A Light for Revelation

We 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:

‘“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”’

Light, therefore, plays an important role in this feast day. The candles used on this day signify light and are a symbol that Jesus is the “Light of the world.” But the candle signifies more than that. February 2 is the midpoint between the darkest and the brightest days of winter, between the winter solstice (approximately December 21) and the spring equinox (approximately March 21). “Light and dark,” as St. Paul has remarked, “have nothing in common” (2 Corinthians 6:14). They oppose each other in a most fundamental way. One symbolizes life and being; the other symbolizes death and non-being. When God said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), he triumphed over the darkness that could not comprehend the light (See John 1:4-5). Here, light has a twofold meaning: the illumination of the world as well as the illumination of the mind.

This monthly candlelit mass at the Sunday 5pm Mass will help take us to the threshold of Heaven, illumine our hearts and minds of transcendent truth and beauty of the liturgy, and allow us to step away from the busy world around us and find peace in the Lord through the contemplative and prayerful atmosphere fostered by the candlelight, sacred music, and reverent prayer of the Mass.