Burning candle – a symbol of Jesus.
Today’s holiday is spent in our hearts on something from the Christmas magic. Both holidays, today’s and Christmas, have something in common. At Christmas, the child Jesus lies in a manger and his mother Mary and Saint Joseph bow over him. On today’s Feast of the Sacrifice of the Lord, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph bring the child Jesus to the sanctuary to be sacrificed to God. This sacrifice of a child to God has ancient origins. When the Jews were in Egyptian slavery for many years and their lives there were difficult because the Egyptians used them for hard labor and had a favorable labor force in them, God had mercy on their difficult fate by committing the heaviest calamity on the Egyptians after minor calamities, that he caused all the firstborn sons in Egypt to perish on the 7th night. Because the king of Egypt’s firstborn son also died, then the king finally set the Jews free. The Jews withdrew from Egypt, and since they tried the great love of God, that when all the firstborn perished in Egypt, their firstborn sons remained alive, they remembered this miraculous intervention of God so that, that from then on they brought their firstborn sons to the temple on the fortieth day after birth to be sacrificed to God. And so the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph sacrificed the child Jesus to the Lord God in the temple. And during this religious ceremony, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the religious old man Simeon also participated, who took the little Jesus into his arms and exclaimed in the Holy Spirit that he could already die, for he lived to see with his own eyes the one who will become the light of the nations.
This prophecy of St. Simeon about Jesus, that he will be the muscle of nations, is commemorated today, on the fortieth day after Christmas, so that candles are blessed in our churches, symbolizing the Lord Jesus. This means that the burning candles represent to us with their fire the four excellent qualities of the Lord Jesus. First, fire is the source of light. It shines in the dark so that all the darkness of the world cannot overcome the light of one candle. The Lord Jesus is also a light for us. He shines into our lives with his word and his example. And the world’s darkness will never prevail over him because he said: „ I am with you until the end of the world.” Second, fire is a source of power. All powerful engines of Earth vehicles, ships, aircraft, and space rockets are moved by fire. And the Lord Jesus is also our strength in the spiritual life. He said: „ Without me, you can do nothing. Only he who abides in me, and I in him bears abundant fruit.” And therefore, the apostle Paul wrote: I can do everything in him who strengthens me. Third, fire is a source of heat. He warms us and warms our dwellings so that we can live joyfully. Without heat, we would catch a cold and die. Also, the Lord Jesus fills us with the warmth of his love to experience true joy and happiness in our lives; Windows says: “Stay in my love… that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”
Of these three properties of fire, let us recall the fourth, most moving property of the burning candle. Ork serves people so intensively that it keeps getting smaller, burns itself, and sacrifices itself. Also, the Lord Jesus sacrificed his life for us out of love. After all, he said in advance: „Nobody has no greater love than the one who lays down his life for his friends.”(John 15,13) And at the Last Supper, the apostle announced his death on the cross with these words: „ This is my body, which is sacrificed for you”. And „this is the cup of my blood that is shed for you”. (Mass canon) Behold, these beautifully four qualities remind us of burning candles. They remind us that the Lord Jesus is our light, our strength, our love, so much love that he sacrificed his life. And from such reflection, a warm personal relationship with the Lord Jesus can be formed in our hearts: „ You are my light, you are my star, you are my love, you sacrificed your life for me. Strengthen me to love myself more and more and become more like you. This warm attraction to the Lord Jesus is reminded of burning candles. May our heavenly Mother, the Virgin Mary, who had the warmest relationship with the Lord Jesus and all the people in the world, help us with her example and intercession.