, "Light a Candle". It's a song that focuses on the less fortunate. The ones who will not rush to open gifts on Christmas morning because they could not afford to buy gifts. The ones who do not have a place to celebrate the holiday because they are homeless. The ones who will go hungry while most people are feasting on the much celebrated Christmas dinner because they cannot afford food. The ones who once upon a time knew and cherished the joy of this holiday season who are now desolate and despondent because they've lost all they cared about or they're in the hospital fighting for their lives.

This Christmastime, I'd like to challenge those of us who are at a place in life where we're fortunate to have friends, blessed to have family and are experiencing good times despite all the pain and suffering in our world...I'd like to challenge you to reach out. Reach out to someone who is hurting. Help someone who needs HOPE. Whether it means slipping a couple of dollars and coins into those Salvation Army red kettles--you know the ones for collecting donations which are usually positioned directly outside of your local grocery store, next to a person wearing official Salvation Army apparel and ringing a bell. Or if it means giving a "thank you" offering in church or volunteering at a soup kitchen or simply "lighting a candle" for someone by saying a prayer in the privacy of your own home. Please remember that not everyone is as fortunate as you. Everyone needs prayer, even those who are wealthy. We all need Jesus.

You don't have to go to a cathedral on Christmas Eve to literally light a candle. You can, wherever you are--even right now--just quietly in your  heart and mind, say a prayer. Say a prayer for the hurting, the weak, the fortunate and less fortunate. And don't limit your prayers to this holiday season! Keep your fellow humankind in prayer throughout the year! We never know when our time here on Earth is up so I believe it's important for us to keep each other prayed up! And to live each and every day for what it is, a gift from God. And to me, that's much better than any sought-after, much-desired Christmas gift!

God bless you!