Candlemas: A Light for Our Time

This Sunday, we celebrate Candlemas—a festival of light, of promise, of sacred presence in the ordinary. Rooted in an ancient Christian tradition, Candlemas commemorates the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, a story of an old man’s long-awaited hope fulfilled and a mother’s quiet, courageous faith. Yet beyond its historical and liturgical significance, Candlemas invites us into something deeper: the enduring human longing for light in the midst of darkness and the reassurance that we are not alone on this journey.

A Festival of Light and Hope

Long before it was a Christian feast, February 2nd was a moment of transition in many cultures—a time to honor the returning light as winter slowly yields to spring. The Celts marked Imbolc, celebrating the stirrings of new life beneath the frozen earth. In the Christian tradition, candles were blessed on this day, symbolizing Christ as the Light of the World, but also the light within each of us.

And oh, how we need that light now. In a world that often feels fractured, exhausted, and uncertain, Candlemas whispers a counter-story: that light endures, even in the smallest flicker, and that hope is not an illusion but a sacred truth we embody together.

Why Candlemas Still Matters

Many of us are in the process of deconstructing and reimagining faith. Perhaps we no longer feel at home in traditional religious spaces, or maybe we’ve been told that there’s no room for us in them at all. But Candlemas is not about rigid dogma or exclusion—it is about illumination, about seeing and being seen. It reminds us that the sacred shows up in the most unexpected places: in the wisdom of the elderly, in the tenderness of a mother, in the faith of those who have waited their whole lives for justice and love to arrive.

Candlemas meets us where we are. It does not demand belief; it invites reflection. Where is light breaking through in your life right now? What hopes are you quietly holding in the sacred space of your heart? Who are the voices of wisdom around you, guiding you like Simeon and Anna in the ancient story?

Lighting Candles in Today’s World

In a time when so many feel marginalized—whether because of identity, belief, or lived experience—Candlemas calls us to be bearers of light for one another. To be the hands that offer warmth to the cold, the voices that speak truth to power, the presence that reminds someone: you are not alone.

This Sunday, you might light a candle as an act of solidarity with all who are searching, grieving, healing, and hoping. You might name your own intentions, your own longings. And as the flame dances before you, remember: the light within you is real. It is holy. And it belongs in this world.

Many rivers, one ocean. Many candles, one flame.

May this Candlemas be a gentle reminder that even in the longest nights, love and light endure.