It is low Mass but with a very solemn look on the servers face as he performs the snuffing out of the Paschal Candle after the Gospel.
It seems in the Novus Ordo that the Candle, brought into the church with great solemnity slips away from the sanctuary into the baptistry on the first day of Ordinary time if the sacristan remembers.
4 comments:
The server will have his work cut out, snuffing the Paschal candle. The snuffer has a hole in the top which makes the device draw up air like a chimney so the flame burns better.
There may have been a decorative finial in the space where the hole is at the top of the cone. The hole needs to be plugged.
Call me silly but I used to feel quite emotional when the candle was snuffed out at the end of the Gospel on Ascension Day. The symbolism was profound - a simple act with deep meaning. And then it vanished.
At the Mass I attended on Christmas Day I could not help noticing the Pascal candle was present and lit. Singing Christmas carols whilst the Pascal Candle burned was altogether a novel experience the symbolism of which escaped me.
At the OF Mass I attended this morning (St Aloysius, Glasgow - the Jesuit church) the Paschal candle was extinguished after the homily.
When I posted I didn't realise that the Ascension had been shifted to the following Sunday in England & Wales. Why do they do that?
Post a Comment