Finding Strength in a Lit Candle

Growing up, many times, my mom would stop at our church when we were out running errands and she [image error]would light a candle. She never explained why she did this but I spent my life believing that lighting candles was an important part of our Catholic spirituality. It was something I didn't even do myself (actually, I felt intimidated by the experience– I wasn't really sure what you were supposed to do) until I was in Australia several years ago and lit one at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney (an event I fictionalized in my book The Australian Pen Pal).

I light candles for peace in my life, as a ritual of letting go of what I can't control, or of something I am not sure what to do about. I have a church here in Redondo Beach that I attend when I'm visiting Southern California and I stopped there yesterday morning to light a candle while the church was empty, before I returned for Mass later in the evening.