Candlemas
This Sunday we will celebrate one of the great feasts in the life of Christ: the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. Since this this feast always occurs 40 days after Christmas, on February 2nd, we sadly, so rarely celebrate it. But this year it happens to fall on a Sunday!
According to the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), forty days after the birth of a son, the mother would go to the temple to offer a sacrifice in order to ritually purify herself (which is why this feast is also known as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) as well as presenting or dedicating their child to God.
As we will hear in the Gospel lesson from St. Luke, we are told that while Mary, Joseph, and the newborn Jesus were at the Temple in Jerusalem, an old man named Simeon, who was “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel” took the child in his arms and praised God, proclaiming him to be “A light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.”
Over the years, it became customary to bless candles on this day for both home and church use. It seems particularly appropriate, as this feast marks the conclusion of the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany Cycle that has so heavily focused on the theme of darkness and light.
And so, we will be blessing candles on Sunday morning, and each household will be invited to take home with them a blessed candle to use for times of prayer in the coming weeks ahead.
I look forward to joining with you this Sunday as we celebrate this beautiful feast of Candlemas.
See you in Church!
Peace,
Fr Adler+
p.s. video aimed at kids, but talks about the Gospel lesson for Sunday: