In the middle of
our church, right next to the baptismal font, there is a very special candle. It
is called the Pascal Candle, better known as the Easter Candle. It is blessed
by our pastor at the Easter Vigil Mass and it represents Christ as the light of
the world.
When we baptize a
child the priest or the deacon will take the child’s baptismal candle, light it
from the Easter Candle, and hand it to the godparents. They in turn will take the
baptismal candle and stand next to the child. This is very symbolic. It
represents the responsibility of the godparents to carry the light of Christ to
the newly baptized child, and to help keep that light burning brightly
throughout the child’s life.
In a broader
sense the Easter Candle is also symbolic of our own job, the job of every
disciple of Jesus, every Christian across the globe and down through history. We
are called to be godparents for our world, to carry the light of Christ and
dispel the darkness wherever we go.
The readings for
January 26th, the third Sunday in Ordinary Time, speak to us about
Christ as the light of the world and our own individual call to dispel the
darkness.
In the first
reading, the prophet Isaiah tells us how the people of Northern Israel were
enveloped by great darkness in the 8th century B.C. Their land and
their homes were destroyed by the Assyrian Empire, and they were taken away as
slaves. But Isaiah promised that a great light would come to dispel the
darkness. That light came in the person of Jesus. He began his ministry almost
800 years later in the very same region of Northern Israel where the darkness
had struck. Jesus was the great light foretold by Isaiah. Christ is the light
of the world.
In
the gospel that light calls the first disciples, the first Christians, Peter,
Andrew, James and John to help dispel the darkness for the whole world and for
all time. It later called St. Paul
and the people of Corinth that he wrote to in the second reading. That
light is still calling. It calls every one of us.
God has planted
each of us somewhere in the garden of time and space. Wherever we are in that
garden, we are meant to be instruments of God’s healing and love.
Each time we go
into our church, let us look at the Easter Candle and remember: we have been
called to be godparents for our world; we have been called to carry the light
of Christ; we have been called to dispel the darkness wherever we go.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers
of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on
Amazon.com:
Just to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday
Life
Synchronicity as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for
Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Ministry
