Feast of the Purification 2024
The candle is one of the great sacramentals of the Church.  It is like a sacrament in the sense that it is an outward sign, but unlike a sacrament, it does not give grace automatically.  This day links Our Lord and the Blessed Mother so closely.  Today we remember both the joyful mystery of the Rosary and the first of the Virgin Mary’s great sorrows.  Because the Mother of God was not affected by original sin, and because of the Virginal Birth, she was not subject to the law requiring purification.  However, she submitted to it in all humility.  God used the New Eve to carry the New Adam into the Garden, when the Blessed Mother carried Our Lord into the temple.
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