The Candle Story (Part 1)

 For the last five years I've wanted to share this story.  It's a true story that I've shared with some friends and they have encouraged me to share it with you. I've made it into installments so it's not such a chore to read.  I hope you find something within it to grow your faith.  

To GOD be the praise, 

To Him be the Glory.

He is the author 

of EVERY great story. 

In March of 2020 the whole world shifted. Do you remember? A new kind of sickness, a coronavirus known as COVID-19 was spreading worldwide, and the CDC was trying to get a handle on it. The whole world became gripped with a crippling fear of catching or spreading this deadly virus and people were encouraged to avoid each other LITERALLY “like the plague”. This threat quickly reached pandemic proportions and drove everyone indoors. Schools shut down. Businesses closed and many employees had to learn how to work from home, except for those deemed “essential workers”. Medical staff, food service workers, and many others continued to go to work in person to try to keep the world running.  Our familiar way of life quickly became uncharted territory as we learned how to navigate life in these “unprecedented times” without making actual physical contact with each other. We wiped down our groceries before bringing them into the house, changed our clothes when we had been around other people, and wore masks EVERYWHERE when we had to leave the house. People kept a “social distance” of 6 feet apart. We were all going to have to get creative to get through this pandemic.   

I should probably explain something about March in Michigan. In March, it's cold, dark, and wet. It is winter’s last hurrah, and the last bits of spending 4–5-months indoors. It's the final few weeks of hibernation and the people inside the house are chomping at the bit to burst back into life.  However, in March of 2020, “shelter in place” was the name of the game. Instead of the usual five months of being indoors, interspersed with outings for celebrations and basketball games, shopping and visiting friends, we were just… waiting. With our own people. Really…  really…  really… together. It was the tail end of winter, cold and dark, still indoors… and in 2020, it seemed like it would never end.

On March 19^th, our Bishop Paul Bradley of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan, sent a public letter, which included the following.   

 “I must admit that this is the most difficult challenge and heart-wrenching decision I have faced, not only as your Bishop, but in my life as a priest. Never could I imagine that I would be faced with such a need to restrict our people from coming together to celebrate this greatest act of worship that Jesus has given to us in the Eucharistic Celebration of the Holy Mass, especially as our Diocese is observing our “Year of the Eucharist”…

However, in cooperation with the directives of the Center for Disease Control and the Governor of the State of Michigan, and in concert with my brother Bishops throughout the Province and our country, beginning on Friday, March 20, 2020, all public celebrations of the Holy Mass are suspended until at least April 5, 2020…”

Lent began on February 26^th that year, so this pandemic started right smack in the middle of it. There were things we had all given up, and the running joke was that Covid was what everyone WANTED to give up for Lent this year. It was like the whole world was given this external Lenten penance. A new era was being born.  If you wanted to be Catholic, you had to BE CATHOLIC, intentionally finding ways to live your faith. There was no more just showing up at a church on Sunday morning for an hour. If you wanted that connection, you had to work for it.  Masses were offered virtually on Zoom, Skype, Facebook live, and a variety of other platforms. If you wanted to worship, you had to PLAN for it, SEEK IT OUT, and we did.  We went to outdoor Eucharistic Adoration. We attended drive-up confessions, we did our very best to stay Catholic, but one thing was missing.  

I missed the Mass. That is a MASSIVE understatement.  It had been several weeks since I had been able to attend Mass in person, and with 2020 being the “Year of the Eucharist”, I hungered and thirsted for it.  “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.” (Psalm 42:1 NSRV) Okay, that doesn’t seem strong enough to express my need and desire for the actual body and blood, soul and divinity of my Lord and Savior in the flesh, but I’ve also never been a thirsty deer, so maybe it’s spot on. They say you want most what you can’t have, and I was STARVING for the Eucharist.                                       

Easter Sunday was April 12, so there was still some hope that we would be back in person in time for celebrating the Easter Triduum (Three Days) that is the Superbowl of Catholic worship. As days and weeks stretched on, it became clear that this year’s Triduum and Holy Week would be nothing like what we were used to.  There would be no worshipping together with all our friends and family. There would be no choir. No lights. No dressing up to celebrate. There would be no Friday stations of the cross, or soup and bread dinners. There would be emptiness like the silence of the tomb. The depth of my sadness caught me by surprise.

On Good Friday, all the lights in the church are extinguished. Every single candle. It is a vital part of the Triduum. The light of the world is unavailable, then when all seems lost, a new fire is lit on Holy Saturday evening. That light dispels the darkness of the grave and begins our Easter celebration as first one candle is lit from a new fire outdoors, and then the flame is passed from candle to candle, held by our brothers and sisters, friends and family, until the entire church is aglow with HIS light!  It’s so BEAUTIFUL! Seeing the candlelight spread and the joy in everyone’s hearts, and the singing begins, and the grand, glorious EXULTANT Halleluia is sung and the WHOLE STORY IS TOLD, and people are getting baptized and joining the church and we’re all REVELING in the VICTORY that Christ has won for all of us! 

But it was 2020… and, well… COVID. 

I had questions. Concerns, really. Maybe even a little fear. Would a new fire be coming into the Church if there was no one there to share it with? Would it all still happen, even if we aren't there to participate? I consulted Father Chris Ankley, my dear friend, and he ensured me that the Triduum would be celebrated by those priests living at the rectory together.  I asked if he would light a candle for me from that new fire. I figured having that holy light in our home would be a connection to the light burning in the church. One fire, two flames.  Father Chris said he'd be happy to light a candle from the new fire for me. He said was saying Mass at 8:00 AM on Easter Sunday morning, and I could come to the church to get it.  

To be continued…