Significance of Paschal Candle

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ChuckB

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Non-Catholic married to a Catholic here.

What is the significance of the Paschal Candle? I know it is displayed during the Easter season and at baptisms and funerals, but what does it signify? Why is it displayed only at these times?

Thanks.
 
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It’s a symbol of the Resurrected Christ, hence the blessing of the Paschal candle is the beginning of the Easter Vigil Mass. The Exultet hymn sung at the Vigil refers explicitly to it throughout. It is displayed during Easter time, since the Resurrection is being commemorated liturgically, at baptism since the newly baptized is buried with Christ in the waters of the font and rises with him to new life in the imparting of the sacrament, and at funerals to remind us that our hope in the Resurrection means that death is not the end, but the beginning of new life.

-Fr ACEGC
 
edward_george1 said:
It is displayed during Easter time, since the Resurrection is being commemorated liturgically
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Our priest at the EF Mass I went to for the Ascension said that the paschal candle is normally extinguished after the reading of the Gospel on Ascension Thursday. However at the OF Mass I atrentended this Sunday it was still lit. Is this another difference between the two forms or is it also relit for the next Mass in the EF? Or was it perhaps forgotten/ overlooked by Father this Sunday?
 
In the OF, it stays present in the sanctuary and lit at Mass until Pentecost, the end of the Easter season.
 
The Extraordinary Form treats Ascensiontide (the period from the Ascension until Pentecost) as a separate liturgical season, while the Ordinary Form considers it part of Paschaltide. With regard to fulfillment of the Old Covenant, Christ rose from the dead the day the first sheaf is offered before the Lord in the Temple, and the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles seven weeks later, at the anniversary of the Giving of the Law at Sinai, which is called Pentecost or Shavuot. At this time, a first fruit offering of leavened bread is offered before the Lord in the Temple.

Thus, the Ordinary Form more accurately reflects the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, but the Extraordinary Form has perfectly valid reasons for treating Ascensiontide as a separate season. The Ascension of the Lord is classed as a joyful feast, but it is in some ways bittersweet: We rejoice at Christ being enthroned as King of the Universe, and we await the Coming of the Spirit, but we also long to see Him face-to-face. Immediately after the Ascension, the angels told the Apostles to look forward to the Second Coming, which we continue to do to this day.
 
“mythbuster1 said:
The Extraordinary Form treats Ascensiontide (the period from the Ascension until Pentecost) as a separate liturgical season, while the Ordinary Form considers it part of Paschaltide. With regard to fulfillment of the Old Covenant, Christ rose from the dead the day the first sheaf is offered before the Lord in the Temple, and the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles seven weeks later, at the anniversary of the Giving of the Law at Sinai, which is called Pentecost or Shavuot. At this time, a first fruit offering of leavened bread is offered before the Lord in the Temple.

Thus, the Ordinary Form more accurately reflects the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, but the Extraordinary Form has perfectly valid reasons for treating Ascensiontide as a separate season. The Ascension of the Lord is classed as a joyful feast, but it is in some ways bittersweet: We rejoice at Christ being enthroned as King of the Universe, and we await the Coming of the Spirit, but we also long to see Him face-to-face. Immediately after the Ascension, the angels told the Apostles to look forward to the Second Coming, which we continue to do to this day.
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ChuckB said:
Non-Catholic married to a Catholic here.

What is the significance of the Paschal Candle? I know it is displayed during the Easter season and at baptisms and funerals, but what does it signify? Why is it displayed only at these times?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
It is not true to say that the EF treats Ascensiontide as a separate season. It is is simply another part of the Easter season, just as Passiontide is still part of Lent. All of the liturgical signs of the Easter season are still present during Ascensiontide:

—-Extra alleluias are still said as part of antiphons in both the Mass and Office.
—-The Vidi Aquam is still sung through Pentecost.
—-The Gradual is still replaced by the Great Alleluia, between the epistle and gospel.
—-The seasonal Marian antiphon is still Regina Caeli.

All of these are still in place through the Saturday within the Pentecost octave.
 
That is interesting.
In the EF there is a Pentecost Octave and technically the Eastertide doesn’t end until the Ascension and then goes on “Ascenciontide” until Pentecost and then there is the Pentecost Octave which of course goes until Pentecost Saturday( which is an ember day). In the OF the Pentecost Octave was omitted. ( which I think is sad, actually it used to be an octave of the highest order along with Easter, and I personally think Pentecost is second to Easter in importance in the liturgical calendar and Christmas would be third ( just my opinion). But in the OF Eastertide ends on Ascension Thursday.
I like the traditional calendar a lot.
 
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Traditionally, the Easter duty has to be fulfilled between Easter and Trinity Sundays, because the Pentecost octave is part of Eastertide.
 
At Baptism, the Baptismal candle is lit from the Paschal candle. This demonstrates that the light of faith comes from Christ Himself.

The Paschal candle has very specific markings on it. There is the cross, five grains of incense (or five pins covered in coloured wax) symbolizing the five wounds of Christ. It has the four digits of the year, and the Alpha and Omega, because Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Revelation).

Traditionally, the priest would cut the images into the candle while saying a prayer; the cuts are made at specific points during the prayer. Five grains of incense would be put into the candle. Today, many Paschal candles come with the images already printed on the candle and with five pins covered in wax to symbolize the five wounds of Jesus, or five circles on the cross in the appropriate places. The priest will still trace the outlines of the image while saying the prayer.
 
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