Catholic Bucket List #3: Light a votive candle

I haven’t written a Bucket List entry in quite a while, so I thought I’d come back with a nice simple one:

Bucket List Item #3: Light a votive candle

In virtually every single Catholic church you’ll find a place where there are a collection of lit candles, often in front of a statue or icon. Every now and then you’ll see someone go up and light a candle, usually lingering for a few moments in prayer.

So what’s this all about?

Candles have a long and rich history within the Church and they have powerful symbolic meaning. Candles can represent grace and divine light. Indeed, Christ described Himself as the “Light of the World” (John 9:5). A candle gives light and dispels darkness, but in doing so is consumed, which is symbolic of sacrifice.

“Shall we call down fire in judgement?”

After the Second Vatican Council many parishes got rid of their racks of candles and replaced them with “electric votive candles” instead. The argument was that these contraptions were easier to maintain, they didn’t spill wax everywhere and represented a more up-to-date, modern Catholicism.

You would insert a coin and then press a button, just like with a vending machine. After you did this, one of the electric lights would light up… ooooh….pretty!

Not only was this amazingly lame, it drained much of the symbolism from the practice!

I remember as a young altar server we discovered that you could push a comb into the coin slot and then repeatedly press the button to turn on all the lights free of charge… Ah…those were the days…

This Little Light of Mine

Aside from messing about with the votive candle machine as a kid, I can’t recall ever lighting a votive candle until about a year ago. This is odd, given their prevalence in Catholic parishes.

When I go to my nearby Byzantine parish I always make a point of lighting a candle before the Liturgy begins, offering it for one of my spiritual kids – those whom I sponsored at Confirmation or for whom I am Godfather.

The Invitation

So, my invitation to you in this Bucket List item is to go to a church and light a candle. Say a prayer for your favourite blogger or, if not for your favourite blogger, then at least say one for me 😉