In the dark

The most beautiful service of the Catholic year for me was always the Easter Vigil. On Saturday night before Easter Sunday, after dark, the congregation assembles in the darkened and quiet church. The service begins with the building and blessing of a fire near the entrance of the church, and then a special large candle is lit and carried in silent procession into the still dark church. It is held aloft, an acclamation and a response are sung, and servers help carry light from that candle to the small candles held by all the people in the congregation. As the large candle is carried to the sanctuary, the light passes from candle to candle down the rows and soon the whole church glows in the light of the single light cast by all those candles. It symbolizes the light of Christ breaking forth to conquer the darkness of night and sin.

That image of the Paschal Candle on the side is one of the designs Tom did when he was working in the RCIA program (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults). He did a whole series of clip art images that he made avaialble for parishes to use in their bulletins and other literature.

Tonight we will participate in Earth Hour, turning off the electrical lights for an hour and sitting in the dark or in the light of candles and oil lamps like generations of Dodds and Mitchums and Durens and Broccolos and Kirks did before us.

It is a small thing, and this particular event has to do with awareness of our impact on the environment. (And there are those who point out that burning candles and oil lamps is just another way of polluting!) But for me it has echoes of the fact that the smallest light can still overcome the greatest darkness.

And that is something I need to remember all year long.