2026 Paschal Candle

Our Paschal Candle for this year is hand-decorated by a small Catholic artist based in Washington state. The primary artwork on the candle depicts the scene of John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River from Matthew 3.

The passage in Matthew 3:13-17 is: "Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?" Jesus said to him in reply, "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him ], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

John is depicted standing on a rock and wearing a tunic of fur, as described just a few verses beforehand in Matthew 3:4, "John wore clothing made of camel's hair", while holding his staff in his left hand and a sea shell in his right, pouring water over Jesus' head with the shell. Jesus is standing ankle deep in water at the edge of the river, with his arms crossed across his chest and wearing a simple white cloth around his waist, as he is commonly depicted on wearing on the cross. Above John is a dove of the Holy Spirit, Inscribed above the depiction are the Latin words "HIC EST FILIUS MEUS DILECTUS", and below, "IN QUO MIHI COMPLACUI". These words are the words of God from the aforementioned passage: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

This scene from Sacred Scripture is especially fitting for the Paschal Candle, as this candle is a symbol of rebirth and resurrection in Christ. It is present at each baptism and each funeral: the beginning and end of each person's life. Paul in Romans 6:3-4 states: "Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life." Indeed, through Jesus' and John's submission to the will of God the Father, in both the baptism scene and each of their deaths, God was glorified. We, too, are invited to imitate that humility and surrender to His plan, that He may say from our new birth into Christ at baptism to our birth into eternal life at death, that we are His beloved child in whom he is well pleased.