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The Christmas Cycle
Prayer
Have regard to our weakness, O almighty God, and since the burden of our deeds is heavy upon
us, let the glorious intercession of blessed Ignatius, Thy martyr and bishop, be our protection.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
February 2, The Purification of Mary (1)
Today the liturgy has a candle procession in order that we may accompany Mary on her pilgrimage
to Jerusalem. In the temple we shall find the blessed Simeon waiting to receive the holy
child from the arms of Mary. We, too, share his rapture: “My eyes have seen Thy salvation, which
Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples”; and we listen to his prophetic words to Mary:
“Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel” (Lk 2:30 f., 34).
By the lighted candles we carry in our hands we acknowledge the arrival of the true light of the
world, Jesus Christ. By means of this symbol of light, we carry Christ in our hands today with
deep reverence. With Mary and Simeon we feel that we are blessed bearers of Christ, and we
acknowledge joyfully, “My eyes have seen Thy salvation.” We possess Christ, who is “full of grace
and truth” ( Jn 1:14). He is the fullness of all truth, purity, holiness, and happiness. He alone can
fully satisfy our heart and all our desires. We possess Him, we believe in Him, we trust Him, and
we dedicate ourselves to Him with all our hearts. We carry Him with us as a light through life,
as a light that illuminates our way, guides us, comforts us, and gives us joy. We carry this light
with us into our family, into our place of business, on the street, and in all our actions, and thus
we lend to our surroundings a joyful and fruitful Christian atmosphere. “You are the light of
the world” (Mt 5:14). We carry the light, Christ, in our hands, and thus we become confessors,
apostles, and missionaries of Christ, “a light to the revelation of the Gentiles” (Lk 2:32).
From the hands of the Church we receive the lighted candle, which is a symbol of Christ,
the light of the world. The Church alone has the power to bless these candles and to place them
in our hands as Mary laid the infant Christ in the arms of Simeon. Only Mary can bring Christ
to us, and only in Christ can we have light, grace, and life.
For the liturgy Mary is a type and symbol of the Church. In the blessing of the candles the
Church places the truth before our eyes: the Church, and only the Church, has the power to
give us Christ, His truth, His graces, and His sacraments. If we desire to receive grace, if we wish
to possess Christ, and in Christ life and salvation, then we must turn to the Church. She is “His
temple,” into which the Lord shall come (Epistle). In this temple we shall find the mercy of God;
that is, the merciful, incarnate Christ, the Savior, as we acknowledge in the Introit: “We have
received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple,” in Thy holy Church.
Candlemas is past, yet still with us. We ourselves have been strengthened in baptism, incorporated
in Christ, the light. “For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord [that is,
members of Christ]. Walk, then, as children of the light,” as bearers of Christ, called to announce
Him and His spirit (Eph 5:8).
Candlemas! We walk to the temple with the light in our hands, with Mary. We proceed
with Christ in our soul by faith, in our heart by love, and in our work by resignation to His holy
will and the things He permits us to undergo. We walk hand in hand with Mary, the Church,
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