Candlemas 2025

The special entrance rite at every Mass this weekend is similar to Palm Sunday, except members of the community carry lighted candles (instead of palms) which will be blessed and you can take them home. Some from the congregation will be invited to participate in the procession with their candles, and at the 9:30am and 10:00am Masses we will invite as many as possible to form a full procession!

Mary and Joseph, faithful to God’s Law, brought their firstborn son to the Temple. For other newborns, this was a symbolic offering to God, while for the infant Son of God, it was Christ – the Light of the World – coming into His Temple! This Presentation of the Lord has been celebrated in the liturgy of the Church as a feast since at least the sixth century (earlier in the Eastern Churches).  In Rome it had a more penitential character, while in Gaul (France) they had solemn blessings and processions of candles – by which the feast became popularly known as "Candlemas." The entrance antiphon provided in the Missal expresses our faith that God will "enlighten the eyes of his servants."