Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Candlemas / Purification (N.O. Presentation) 2025

 

In the Vetus Ordo, it’s the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, also called Candlemas.  The texts reveal that this is a feast that emphasizes the Lord.  In the Novus Ordo, it is the Presentation of the Lord (which is the same biblical event).

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation?

Share the good stuff.  Quite a few people are forced to sit through really bad preaching.  Even though you can usually find – if you are willing to try – at least one good point in a really bad sermon, that can be a trial.  So… SHARE THE GOOD STUFF which you were fortunate enough to receive!

Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?  We really need good news.

I have some thoughts posted at One Peter Five.

[…]

Candles are beautiful symbols of our sacrifices.  They are like living things.  They eat and drink the wax from the bees, made collectively in association with sweetness.  They breathe air.  They move in their flames as they flicker.  They communicate to our eyes a beautiful light and give contrast to their surroundings by illumination.  They burn out at the end of their span.  So do we.  They are consumed for the Lord in the liturgy.  So should we be.  We do all these things.   And so, using candles in important times is a very wholesome and Catholic practice.  Leaving one of these little candles in a Church, as a symbolic sacrifice of your prayers and petitions is entirely natural.

[…]

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in SESSIUNCULA and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Comments

  1. JonPatrick says:

    The church was packed for our 10:30 AM Missa Cantata, They were going to process outside but it was bitterly cold so just the altar servers and priest processed inside after the blessing of the candles.

    During the time of the Old Testament the tabernacle and the cloud marking the presence of God had both been lost to the temple. At the Presentation both are restored – Mary as the new Ark of the Covenant, and instead of the shekinah or cloud marking the presence of God we have God Himself Jesus.

    Candles represent the Light of Christ and also represent us as we spread the Light of Christ to the world around us.

  2. At a local NO parish, Father talked about Simeon and Anna rejoicing in receiving Christ. He also talked about the Real Presence, and he used those words. “I hope you believe it, because 1. it’s true and 2. it’s our faith.”

Leave a Reply