Did You Know?
The Symbolism of Candles
This Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation, or what you may have heard referred to as “Candlemas.” The “Presentation” refers, of course, to Mary and Joseph’s presentation of Jesus at the Temple, as prescribed by Jewish law. In the Temple, Mary and Joseph encounter the figures of Simeon and Anna, who hail Jesus as the long sought-after Messiah of Israel, “a light to reveal [God] to the nations.” It is this reference to Jesus as the Light to the Nations that we have a special focus in our liturgy on the candles we use at Mass, blessing them for their liturgical use. It’s also why, colloquially, the Presentation came to be known as Candlemas (literally, candle+Mass).
Few of us probably appreciate the symbolism of candles and why we use them on/near the altar for every Catholic Mass. The other day, I ran across this post:
Did you know that all candles in Catholic churches are made out of beeswax? And not on accident. Beeswax is made by virgin worker bees. These bees dedicate their lives to the creation of the wax and the nourishment of the hive, and have come to represent Our Lady, the Virgin mother who gave birth to the pure flesh of Christ, with Christ’s pure flesh being symbolized by the pure beeswax. What a detailed, beautiful symbol of this reality!
Things like this are why I absolutely love our Catholic faith—we have so many rich and beautiful traditions, and there’s a reason for everything that we do, especially when it regards the liturgy! Most of us are probably familiar with the idea that the flame represents the Light of Christ, but even the very substance of the wax points to the reality that Christ’s flesh was completely pure, taken from the flesh of the Virgin Mary, who so tirelessly devoted herself to the plans of God for the nourishment of the world (literally—since Christ’s Body and Blood become our very sustenance). The candles around the altar thus draw our attention to the fact that it is here that the Body of Christ is confected.
The other place we often see a candle symbolize the Light of Christ is in the Paschal Candle, which stands near our baptismal font and is renewed each year at the Easter Vigil. The Exultet (sung every Easter Vigil) reminds us of the great victory of that night so long ago when “with a pillar of fire,” Christ “banished the darkness of sin.” It’s that same pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the desert and gave them their rest in the promised land of Canaan. And now that same pillar of fire, symbolized to us by the Paschal candle which remains lit throughout the Easter season, conquers the darkness of our death and sin and brings us His light and life in the hope of our own resurrection. The Paschal candle is lit at every Baptism to remind us that each of us is entrusted with that Light of Christ, to be kept burning brightly until the day of our birth into eternal life. For the same reason, then, it is lit again at the Christian funeral, forming a sort of inclusion in the life of grace here on this side of heaven.
As St. Paul reminds us in Romans, candles help us to recognize that: “The night is far spent; the day draws near. Let us cast off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Keep watch with your candles burning, friends, and may His light and warmth shine brightly in your hearts in these holy days!
Keep spreading joy!
Fr. Friedel