May 15, 2010

Baptismal Candles

Today I was baptizing a toddler. While I was putting stuff away after the ceremony, I started to think about the little candle given to each newly baptized. Wouldn't it be cool if everyone held on to those candles devoutly, and then used them as their light at the beginning of the Easter Vigil each year? After all, it's the same candle anyway, on the spiritual level. It would be neat to see the ones that were burned down from so many years of living their baptism.

Then I had another thought: when couples want to do the whole wedding candle or unity candle thing for their weddings, I should try to make them produce their baptismal candles for this purpose!
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8 comments:

  1. Jen5:12 PM

    Actually, Brother Charles, we just lit my son's baptismal candle at dinner each night the week before his First Holy Communion on May 1(and it stayed on our dining room table for another week afterwards).

    My only complaint: the holy image on the candle was actually a sticker, which did not burn down as the wax burned, and eventually, we had to stop burning the candle for fear that it would catch fire.

    Perhaps the candles your parish uses are of a different quality, and that would not be a concern.

    We plan to do the same with our other kids, but being more aware of the short burning-span of the candle, will light only for prayers and not whole meals.

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  2. Brother Charles8:31 PM

    I love it!!!!

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  3. Elizabeth Mahlou2:36 AM

    You are always full of good ideas! O love reading your posts.

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  4. Jeanne9:56 AM

    My mom saved mine in a box along with my kindergarden hand print in clay and things like that. Trouble is, she put the box in the attic, and the candle melted into one gigantic puddle. So nice thought, but things happen over time!!

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  5. Brother Charles9:58 AM

    Oh noes! :)

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  6. qualcosa di bello2:48 PM

    my mom & my mother-in-law did not know where our candles are, but i do have the candles of our four living children & hope they do this very thing.

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  7. Brother Charles2:49 PM

    In fairness, I have to say that mine came to be broken in half during some college rowdiness.

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  8. Barb Szyszkiewicz4:16 PM

    That's a wonderful idea. So is lighting the candle to pray as a family before the sacraments.

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