From Our Pastors
Having come this far through the crucible of 2020, we find ourselves in the early days of Christmastide. This 40-day season ends February 2 with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the liturgy where we bless candles, often known as Candlemas. As we quickly mark the feats of the season with Epiphany this Sunday coming, we know our trees and creches are often already being packed away. This year we want to encourage you to hold onto the light and hope of the Incarnation even as greens dry, poinsettias fade and manger scenes go into storage once again. We have a New Year on the horizon and Christmastide is a time for us to look forward with resolution to 2021.
When the magi sought out the infant Jesus, they came to the end of their quest in an unlikely place in Bethlehem. Yet they had to move on and return to their lives. They did so by following another route, changed and transformed by their experience and listening to their dreams. Perhaps like the magi, 2021 calls for a reset of how we see, think, frame and walk in our world. Are we listening to the voice of God that comes in our dreams to guide us on this way? What might we resolve to do, or be or change for the better in this coming year? In the 40 days of Christmastide, let’s pray with and for one another that we might be light in the land of gloom and sources of hope for one another. And on the feast of the Presentation, we will bless candles and offer them to you to light in your homes. For those who are staying in, here is the prayer to bless candles to light in these days as we carry the Christ-light forward to 2021.
O God, true light, who create light eternal,
spreading it far and wide,
pour, we pray, into the hearts of the faithful
the brilliance of perpetual light,
so that all who are brightened in your holy temple
by the splendor of these candles
may happily reach the light of your glory.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Fr. Michael Callaghan c.o. and Fr. Mark Lane, c.o.
