(called magicians, but were actually astronomers).

Families commemorate the Three Wise Men who followed the star in the evening sky, and guidance of an Angel to Bethlehem, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the infant baby Jesus.  This special holiday marks the culmination of the twelve days of Christmas.  Some families traditionally exchange gifts on this date and not on Christmas day.

On the night of January 5th, the children before going to bed place their shoe under the Christmas Tree or by the Nativity scene. A few days before, they write wish letters to the Wise Men: Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar.  The children are mostly in excitement that night, and even though they are reluctant to go to sleep, they know as soon as they wake up they will discover their presents, each child usually finds three gifts as each Magi will bring a present.

Another lovely custom in the evening, is the preparation of the ”Merienda de Reyes”, an evening meal where friends and families get together and share the celebration.  The tradition is to have hot chocolate, tamales, and Rosca de Reyes (King’s cake) that is round shaped, to signify a king’s crown, and is sweet bread decorated with candied fruit. Inside the cake a small plastic  figurine is placed representing the baby Jesus.  The baby Jesus figure is hidden inside the Rosca to symbolize a secure place where the infant could be born, a place where King Herod would not find him.

In Spain, there are festive lights throughout the streets, Nativity scenes set up in various locations, and the Spaniards celebrate the arrival of the Kings with a joyful parade called the Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos (Three Kings Parade). The kings ride upon horses or elaborate floats, and is also traditionally the big opportunity for children to ask the Kings for gifts.

The Christmas season in many Latin American countries and in some parts of the United States,  is extended up to February 2nd, the Candelaria day. Whoever finds the baby figurine when slicing the Rosca de Reyes, is to host a party on Dia de la Candelaria (Candlemas Day), celebrated on February 2nd.

My family and I would usually have several Roscas de Reyes, would prepare hot chocolate and celebrate with the kids.  Each adult or child who found the baby figurine would plan for and make one big party together. . .

As you can see, it’s a truly multicultural event that is celebrated with much love and joy!

Angel Blessings,

Linda

This warmth is the light of what Angels are made of, the warmth like the sun is about to come out and reminds us that our spirit is powerful, and gives us divine sparks of hope.  Hope is that magnetic quality that attracts the great and inspires beauty and goodness into our life.

I hope you are hopeful and happy and truly in the spirit of Christmas, in the spirit of Light.  Savor the cookies, enjoy the delicious Christmas foods and eggnog, and the company of friends and loved ones.  If you are feeling sad or gloomy, ask your Angels for their assistance and help, and be assured that they will promptly wrap you in the loving spirit of love and divine energies.

When you ask your Angels to be present they joyfully provide learning and direction always for our highest good. Angels are near us to help in our life journey, their guidance is true, loving and they are real spiritual partners.

Angels support us in stengthening the bond of love with our Divine source, with God. When we ask the Angels to be in our life, they fill our hearts with love and peace. When there is love in our hearts, we radiate love and peace into our world.

May God and Angels bring you gifts of hope, love, and peace, and strengthen the Divine light within you-  during the holydays and all days of the New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy Angel Blessings!

Felíz Navidad y Felíz Bendiciones de Angeles!

Linda F. Torres

Virgen de Guadalupe

Our Lady appears when we need her most. She leaves no one unaided, she dazzles us with her beauty as her love heals our hearts, and everything becomes joy. Early on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego, Indigenous Mexican, saw a vision of a young girl of sixteen, surrounded by light. This event occurred for several days on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac.  Speaking in the local language of Nahutl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary.

When he told his story to the Spanish bishop, Fray  Juan de Zumárraga,  the bishop asked him to return and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flowers from  the top of  Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed.

There, he found Castillian *roses (which were of the Bishop’s native home, but not indigenous to Tepeyac). And it was winter, no roses had grown before. He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his tilma, or peasant cloak.

When Juan Diego presented the roses to Fray Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miracoulusly appeared (12/12) on the cloth!  Historians believe the icon represents both Virgin Mary and the indigenous Mexican Goddess Tonantzin.  Roses are the flowers associated with Mary. Others believe the Virgin was a simplified version of the Aztec Mother goddess.  Her blue-green mantle was described as the color once reserved for the divine couple Ometecuhtli (dual God) her belt is interpreted as a sign of pregnancy and a cross-shaped image symbolizing the cosmos is said to be inscribed beneath the Lady’s sash.

The miracoulus image of Mary on the tilma has not faded in nearly five hundred years nor has the fabric deteriorated, and it has never been treated with any protective substance. The image on the tilma has been directly exposed to extreme temperatures in the *Basilica, and has been subjected to chemical analysis but defies consistent identification of the substance it is made of.

It is a painting without paint- microscopic observation reveals no brush strokes or outlines. In 1921 a bomb was placed in a flower vase at the base of the image of Guadalupe. The marble rail was shattered, windows in neighboring houses cracked. But the tilma with the image of Our Lady was untouched.

The Nasa has examined photographs enlarged of Guadalupe’s eyes, and found the image of a human being, revealing the outline of a native man on his knees, presumed to be Juan Diego.

*Roses are the flowers assosciated with the Blessed Virgin Mary

View Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, from Tepeyac Hill, Mexico City.

a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon at her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”
Revelation 12:1 ¹²

Our Lady of Guadalupe appears when the culture and the people are in one of the most difficult times in history, the Spanish conquest of Mexico had taken place a few years before, and when the Aztecs would sacrifice the poorest of their people in religious rituals.  In such fear and confusion, Guadalupe offers hope when they need her most.

Our Lady appeared to a modest Aztec peasant, Juan Diego, in December 1531 at Tepeyac Hill in Mexico. She introduced herself as the “Virgin Mary” and various times she appears and requests a sacred home, a sanctuary to be built for all people who struggle can call upon her. Our Lady of Guadalupe reconciled the conquest and redeemed the conquered. She drew everyone, Europeans and Indigenous under her blanket of love and from this place of refuge, the ‘Mestizo” race was born. Mexico embraced its Mother and proceeded to honor her with devotion.   Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mirabai Starr

December 12 is the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas. Pope John Paul II in 1999 proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe as the Mother of America, refering to the entire American continent… “Our Lady of Guadalupe is God’s very special gift to America.”

It’s a tradition and I am still amazed to see the faith of people in Mexico as they travel by foot from far away towns, in procession, and for several days just to visit the Shrine – the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.  People perform native dances, in colorful indigenous attires outside the Basilica and people pray fervently while walking on their knees towards the sacred Shrine. At midnight is the High Mass and the Basilica is filled with flowers, mostly roses, and Mariachis are playing and musical artists sing in honor of the ‘Virgencita de Guadalupe’.

Thousands of people gather with their families and friends, at the Basilica to visit and celebrate Our Lady.  People come with such gratefulness for miracles already received, or they bring their petitions and prayers knowing that the Virgin of Guadalupe will favor them in their need.  She is the symbol of love, peace, compassion and never-ending hope.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is not only the Queen of Mexico, but is an icon in all Latin America and in the Latin world.  I personally have respect and devotion to the Blessed Mother for the blessings I have received during my life. I feel her divine light shines on all of us as we trust and believe in her loving aid and sacred energy.

You can read more about the significant history of Our Lady of Guadalupe and my Miracle Story under the archives category of Visions of Mary: Lady of Guadalupe and Mary Manifestations, June 25, 2009.

Angel blessings to you. Linda.

Basilica of Guadalupe (new), Mexico City

Madonna of Roses

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

–Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Angel Blessings,

Linda

Love Ocean

This is the perfect time to be grateful – it is the time of Thanksgiving, a time of sharing, as we share the thanksgiving dinner with family or friends.  However, what is the real meaning of thanks giving… Being thankful.  There are many, many benefits of being grateful and thankful.

A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things. –Plato

The very first thing to be grateful for is to look at what we do have in our life. You start to be grateful for all the things that you feel good about. This will shift your energy and begin to bring more into your life.

Feel the gratefulness of a brand new day, wake up and say Thank You!  Thank you God and Angels for this day, thank you for your presence in my life, thank you for the sun, thank you for the rain, thank you for the coffee, (I love coffee) thank you for the food I have today.  You can say thank you as many times you like.  As you do this you are creating a day of positive energy, you are setting the frequency declaring the way you want to go. This is very powerful.

All great teachers and avatars have practiced gratitude. Beginning your day with thoughts and feelings of gratitude will change your day, will change your life.

If the only prayer you ever say in your life is Thank you.  That will be enough. –Meister Eckhart.

How many of us wake up and do not look forward to a new day, without realizing that the more we complain of what we do not like, the more it will be presented to us. Being grateful helps focus and it reminds us of our priorities and of what is important.  Often we get caught up worrying or focusing on little things that really are not all that important. We need to shift our focus. Take the attention off the problem and place it on something we are grateful for.

For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude. –Clarence E. Hodges

When we feel ungrateful it’s impossible to bring more into our life, because the thoughts and feelings being emitted are negative emotions. These emotions cannot bring what we want.  You need to feel you are enough, you have enough, and you will have enough and more.

Gratitude Practices

Having an attitude of gratitude… will change your life!”  Say thank you with every step you take.

One of the ways to practice gratefulness is to start a gratitude journal. Before you go to bed, you can write five things you are thankful for.  It could be things experienced in that day, I usually say thank you for a great cup of coffee, or a wonderful talk with a friend today. Or something I am just thankful for, like my home, my children, and my health.

Benefits of Being Grateful

When we say “I thank you”, we open up to the powers of the universal forces and align with the energy of our heart. Being in a positive state of mental well-being is the ideal basis to give thanks with a grateful heart.

When living in gratitude, something powerful happens. Many people who practice daily gratitude say that their life has improved. They are more balanced, and usually feel a sense of calmness and peacefulness. Gratitude = happiness = harmony = peace.

One important factor is a grateful heart. When we express thankfulness to another person, the message needs to come from our heart. The heart center is what connects us with other people, giving us the power to love and to be loved.  A simple gesture from your heart often means more than any sumptuous gift.

Gratefulness Creates Abundance

For whatever we are grateful for increases. By practicing thankfulness we actually create abundance.

Praise God for the joy and beauty of his creation, not the least of which the beauty of your own soul. As you continually thank God for what you are and what you have you will see how your abundance increases.  – Creative Abundance.

Listen and experience the joy of music.  As I awoke this morning The Gratitude Song – by Michael Farr was playing on the radio.  I was amazed how the Angels brought this to my attention. Our Angels often bring important messages to our awareness…    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bf1akDYakw

Power of Prayer

Through prayer, God causes things to happen on earth. Remember that God sends his Angels to support us and guard us on the journey. Praying to God, Divine Source, with the gift of the Angelic realms facilitates the process for guidance and protection, for inspiration and enlightenment.

Angels are intermediaries between God and humanity and in praying you also raise your vibration where you feel comforted and peaceful.  Through prayers and the emotions of our heart, we create a sort of “magnetism” to pull in the flow of divine light. That means it is impossible for the Angels to ignore a sincere human request for assistance.

Prayer is powerful, and being grateful is as powerful. When you are grateful you acknowledge and believe your prayer will be answered.     “Matthew 21:22   And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

By learning how gratitude can align us with the higher realms of our being, we can truly raise our frequencies and enjoy the many blessings that will come into our life.  Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to practice with family or friends; you can give out small cards with thankful quotes, or just let others write down what they are grateful for and place these cards in a basket and offer thankfulness to God for all that is given.

When we practice living in gratefulness we discover the joys that life has to offer each day. Let us count our blessings today.

Thank You! Gracias!  Merci! Danke!

May God and the Angels bless you abundantly,

Linda F. Torres

Angels Are Near Us

Angels Are Near Us

All that we are is a result of what we have thought. –Buddha

A noble person is mindful and thankful of the favors he receives from others. –Buddha

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. --Cicero

There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.–Albert Einstein

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. –Melodie Beatty

Whatever we think about and thank about we bring about. –Dr. John Demartini

The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated. –William James

If the only prayer you say in your life is “thank you”, that would be enough.  –Meister Eckhart

The daily practice of gratitude is one of the conduits by which your wealth will come to you. –Wallace D. Wattles

The more gratefully we fix our minds on the Supreme when good things come to us, the more good things we will receive, and the more rapidly they will come; and the reason simply is that the mental attitude of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from which the blessings come. –Wallace D. Wattles

Angel Blessings,

Linda F. Torres

Halloween is a favorite holiday, a fun time for celebration – Pumpkins, Carmel Apples, Sweets and Treats, and the  ’costumes’.  Enjoyed by kids and adults, Halloween brings the mysterious and the fun in one day!

Cute "Baby Pumpkin"

Halloween’s history goes back to the ancient festival of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of medieval prayer rituals of Europeans.  In the U.S. we celebrate Halloween as an innocent night of entreating and fun. We who believe in the light of the world can use it to celebrate the Light.  Hallows Eve - “Hallow” means holy and the word Halloween refers to the night before the feast of all holies, or All Saints Day.

We can emphasize all things good, joyful and pure during this time.  Halloween parties and dressing up is such fun, costumes some scary and some not so much; in my younger years my favorite costumes were Tinker Bell and Casper the friendly ghost!   So trick-or-treating, visiting “baby-pumpkin” patches, Halloween parades, or pumpkin carving events for the children, brings much enjoyment to everyone.

Halloween (Oct 31) “Hallows Eve”  -  All Saints Day (Nov 1) - All Souls Day or All the Faithful Departed (Nov 2)

Celebrations in Mexico, Latin America, and Spain observe All Saints Day and All Souls Day with a three day celebration starting on the evening of October 31, through November 2. It’s celebrated different depending on where you go.  In most areas of Mexico, shops are filled with filled with decorations, flowers, toys made like skeletons, and bakeries have pastries, and candies shaped like bones and skulls in preparation for the festivities.

“Day of the Dead”, spirits of relatives are supposed to visit their families. In the homes an altar is made decorated with flowers, favorite foods, candies and pastries like candied pumpkins, sugar skulls inscribed with their name, and ‘pan de muertos’ (bread of the dead).

Offerings

Pan de Muertos

Some areas have fireworks and celebrate a mass, the most solemn time of the Day.  There is music, sometimes Mariachis bands,  flowers and favorite foods for the celebrations.  Many customs vary depending on the particular city, town, or culture.  All over Latin American, and Spain, the Day of the Dead is considered a celebration of the departed loved ones.

Either way, either day- let us celebrate in joy the nite and in moonlite!

Hey ho for Halloween
When the fairies all are seen;
Some black and some green,
Hey ho for Halloween!

…Traditional Irish Rhyme

Angel Blessings,

Linda

*Cute Baby Pumpkin pic, Aidrick – used with permission.

Saint Francis of Assisi- The Grotto, Portland, Oregon

Francis of Assisi, (Francisco d’ Assisi) 1181-1226. Born in the town of Assisi, Italy, great mystic, is known as the patron saint of animals, because of his love for animals and all nature. Feast day is October 4th.   St. Francis of Assisi is the founder of the Order of the Franciscan Friars.

Francis, a cheeful and joyful friar who preached in the marketplace, was born the son of a successful and wealthy merchant family. Francis grew to love the teachings of Christ and gave up family and fortune to devote his life to God and the poor.   During his pilgrimage before he had any followers, Francis would tend to those who suffered from leprosy. Francis said he would not be ordained a priest, his only mission was to lead a life of poverty and teach his brothers, the friars -  love, respect and peace toward others.  To Francis  love was the truest of all  truths,  hence his deep sense of personal responsibility towards his fellows. The love of Christ permeated the whole life and character of Francis.

Francis found happiness in offering songs and poems;  he identified with elements of the Universe and found in all created things some reflection of the Divine perfection, and loved to admire in them the beauty, power and wisdom and goodness of the creator.   During a forty day fast in preparation for Michaelmas Day, Sept 29, Francis had a vision as a result of which he received the stigmata, (wounds of Christ).  In later years, being already very ill, and in one of his last visits to St. Clare of Assisi, he composed the ”Canticle to the Sun.”

Francis always yearned to be both a knight and a troubadour (poet-singer) – to do battle for God and at the same time to amuse with a song.  Saint Francis is remembered during the month of October.  The good work of Saint Francis, his genius writings, his gentle charity and compassion, his loving heart and virtuous humility, are reminded to us through his powerful prayer:

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

…read full prayer under Prayers category.

Angel in Mist of Woods

A Guardian Angel is entrusted to a person to guide and to protect them through this life and to lead them safely to the next.

The duties of angels are to defend, to warn, to unite, to console and to inspire us.  Feast of Holy Angels: Oct 2nd

Angels are pure beings of light and are emissaries of God, a divine bridge between God and humanity.  The Guardian Angel is with us at every moment, they do not leave our side, each one of us have a unique and exclusive guardian angel.

Your Angel knows you well, and looks out for your wellbeing and highest good. Your Guardian Angel is always with you, to guard you and lovingly guide you.

You may have more than one guardian angel, but know that their only purpose is to respond to your requests and keep you safe within the loving presence of their light.

You may have more than one guardian angel, but know that their only purpose is to respond to your requests and keep you safe within the loving presence of their light. The angels can call upon other angels as the Archangels who are the healers when they see or feel something is not in divine order within your life.

The duties of Angels are to defend, to warn, to unite, to console and to inspire us.

We need not forget that we have free will and choice and angels will not interfere in our life without our consent, unless if there is a life threatening situation they step right in without our permission.

Read next post for the Guardian Angel Blessing…

Angel Blessings,

Linda