The Feast of the Purification, also known as the Feast of the Presentation, or Candlemas -- its customs and traditions
Excerpt:
“On this day, there will be a Blessing of the Candles and Procession. The symbolism of the candles is described by Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, in his “Liturgical Year”:
The mystery of today’s ceremony has frequently been explained by liturgists, dating from the 7th century. According to Ivo of Chartres, the wax, which is formed from the juice of flowers by the bee, always considered as the emblem of virginity, signifies the virginal flesh of the Divine Infant, who diminished not, either by His conception or His birth, the spotless purity of His Blessed Mother. The same holy bishop would have us see, in the flame of our Candle, a symbol of Jesus who came to enlighten our darkness. St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking on the same mystery, bids us consider three things in the blessed Candle: the wax, the wick, and the flame. The wax, he says, which is the production of the virginal bee, is the Flesh of our Lord; the wick, which is within, is His Soul; the flame, which burns on top, is His divinity.
The Golden Legend, by Jacobus de Voragine, A.D. 1275, gives us another level of symbolism – one that illustrates the error of Protestantism’s idea of “sola fide,” or that we are saved by “faith alone”:
…if we will appear in this feast tofore the face of God, pure and clean and acceptable, we ought to have in us three things which be signified by the candle burning: that is good deeds, true faith, with good works. And like as the candle without burning is dead, right so faith is dead without works as Saint James saith, for to believe in God without obeying his commandments profiteth nothing. And therefore saith Saint Gregory: The good work ought to show withoutforth that thy intention abide good withinforth the heart, without seeking within any vain glory to be allowed and praised. And by the fire is understood charity, of which God saith: I am come to put fire in the earth, and whom I will, I will burn.
The candle blessing – one of the three principle blessings of the liturgical year, the others being the blessing of palms and ashes – will be given by the priest wearing a purple cope. He will pray 5 prayers over the candles placed near the Altar. The candles are sprinkled three times while the Aspérges me is sung, and then they are incensed and distributed. When we take a blessed candle from the priest’s hand, we kiss the candle and then the priest’s hand, just as we do on Palm Sunday when we kiss the palm and then the priest’s hand when receiving the blessed palms. During the Distribution, the Nunc Dimittis – the Canticle of Simeon (Luke 2:29-32) – is sung:
Now dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, In peace, according to Thy word: For mine own eyes hath seen Thy salvation, Which Thou hast prepared in the sight of all the peoples, A light to reveal Thee to the nations And the glory of Thy people Israel. Latin Version: Nunc Dimittis Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine Secundum verbum tuum in pace: Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum: Lumen ad revelationem gentium, Et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
