Candlemas at NDS

The seminary community celebrated the ancient Feast of the Presentation of the Lord known also as Candlemas on February 2. The liturgical rites provide the option of blessing candles and then having a candle light procession. We gathered at our Woman at the Well Fountain for the blessing of candles and then proceeded to the Immaculate Conception Chapel for the celebration of Mass. The feast recalls the visit that our Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph made to the Temple in Jerusalem to follow the prescriptions of the law to present Jesus as well as follow the rites for the purification of women. Simeon and Anna were in the Temple as they recognizes Jesus as the Light to the Nations. Considering the darkness of sin we see throughout the world and the effects of sin in our own personal lives, we turn to the Lord asking for the same graces that allowed Simeon and Anna to recognize Jesus as God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.