{"id":140,"date":"2012-11-08T01:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T01:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=140"},"modified":"2012-11-05T18:14:31","modified_gmt":"2012-11-05T18:14:31","slug":"light-a-candle-for-alzheimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2012\/11\/light-a-candle-for-alzheimers.html","title":{"rendered":"Light a Candle for Alzheimer&#8217;s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Often, when I bring up the subject of spirituality, inspiration, or faith\u00a0 with patient advocacy groups, the response I receive is lukewarm or even negative.\u00a0 As important as these elements are to sucessfully coping with any physical challenge, some people simply do not &#8220;get it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Others, however, do. And one\u00a0major Alzheimer&#8217;s disease advocacy\u00a0group is embracing the topic of inspiration <em>and<\/em> advocacy in a unique and wonderful way.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_152\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-152\" style=\"width: 199px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2012\/11\/candle-photo-by-nuchylee.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-152\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/350\/2012\/11\/candle-photo-by-nuchylee-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-152\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy of nuchylee\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>November 9-11, 2012, The Alzheimer&#8217;s Foundation of America (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.alzfdn.org\">www.alzfdn.org<\/a>) will &#8220;engage local organizations across the U.S. to participate in the National Candle Lighting Ceremony by holding inspirational, non-denominational candle lighting ceremonies in their communities,&#8221; says Joana Casas, Communications Specialist at the AFA.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The ceremonies usually include a recitation of remembrance of people who have died from Alzheimer&#8217;s disease and honor for those who are currently struggling with it, as well as readings by religious leaders of various denominations. People whose lives have been touched by dementia, including caregivers, will also participate.\u00a0The events are wonderful ways for people to meet others living with the same challenges, burdens, and issues, whether they have the disease themselves or care for someone who does. More information about the ceremonies, how to find one in your area, or how to organize one\u00a0can be found through the AFA at www.afzdn.org , or 1-866-232-8484.<\/p>\n<p>Candle light is profound, deep with meaning, warmth, grace, and power. We incorporate candle lighting into our religious rituals, holidays, and other celebrations. We appreciate the beauty of a candle and the calm that can fall over us as we hold one besides someone who is also holding one. How fitting that one way to join together during this National Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease Awareness Month, is to light a candle for our loved ones, for us, for those who went before and those who remain.<\/p>\n<p>Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Often, when I bring up the subject of spirituality, inspiration, or faith\u00a0 with patient advocacy groups, the response I receive is lukewarm or even negative.\u00a0 As important as these elements are to sucessfully coping with any physical challenge, some people simply do not &#8220;get it.&#8221; Others, however, do. And one\u00a0major Alzheimer&#8217;s disease advocacy\u00a0group is embracing&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,43],"tags":[163,140,162,161,160,52,45,165,166,164,167,23],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alzheimers-disease","category-encouragement-in-life","tag-advocacy","tag-alzheimers-disease-2","tag-alzheimers-foundation-of-america","tag-candle-lighting","tag-candles","tag-encouragement","tag-faith","tag-honor","tag-honoring-someone","tag-memory","tag-ritual","tag-spirit"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Light a Candle for Alzheimer&#039;s - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Light a Candle for Alzheimer&#039;s - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Often, when I bring up the subject of spirituality, inspiration, or faith\u00a0 with patient advocacy groups, the response I receive is lukewarm or even negative.\u00a0 As important as these elements are to sucessfully coping with any physical challenge, some people simply do not &#8220;get it.&#8221; Others, however, do. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain &amp; Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}