Candles
As some of you know, when Valentine’s Day comes around, I am sure to NOT get my wife cut flowers. Before I receive an email correcting me for my heartless ways, I would like to note that I would be happy to get her flowers; she just doesn’t want them. She would much prefer to receive a live potted plant or something that isn’t dead as a symbol of our love. Fair enough. Though I think a case can be made that the sacrifice of a bunch of flowers also speaks to the magnitude of the love.
I remember talking to my father when I was in high school about a novel—I believe it was one of Dostoyevsky’s (If you know, remind me)—where the characters drank from glasses then threw them into the fire as a way of symbolizing that the drink shared between the two was the culmination of those glasses’ lives, they had served their purpose and there was nothing greater for them to participate in and so they were cast into the fire. In this way, sacrifice becomes the greatest symbol of love.
“This is how we know what love is: that Christ Jesus laid down his life for us.” It is this sacrificial love that we remember and whose Priest and Victim we are joined to each Eucharist. And so by the altar we have flowers, cut at the prime of their life to serve their greatest end at the altar in Holy Communion. Additionally, we have fine linen, golden thread vestments, and precious metals used in the service. We use them not because they simply look nice but because they require sacrifice. The sacrifice of labor and time to learn how to make them well, and the sacrifice of faithful Christians in the financial cost as an offering unto the Lord.
Perhaps the most powerful display of sacrifice as an act of love is not in that which remains unchanged or removed once it shows signs of decay, but in the humble candle. From its humble beginnings to its glorified end, candles are symbols of sacrifice and love. As St. John Chrysostom wrote: “The bee is more honored than other animals, not because it labors, but because it labors for others.” It is from the venerable bee that we receive its work to glorify God. This is reflected in the Exultet sung during the Easter Vigil in the words, “On this, your night of grace, O holy Father, accept this candle, a solemn offering, the work of bees and of your servants’ hands, an evening sacrifice of praise, this gift from your most holy Church. But now we know the praises of this pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God's honor, a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.” From the work of bees we receive wax to form into a candle, so that from its beginnings it takes the form of toil and sacrifice as an act of love offered to God.
Yet, it is not just in its beginning, but in its end that we receive the fullness of the symbolism of candles. As they melt and diminish, as the lines of wax bead the sides, we are reminded of our own life and death. In the candles diminishing on the altar or their use in prayer, it reveals its life in service to God. They are witnesses of sacrifice unto death, and in their death, they find their fullness. The signs of its use are an image of love. Just as the wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, and thinning hair can be signs of a life lived and sacrifices made for the love of others.
In worship and in life, if everything always looks perfect, no candle melted or hair out of place, what does that say to those who are struggling to keep it together? Does it tell them they are welcome and that the Gospel has something to say to them? Or, does it tell them to keep a mask on? Now, we are to worship the Lord in beauty and holiness, to offer the best of what we have as an act of love and to care fr what God has given us. But simple imperfect reminders of sacrifice and love add to the beauty and the profundity of the service and your life. So, next time you see wax pool up on your prayer table, or when you and your children are slightly disheveled in church, and when your Prayer Book needs to be replaced due to wear, give thanks because they are signs of a life of prayer and an image of faithfulness and love.
With this said, our Candlemas service is on Monday at 6:30. Join in the feast that the church has observed since the 4th century. Bring your candles to be blessed, so that you can take them home and be reminded of God’s sacrificial love. Maybe even offer a blessed candle to your significant other along with their cut (or potted) flowers for the coming Valentine's Day.
God’s Peace,
Fr. Aaron