Candlemas Day

The “Thin Time” between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox

Today is one of those ancient “pagan” memorials that morphed into a Christian feast of blessing and lighting candles—and even into America’s “groundhog day.” But both were pointing to the mythic “shadow” times of life, threshold space if you will, where God and mystery could be grasped in the interplay and interface between darkness and light (November 1-2 was the other “thin time,” which became All Saints Day and All Souls Day). These are the “shadowlands” where we discover Mystery and ourselves.

Don’t believe people who say we did not build on our pagan roots and traditions. The foundations were already there, as the Holy Spirit has been guiding humanity since our very beginnings. As Catholic theology insisted, “grace builds on nature” and probably can only build on nature, and human nature is always “shadowy,” a mixed blessing.

Let’s use this “thin time” to rediscover and accept our deepest nature. For remember, nothing is secular or pagan unless it is superficial. To go to the depths of anything is to discover the sacred, and the holy.

~ Fr. Richard Rohr
February 2, 2010