Question about candles

Started by Daniel, January 02, 2019, 03:28:27 PM

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Daniel

I'm not sure I ever understood the theology behind the candles.

I am wondering, why is it ok to light candles? Christ abolished the sacrifices, yet Catholics light candles.

Also, why is it ok to offer candles to the saints? From what I've heard, sacrifices are a sign of latria. So how is this practice not a kind of idolatry?

Josephine87

In what way is a candle a sacrifice? Do you mean because they were historically made with animal fat? I thought they had to be beeswax to be used and blessed.
"Begin again." -St. Teresa of Avila

"My present trial seems to me a somewhat painful one, and I have the humiliation of knowing how badly I bore it at first. I now want to accept and to carry this little cross joyfully, to carry it silently, with a smile in my heart and on my lips, in union with the Cross of Christ. My God, blessed be Thou; accept from me each day the embarrassment, inconvenience, and pain this misery causes me. May it become a prayer and an act of reparation." -Elisabeth Leseur

Daniel

#2
I'll first point out, not all sacrifices are animal sacrifices. In the Old Testament there were also grain sacrifices and incense sacrifices. I'm not sure about candles though. (The closest thing I can find would be the menorah, but that's a little different.)

But I would say that candles seem to be a sacrifice because they're basically a kind of burnt offering. The candle is lit and then totally consumed by the fire. Not only that, but the candle is beeswax. Beeswax is better than the cheap stuff, and more expensive, so it's more of a sacrifice.

Stubborn

The Altar candles are 100% beeswax, but the votive candles, the ones the people light only need to be 51% beeswax. 

Lighting candles has nothing to do with sacrifice, not sure where that idea even came from.

It's really very simple; when we light a candle, we say a prayer, most often for a certain intention - as long as that candle burns, that prayer goes up to heaven. I like to think of the lit candle, and I think this is true for all Catholics who light a candle, as a type of alert to heaven, a constant reminder of our pleading if you will until the candle goes out.

A long time ago I lit I think 8 or 10 candles in thanksgiving for a favor I received - you may light as many as you wish, just remember to always put the donation in there lol. 

   
Even after a long life of sin, if the Christian receives the Sacrament of the dying with the appropriate dispositions, he will go straight to heaven without having to go to purgatory. - Fr. M. Philipon; This sacrament prepares man for glory immediately, since it is given to those who are departing from this life. - St. Thomas Aquinas; It washes away the sins that remain to be atoned, and the vestiges of sin; it comforts and strengthens the soul of the sick person, arousing in him a great trust and confidence in the divine mercy. Thus strengthened, he bears the hardships and struggles of his illness more easily and resists the temptation of the devil and the heel of the deceiver more readily; and if it be advantageous to the welfare of his soul, he sometimes regains his bodily health. - Council of Trent

Philip G.

When I think of candle use, I don't think of sacrificing the candle.  I think of being old fashioned.  It wasn't that long ago that my ancestors were using candles/flame to light their way.  I find that to be the sacred element.
For the stone shall cry out of the wall; and the timber that is between the joints of the building, shall answer.  Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city by iniquity. - Habacuc 2,11-12

Tales

This is the classic western mindset, gotta question everything and destroy the beauty behind it.  I am not attempting to be flippant or dodge the question.
Sometimes when we analyze something too much we end up beating it into the ground, and all that's left are meaningless bits of info & data.

If your primary concern is idolatry, is it not enough that both the Catholic & Orthodox do it to indicate that its licit?

Gardener

Not just Catholic and Orthodox. Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, et al.; even some evangelicals are starting to reintegrate incense and candles in their services. Many Protestants engage in use of sacramentals, even if they aren't as overtly religious as medals and rosaries.
"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

aquinas138

Quote from: Davis Blank - EG on January 08, 2019, 05:54:53 AM
This is the classic western mindset, gotta question everything and destroy the beauty behind it.  I am not attempting to be flippant or dodge the question.
Sometimes when we analyze something too much we end up beating it into the ground, and all that's left are meaningless bits of info & data.

If your primary concern is idolatry, is it not enough that both the Catholic & Orthodox do it to indicate that its licit?

Bingo. If Catholics of all rites, the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox, AND the Assyrian Church, and the various offshoots of all the foregoing all agree on some practice, then, friends, that's an infallible sign of permissibility that really needs no definition.
What shall we call you, O full of grace? * Heaven? for you have shone forth the Sun of Righteousness. * Paradise? for you have brought forth the Flower of immortality. * Virgin? for you have remained incorrupt. * Pure Mother? for you have held in your holy embrace your Son, the God of all. * Entreat Him to save our souls.