Candlemas

Feast of Candlemas Day

Today is the 40th day since Christmas.

Hail, O full of grace, Virgin and Mother of God, from you has arisen the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, enlightening those who stand in darkness. You, too, O just Elder Simeon, rejoice for you carry in your arms the Redeemer of our souls, who grants us resurrection. (Troparion of the Feast)

As the Church celebrates this feast of encountering of humanity’s meeting of the Lord, Candlemas Day also is important in the lives of farmers. An old English song goes as follows:

“If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go, Winter, and come not again.”

Presentation of the Lord

Rejoice, O full of grace, Mother of God and Virgin, for from thee has risen the sun of righteousness, Christ our God, enlightening those who dwell in darkness. Rejoice you too, righteous watchman, that you have received in your arms the Redeemer of our souls, who also gives us the Resurrection.

St John Henry Newman’s 1849 poem “Candlemas”:

THE Angel-lights of Christmas morn,
Which shot across the sky,
Away they pass at Candlemas,
They sparkle and they die.

Comfort of earth is brief at best,
Although it be divine;
Like funeral lights for Christmas gone,
Old Simeon’s tapers shine.

And then for eight long weeks and more,
We wait in twilight grey,
Till the high candle sheds a beam
On Holy Saturday.

We wait along the penance-tide
Of solemn fast and prayer;
While song is hush’d, and lights grow dim
In the sin-laden air.

And while the sword in Mary’s soul
Is driven home, we hide
In our own hearts, and count the wounds
Of passion and of pride.

And still, though Candlemas be spent
And Alleluias o’er,
Mary is music in our need,
And Jesus light in store.

Presentation of the Lord, Candlemas

We are 40 days away from the Nativity of the Lord. The Presentation of the Lord is a feast the Church in the Eastern part of the ecclesial world, known as an “Encounter,” a second epiphany of the new born King and Messiah given the words of the Simeon. Christ is identified as the Light of the Nations.

The Christology of the Liturgy is quite clear and instructive: by no other person is salvation possible. By the same token this Light to the Nations is a supreme sign of contradiction (St Cyril of Jerusalem) and a stumbling block (St Paul)

The feast began to observed in the 6th century. The Western Church made this feast more penitential because it began to be linked with the purification of Mary according to the Mosaic law.

In the Missal of Blessed John XXIII today ends the Christmas season whereas in the Missal of Paul VI the feast of the Baptism of the Lord ends Christmas.

Our liturgical observance of the Lord’s Presentation is also called “Candlemas” because the Church blesses candles, all the candles to be used in the Mass, including the Paschal Candle to be used at the Easter Vigil; home candles are also brought to church for this blessing. Besides the special prayers prayed, Simeon’s song Nunc dimittis, Saint John of Damascus’ song Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion AND Zacharia’s Benedictus are sung by the choir. Christ as the light of the world is not merely a theological statement, it is a reality in the life of the Christian. To what end do we reflect the light of Christ in the home, in the workplace, in social settings?

V. Zion, let your wedding chamber be prepared to receive Christ your King.

R. The Virgin conceived and gave birth to a son, yet she remained a virgin for ever. She knelt in worship before her child.

V. Simeon took the child in his arms and gave praise and thanks to God.

R. The Virgin conceived and gave birth to a son, yet she remained a virgin for ever. She knelt in worship before her child.

Ave, Mary full of grace

In whose virgin arms’ embrace

God to God Himself doth vow!

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let me in the temple wait,

Jesu, for mine all art Thou.

God is to His temple come;

Angels throng the hallowed dome;

What beyond hath heav’n in store?

Alleluia, alleluia!

God Himself our flesh doth wear;

This than heav’n itself is more.

Incense gales of gladness rise

Where this morning sacrifice

‘Mid re-echoing shouts is made.

Alleluia, alleluia!

Evening’s rite in tears shall end,

On the dark’ning Cross displayed.

There behold th’Oblation wrought,

By Whose precious ransom bought,

We are all to God made nigh.

Alleluia, alleluia!

Now no longer, Lord, our own,

Thine we live and Thine we die!

Let Thy servants now depart;

May we see Thee as Thou art,

Nought of earth arrest our eyes!

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let us here with Jesus grow,

And in Him hereafter rise!

A sequence from an 18th century Paris Missal

Christ’s born, be glad for you have encountered the Messiah!

40 days ago we celebrated the fact of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God, Emmanuel, whom we call Jesus. Today’s liturgical observance of Candelmas –the Encounter with the Lord– recalls our great joy and we’re told what our joy is about by Saint Leo the Great:

“Our Savior was born today: let us be glad. For there
is no proper place for sadness, when we keep the birthday of the Life, which
destroys the fear of mortality and brings to us the joy of promised eternity.”