Better to light one candle

By PAUL QUIRINI- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Not long ago, Holy Infancy Church in Lake Luzerne had numerous votive candles for parishioners and visitors to light. After conducting a "spiritual survey" last year, however, the parish decided to make some changes.

Today, there is but one votive candle in the church -- the sanctuary light near the tabernacle. The candle burns for 14 days at a time and serves as a common votive candle for people who wish to offer prayers of help or thanksgiving.

"It's just like lighting a candle," said Rev. Charles Gaffigan, pastor. "It's already lit, though."

Seeing the light

During the spiritual survey, a suggestion was made to beautify the space where the tabernacle is. Father Gaffigan also viewed this as an opportunity to use the sanctuary light as the votive candle for everyone to share.

Although the option of using many votive lights was considered, the parish decided to have the sanctuary light serve as the one votive candle; the tabernacle also was beautified.

Among those who helped with this project were Martin Vrablic, who originally presented the idea to the liturgy committee; Joan Scott, who is responsible for church environment; Charles Cook, who made liturgical season draperies; Lee Cook, who did electrical work; and Gerry Maurais, who built the "please" and "thank you" boxes.

Requests, please

The boxes give people an opportunity to write prayer requests, asking for a special intention to be remembered or thanking the Lord and those who prayed for them. Father Gaffigan checks the boxes frequently; only he reads the prayer requests, which he remembers during celebration of Mass and throughout the entire day.

The idea caught on quickly; there were about 20 prayer requests submitted in the first week, and Father Gaffigan was surprised how many people dropped prayers of thanks into the "thank you" box.

BY using the sanctuary light as a votive candle, there is a reduced risk of potential fire damage in case of an accident.

Reminder

There's also a more spiritual purpose to the focus: reminding people of Christ's presence in the Eucharist as they pray. Father Gaffigan cited a Gallup survey in which 70 percent of Catholics claimed that they don't believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The pastor hopes to reaffirm this doctrine among his parishioners.

"The sanctuary lamp is the symbol of the presence of Jesus in the tabernacle and invites us to renew our belief in His presence," he said.

Father Gaffigan hopes that when people pray in front of the tabernacle and sanctuary light, they do so with faith in God's plan.

"He hears all prayers -- according to His will, though," he said. "They're asking that their prayers be answered as soon as possible. That's an attitude that deserves to be challenged."

(09-10-98) [[In-content Ad]]