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ST. JUDE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY PAGE SEVEN MARCH 31, 2002
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THE PASCHAL CANDLE
The Pillar of Fire
What is this great Paschal Candle that stands next to the Ambo where the Word of the Lord is proclaimed? Why is it lighted for each and every Mass and Service during the 50 Days of the Paschal Season?
The Paschal Candle is the Pillar of Fire by which God led the children of Israel from slavery to freedom, through the dusty desert to the land flowing with milk and honey. Behind it, we marched during the Easter Vigil freed from sin from the gloom of exile back into our Father's house, our home. With it, we led those chosen for the Sacraments of New Life to the font of Baptism that is both tomb and womb.
The Paschal Candle is the holy sign of Christ, our Light! (Thanks be to God!) On it, we traced the sign of Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Into it, we pressed five jewels that are the wounds of Christ, our King, Who hung upon the cross for the salvation of the world. Those precious, precious wounds of His hands, His feet, His side! For it, we sang our song of consecration and praise, the "Exsultet": "Accept, O God, this Easter Candle. Let it shine with the lights of heaven and bravely burn forever!" From it, we take our own light, a flame divided but undimmed. All who are baptized walk in its glow.
For fifty days our Paschal Candle shines gloriously in the assembly of the church. Then, held high in a place of honor our Paschal Candle stands near the Baptismal Font for the remainder of the year. From there it is brought out and lighted for every Baptism and every Funeral, for every evening sacrifice of praise, for every birth and every birth unto eternal life. And, as the days and the seasons turn, slowly this Pillar of Fire of finest wax and strongest wick is consumed, burned down, eaten up by fire, sacrificed --- like Christ Himself --- and yet never truly extinguished. And so it measures our days and seasons until it is Easter again, until once more we sing in the light of the new Paschal Candle: "May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning: Christ the Morning Star, Who came back from the dead and shed His peaceful light on all people." Thanks be to God!
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EASTERTIME / PASCHALTIME
First, we kept the forty days of Lent, with praying, fasting and giving alms. Then we celebrated the three Most Sacred Days of the Year, the Sacred Paschal Triduum, of Christ's passion, dying and rising. Now we delight for fifty days, with rejoicing, feasting and giving witness! The Season of Easter is fifty days long. It is a time of unbridled rejoicing. The Church tells us: "The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one 'great Sunday.' These above all others are days for singing the Alleluia!" (General Norms for the Liturgical Year, Par. # 22).
Why is Eastertime fifty days? The ancient cultures that gave us the Bible had great respect for numbers. They believed that numbers contained hints about God and the meaning of life. The number seven was thought to contain "fullness." There are seven days in one week, according to God's original way of ordering time in the Book of Genesis. So if you multiply seven times seven, you have the "fullness times fullness."
Well, that gives you "49." However, with God, there is always more --- more than we can ever imagine. So our Holy Season of Easter is even more "fullness times fullness." It is "fullness times fullness" and then some: 7 x 7 +1. That is what the love of God is all about. It is more than any of us can ever imagine. This season celebrates the great depth of God's love for us! And so we sang while blessing the Paschal Candle: "O happy the fault of Adam that merited for us Christ, our Lord."
The fifty days are 50 days for looking for the risen Lord among us, for hearing in each other's stories of rising from the big and small deaths of daily living, days we experience something of Christ's triumphs. That is why we look to the newly baptized, robed in bright new while robes and oily with gladness. At Easter, they died and rose with Christ. Now they take their place with us. Together, like the Apostles who were so full of the Spirit that people thought they were drunk, we rush about with good and giddy news: Death is not the last word! Life and love are forever! And so slowly, painstakingly, we work together, together with Christ, to change this world into the world to come. And so we sing: "Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!"
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JOIN IN THE CELEBRATION OF
LITURGY OF HOURS
One and all are encouraged to join in praying Morning Prayer (Lauds) each Monday through Thursday morning at 7:45 a.m. Friday morning, Morning Prayer is prayed at 7:30 p.m. during the school year. Daytime Prayer is prayed at 11:50 a.m. before the Angelus.
Copies of the "Liturgy of the Hours" are provided in large print by the front doors of the church. Anyone wishing to own his/her own copy of the "Liturgy of the Hours" in big print may buy one at the Parish Pastoral Center.
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DEANERY 4 YOUNG ADULT DINERS' CLUB
Come experience an opportunity for young adults (single and couples in their late teens, 20s and 30s) to gather in an upbeat and lively social setting, in order to meet other young adults and discover culinary delights. Our restaurant pick for Saturday, April 13th, 7:00 pm is Lamppost Pizza, 1145 Lindero Canyon Road, Oak Park. Please call Deanna at 805-529-8644 to make your reservation and for additional information.
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