MM 50 Years Ago

A Candle Meditation

A candle at the celebration of Mass burns toward God. We are like these candles and must allow God to light the wick of our souls so that we may be consumed and transformed into the warmth of the flame that soars to God.

In our world which by the fall of Adam and Eve lies below Heaven, the dwelling place of God, we are so often content to nurture the growth and shaping of the wax casing that we forget that our true destiny lies in the liberation of the flame which carries all to God.

The flame is nurtured by God’s glorious grace, a strength that we must learn to grow upon, for it is absolute completeness, and the weakness of our fallen nature cannot readily thrive in such abundance.

The light that spreads from the flame penetrates into surrounding darkness and so the reflected glory of a soul growing strong in the life of God passes to others in darkness the warmth of faith, hope and charity. 

This light, which has God as its source and sacrifice of Christ as nourishment, is a charity with our Lord in the redemption of the world.

Gaylene Wait on the occasion of the final profession of two Dominican Sisters in Dunedin in 1972.