The Easter Fire blazes as Peter holds the Paschal candle so that Fr Danny can inscribe it with the date between the alpha and the omega, to remind us that God created time just for us.
Once the Paschal candle has been lit from the fire, the candles held by the congregation are also lit, so that the new fire spreads, like the Christian faith moving throughout the world, until everyone is holding a lighted candle. The fact that we can't see the great majority of the candles can be discouraging - we must never be misled into believing that the only ones that are alight are those we can see!
Still holding the candle, each of us renews his or her Baptismal promises along with more than a billion other Christians from every part of the planet.
1 comment:
I was upset to miss the Tenebrae service that Cathy arranged, but networks Southern and South West conspired against me. The last one I attended was at convent school: upper sixth Rigby form were a miserable, surly lot but it was extremely affecting, even for us! I've heard that Lymington's Tenebrae was beautiful and moving, and I hope you hold one next year.
I managed to get to the Easter Vigil at Our Lady of Mercy; again, I hadn't been to a later evening mass on Easter Saturday for a few years. I was slightly worried about Father Danny's pyrotechnics, but the Easter Fire at the altar was wonderful: far more dramatic than Father John Paul's flaming newspapers in An Island Parish. And not a singed altar server in sight. It was lovely to see so many parishioners and visitors there, even at 9 o'clock on a warm Saturday night. It felt as though I had taken my lit candle back down the High Street with me. Thank you all for a beautiful service.
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