You may have missed it but today's Candlemas, the beautiful feast of the church year in which the Old Testament is fulfilled in terms of the New and Christ, the living temple, enters into His earthly facsimile. It is, when you think on it, a bridge to Easter.
Here's Newman:
The Angel-lights of Christmas morn,
Which shot across the sky,
Away they pass at Candlemas,
They sparkle and they die.
Comfort of earth is brief at best,
Although it be divine;
Like funeral lights for Christmas gone,
Old Simeon's tapers shine.
And then for eight long weeks and more
We wait in twilight grey,
Till the high candle sheds a beam
On Holy Saturday.
We wait along the penance-tide
Of solemn fast and prayer;
While song is hush'd, and lights grow dim
In the sin-laden air.
And while the sword in Mary's soul
Is driven home, we hide
In our own hearts, and count the wounds
Of passion and of pride.
And still, though Candlemas be spent
And Alleluias o'er,
Mary is music in our need,
And Jesus light in store.
Bless you all.
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος,
LSP
