Gospel reflection for Feb. 2, 2025
The midpoint of winter, 40 days after Christmas, the traditional end of the Christmas Season, celebrated by many cultures in various ways Feb. 2 is one of the highpoints of the Liturgical Year. As the Lord is presented in the Temple and as he is proclaimed by Simeon: “a light to the Gentiles,” the confluence of the celestial and the liturgical calendars becomes evident. So, even as pre-Christian cultures saw this day to be important in the approach of spring and the resurgence of light and life, so the liturgical calendar, too, proclaims that Jesus is the eternal light penetrating the primordial darkness of sin and death.
In order to emphasize the experience of light – the physical light of the rising sun and the eternal light of the Incarnate Son – the Church takes the opportunity to bless the candles used in the church for the entire year on this feast. Blessing the candles the priest prays: “O God, source and origin of all light, who on this day showed to the just man Simeon the light for revelation to the Gentiles, we humbly ask that, in answer to your people’s prayers, you may be please to sanctify with your blessing these candles, which we are eager to carry in praise of your name, so that, treading the path of virtue, we may reach the light which never fails.”
We connect, then, the presence of the Light of the World in the person of Jesus, with the lighted candles which are used to illuminate our altars and our churches.
Of course, the development of electric lights has diminished for all of us a sense of the powerful contrast of light and darkness. We are less accustomed to the power of one small candle breaking through the stark darkness, and much less so the presence of a procession of people carrying candles. Yet it should live in our imagination and certainly reminds us of the presence of Jesus Christ in the world.
The candles that adorn our altars now are seen as mere decoration and ritual necessities, their practical use having been lost to technology. With so much light around us, the candles provide little meaning for us.
The lighting of candles in prayer is another important aspect of our faith. The devotional candles in our churches and chapels remind us of the constancy of prayer, bathing our petitions in light. There is a mesmerizing effect in lighting a candle and it carries a very significant meaning for us.
Light brings us a sense of warmth, comfort, and is calming. Even on those cold winter days, as we have endured recently, the sun beaming through our windows brings a sense of warmth and growth.
Just as the natural world requires light to flourish – plants grow, most animals are active, and the world feels alive – so do we all need the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, to fully experience life and to be nurtured and prepared for eternal life.
The old prophet Simeon, in the blessing he uttered at the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, called Jesus, “a light to reveal you (the Father) to the nations, and the glory of your (the Father) people, Israel.”
It is this light that penetrates the darkness of sin and evil in the world and in our lives. As the light of the world, Jesus penetrates through that darkness and gives us the orientation we need to discover the father and experience the fullness of life.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.