Candles, Light and the Mass
by Joseph Malzone - Adapted from Fr. Michael Rennier | 02/08/2025 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsWhy do we use candles at the altar? One basic explanation is an appeal to fittingness. Imagine a fancy dinner, a wedding feast. It’s natural to solemnize the occasion with candles on the tables. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest of nuptial feasts, so it makes sense we burn candles.
There’s also a prosaic explanation. The priest needs to see the text in the missal. In the days before electric light, stone church buildings without large, clear windows to admit natural light remained dim even on the brightest days. There’s also a more subtle explanation for the candles, which is that they are symbolic of Christ and His sacrificial nature.
ContinueThe Glow of Candlemas
by Joseph Malzone - Adapted from Christopher Carstens | 02/01/2025 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsEach year on February 2nd is the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple, also known as Candlemas. The shortest and darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere is the winter solstice, usually around December 21. From that day on, the daylight grows until matching the darkness and night at the spring equinox, roughly around March 21. The midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox revolves around—you guessed it—February 2.
Even before Christ’s coming and long after his ascension, nature knew of him—indeed, the sun, moon, stars, and earth announce his mystery in concert, as it were. Today’s liturgical calendar thus incorporates not only the historical facts of Christ’s life—such as his incarnation in the womb of Mary, his birth in Bethlehem, his presentation in the Temple, and his Paschal Mystery—but also elements of God’s own creation.
ContinueA Recap of Upcoming Changes
by Joseph Malzone | 01/25/2025 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsThe past two weeks, I’ve highlighted some small changes to our masses that will begin next week, February 2, in conjunction with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas. Here, I’ll recap those changes in case you missed their announcements and provide some additional information and context to them.
At all masses beginning on the 2nd, the priest’s chalice will be vested, like the priest himself. The chalice will be “wearing” vestments in the corresponding liturgical color, in the form of the chalice veil and burse. The chalice veil in the Mass represents the veil of the Temple that was torn open as well as the metaphysical veil that hides Heaven from us until we are granted entry to it. The veil stays in place, hiding the full beauty of the chalice during the course of the Mass until that moment when it is time for it to be revealed and put to use. It is a symbol of “almost, but not yet” as we await the fullness of the joy of Heaven but experience a bit of it in the Holy Mass.
ContinueVeiling the Chalice
by Joseph Malzone | 01/18/2025 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsLike most liturgical vestments, the chalice veil is a mysterious garment. We may be tempted to dismiss it as a kind of decoration. However, the chalice and the veil not only have a function during the celebration of Mass, but they also remind us of a dignity that is too often veiled.
Beginning February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, a Veil, with its accompanying Burse, will be used to cover the chalice when it is carried to and from the altar during the celebration of Mass.
ContinueA Light for Revelation
by Joseph Malzone | 01/11/2025 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsWe are excited to announce that beginning on February 2nd, the Sunday 5pm Mass will be the host of a beautiful and prayerful monthly candle-lit Mass!
Forty days after Christmas, February 2nd, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, which is also referred to as Candlemas, as it is traditionally the day in which candles are blessed. This feast is one of the oldest in the history of the Church, with details of its celebration from even as far back as the year 380. This feast, and its association with candles, stems from Luke 2:25-32:
Continue20 + C + M + B + 25
by Joseph Malzone | 01/04/2025 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsToday, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Epiphany, when we celebrate the arrival of the Magi to adore the Christ child, bringing Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, representing, respectively, the kingship, divinity, and death of the Christ. As part of the Epiphany festivities, there is an annual custom in the church of blessing homes, marking this blessing with chalk on the lintel above the main door of the house.
ContinueThe Theotokos and Christmas
by Joseph Malzone | 12/28/2024 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsMerry Christmas! We are now in the fifth day of the Octave of Christmas.
The Holy Theotokos, a Greek that can be translated as “God-Bearer,” is a succinct yet profound title that The Church has used for Mary since at least the 3rd century. As Jesus was born into the world both completely human and completely divine, Mary’s bringing forth of Him into the world through her womb makes her not merely the mother of Jesus but the mother of God. Today, we celebrate the “Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.” On Wednesday, we will celebrate, as a Holy Day of Obligation, the “Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God.” Together with these two special days, The Church points to the special significance of God’s incarnation through Mary and His role in the human family.
ContinueGaudete
by Joseph Malzone | 12/14/2024 | Liturgy and Worship Reflections“Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, Gaudete!”
This incipit (the opening line) of the introit, the short piece of musical prayer the Church gives for the beginning of the Mass, translates to English as “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.” That is where we get the name for this Sunday of the Liturgical Year: Gaudete Sunday. This day is one of only two days in the entire Liturgical Year that the vestments for the Mass may be of rose color; the other day is Laetare Sunday in Lent.
ContinueSome Customs of Advent (Part 2)
by Joseph Malzone - Adapted from Michael P. Foley | 12/07/2024 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsThe nativity scene or crèche arose out of ancient piety and the medieval theater. Christians were honoring the cave in Bethlehem where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born even before St. Helen built the Basilica of the Nativity over it around A.D. 330. Medieval mystery plays later reenacted the Nativity, but when they got out of hand, Pope Honorius suppressed them.
ContinueSome Customs of Advent (Part 1)
by Joseph Malzone | 12/01/2024 | Liturgy and Worship ReflectionsHappy New Year! Today, the First Sunday of Advent marks the start of the Church’s new Liturgical Year.
Advent is a curious season. It is the beginning of the liturgical year, and yet its first Gospel is about the end of the world. It marks a fresh start, and yet it opens by virtually repeating one of the readings from the Sunday before. It is draped in the penitential color of violet yet is irrepressibly joyful. It awaits the coming of the Messiah, who already came two thousand years ago. During Mass, the Gloria is suppressed, but outside Mass, there are delicious treats, Yuletide drinks, and joyous caroling.
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