What are those candles for?

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OrbisNonSufficit

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Blessed Sunday everyone. Today I decided to attend Divine Liturgy. I lighted up candles for my beloved deceased ones. They were yellow and I put them into sand-like-thing… information on those is also appreciated.

During the Liturgy (quite near the end actually), one of servers came and handed out candles to everyone present. Naturally, I took one as well. I know some things were following after liturgy, so I was under impression that I will be using that candle later. However, everything ended and candles were not used. Now I have one white candle with me (and actually according to my impression, so do all others who were present) and brought it home. What is it for ? What should I do with it? What should I definitely NOT do with it? Thanks in advance.
 
Thank you for amazing link. Would I be correct to assume I can light the candle as a prayer unspecified time later, or should I do it today? Asking mostly because I would like to light it to pray before important exam coming up this week.
OurLadyofSorrows said:
They represent the light of Christ This Sunday is Candlemass
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I see. It didn’t even occur to me that it is related to today’s Feast… silly me. Oh well, every day we learn something new 🙂 Thank you.
 
You can light it any time you want to pray or feel closer to the Lord.

As I mentioned on another thread, my mother would light them during bad thunderstorms, which scared her.
 
I had to pay $4 for mine in the Latin rite! 😆

Edit – it was a donation, not a payment, and completely voluntary.
 
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Jen95 said:
I had to pay $4 for mine in the Latin rite! 😆
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😃 As a fellow Latin, I feel you. Though to be quite honest there were like 4 times I reached for my wallet during the Divine Liturgy today, so I contributed something too… though probably nowhere near $4.
 
It’s not a payment but a donation. To charge money for items already blessed is simony. A donation is a gift, i.e. an act of charity.
 
We ALWAYS lit blessed candles when a storm was approaching. I still do too.
 
Margaret_Ann said:
It’s not a payment but a donation. To charge money for items already blessed is simony. A donation is a gift, i.e. an act of charity.
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I’ve seen some parishes where are you either bring your own candle or purchase a candle from the Church prior to the blessing. In that case, it is actually purchasing the candle, but not the blessing.
 
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I learnt at Mass today when the celebrating Priest was blessing the candles, we processed into Church with lit candles and kept them lit until he told us to extnguish them. We dont pay for the candles and can bring others to be blessed.
 
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We lit a blessed candle every Christmas Eve and let it burn all night to welcome the Christ Child.
 
OrbisNonSufficit said:
I lighted up candles for my beloved deceased ones. They were yellow and I put them into sand-like-thing… information on those is also appreciated.
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Yellow candles are normally bee’s was - We use the hand-dipped 1/4" ones normally, and we pray for intercession for others when we light one… There is symbolism in the burning of the wax - Fasting, for instance, burns flesh and gives Light… Many Churches have candle sand boxes, and many have candle stands of assorted sizes of candle holders for different size candles…

One of my favorites is to pray for someone I encounter during the week and for all who are his or hers… And I often light a candle for those whom I have forgotten fo pray for… There is no end… But they are prayer candles, mostly used during services, so that your prayer for someone is extended throughout the service, with the result that it is not only you but the Church praying for the one you are praying for with the candle…

geo
 
The candles represent Christ.
Christ is the light of the world.

In the blessing of the candles on the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, the Canticle, of course, receives great prominence both in its text and in the references to Simeon in the preceding prayers. Its last verse, “Lumen ad revelationem” etc., forms the Antiphon which not only precedes and follows the Canticle, but also precedes every verse of it and the Gloria Patri and Sicut erat of the concluding doxology. The symbolism of the Canticle and of its Antiphon is further emphasized by the lighted [candles]

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11159a.htm
 
Any lit candle is a sign of prayer. The heat and smoke rising represent our prayers rising to the Archangels, who bear them to the throne of God (Tobit 12). As such, they are appropriate at any and all times, but especially during our prayers.
 
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