The coronavirus pandemic has led many of us to seek understanding and spiritual nourishment in the absence of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Despite the slow rescinding of the moratoria around the country, many continue to seek consolation from the Lord in intimate prayer, as we Dominicans do each day as a part of our observance. In trying to understand God’s hand in the sadness and complexity of the pandemic, I too sought to meet the Lord in my heart through prayer. I went to the chapel and just before arriving at my choir stall, amid the emptiness of the space around me, I walked past a familiar sight: the Paschal candle. As I sat down in my stall, recognizing that it has been there for a long time now, I looked up at this beautiful symbol of the risen Christ with a curious wrinkle in my eyebrow and thought, “What are you still doing here?”
More than 40 days after Easter the Paschal candle remains in the center of our chapel. What does holy Mother Church mean to teach us through this wax column’s continued presence? We celebrate the Paschal candle in a very peculiar way at the most hallowed Vigil of the year. In the lengthy Exsultet we ask God to accept this luminary offering, praying that it “go undimmed” and “overcome the darkness of the night.” For a few moments during the Easter Vigil, it is the only source of light, announcing the Resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ, who stands as a pillar of fire guiding the church (see Exod 13:21-22). So in a palpable way, the candle represents the risen Lord who has overcome death to save us.
Although in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, the Paschal Candle is extinguished and removed from the sanctuary on Ascension Thursday, in the ordinary form it remains in the sanctuary until Pentecost. As Fr. Gregory Schnakenberg, O.P. explains, “With the sending of the Holy Spirit and the extinguishing of the Candle after Pentecost, one sees in turn how the Spirit of Christ has now come to dwell in the life of the Church.” This life of the Church is manifested in the sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit, spirated by the Father and the Son and sent at Pentecost, gives us gifts of grace. In this way, God calls us to dwell with him forever through the love that is the Holy Spirit.
Today the candle continues to be a physical reminder that God, the Light of the world, is risen and is inviting me, and inviting you, to enter more deeply into the mystery of his love. He whispers, “Let me dwell in your heart, let me be the source of living water within you” (cf. John 7:38).
I have risen from the dead to save mankind.
And I did it for you.
Although the Paschal candle will eventually be extinguished and removed from the sanctuary, the Paraclete is always with us. As we pray, “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, enkindle in them the fire of your Love” let us be reminded of God’s unfathomable love and open our hearts to be renewed through his grace.
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Photo by Br. Benedict Hernandez, OP (used with permission)
