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Presentation of the Lord
He 2:14-18
Lk 2:22-40
Candles are the ordinary companions of our liturgies. We light two candles, one on each side of the altar, for Vigils, Lauds, Vespers, and Compline. At Mass, we have four candles on an ordinary day, but six for a feast and on Sunday, and even seven when a bishop is the main celebrant. Twice a year, we solemnly bless candles: during the Paschal Vigil and today, on this feast which is often named Candlemass.
The Paschal Vigil begins with the blessing of the fire out of the church. Then the Paschal Candle is prepared and lit to the newly blessed fire. It leads our procession as we enter the dark church. After a first stop – with the acclamation Lumen Christi and the answer Deo Gratias (The light of Christ – Thanks be to God) – individual candles are lit from the Paschal Candle. We all receive our light from the same fire and the same one candle. Christ is our Light. His Spirit is the fire of truth and love who burns in our hearts and makes us luminous.
Because, of course, candles speak of us. On the day of our Baptism, we were bathed in the water of regeneration. Then we, or our sponsors for us, received a candle which was lit up from the Paschal Candle. On the other end of our life, our funeral will hopefully begin with candles surrounding the bier being lit up from the Paschal Candle. Candles speak of our Christian identity. We are light, in and from the Light that is Christ, and this light cannot be quenched by death, but only by sin, when we sadly say No to the Light and Yes to the darkness.
Today, Christ’s light begins to shine in the world. Jesus, born in the night of Bethlehem, announced to the Magi by the joyful light of a star, is now presented to God in the temple. During this ordinary Jewish ritual, the Child is recognised by Simeon as “a light for the revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to God’s people Israel”. Simeon and Anna, aflame with by the fire of the Holy Spirit, are like candles; they rejoice when they meet with the source of light in the new-born Jesus. Like the candles in our church, they point towards the Light. They speak of Jesus. They proclaim Jesus as the Light of the world. Jesus, they say, is not a created light only giving a limited light for a limited time; He is the light which knows no darkness, the light without beginning and without end, the divine light which can illumine the whole world, all nations and peoples.
The fire of the Spirit knows the source of Light. He recognises it in the child whom his parents humbly present to God. This child is like a “burning bush” for His human nature is filled with the light of His divine person. His parents, too, are burning candles burning with the light of faith, hope and charity. Mary, His Virgin Mother, too, has often been described as a “burning bush”. She bore the Son of God without being consumed by the flame of His divinity. She presents Him now in a way which is not that different from the way the priest takes the Sacred Host and presents it to the Father at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer. We, too, who shall in a moment adore Christ in the Host and receive Him in our hearts will renew our light so as to shine ever more as lights for the world.
Today we bless the candles. We honour the Light of Christ with our praise. We let ourselves be lit up again by the fire of His love. Come Holy Spirit, as you came on Mary on the day of the Annunciation, as you descended upon Jesus on the day of His baptism! Come upon us again: burn us with thy purifying fire; enlighten us with the light of Christ; radiate through our liturgies and our lives the Light of Christ for which our souls long, which the world needs so much.