Two Candles

An Adoration Message: The Tale of Two Candles

            Several years ago, when I attended my Hour of Adoration in the Chapel of St. Mary’s Church in Littleton, Colorado, the Lord ‘spoke’ to me by way of the two candles burning on either side of the plain, wooden Monstrance. Typically, these candles were of approximately equal size, but on this occasion, the one to my right was tall and very large, looking almost new, with a strong and steady flame; the other was nearly gone, its melting wax transparent, as the flame tossed to and fro as it seemed to struggle for its life.

            As I gazed at these candles, two sort of ‘parables’ came to mind in sequence. In the first, I thought of the tall, large candle and its flame as representative of the mature Christian, who was full of Christ and His life, and whose light was burning strong and bright to attract others not to him, but to Christ through him. The nearly ‘empty’ candle, with its ‘flickering, wildly dancing’ flame represented the ‘worldly’ man, whose every thought was governed by ‘popular opinion’ and whose beliefs changed with the wind.

            No sooner had this image completed itself in my mind when a second, and for me, more relevant ‘parable’ came. This time, it was the tall, ‘strong’ candle that represented the worldly man – he was proud, arrogant and full of himself. He called others to look at and admire him, his intelligence and accomplishments. The other, struggling for existence candle was now the faithful, persevering Christian. He was being continually cursed and beaten by the world because he insisted on speaking the Truth of Christ Crucified. Insults came at him from every direction, yet he fought on for what he believed, determined to continue the fight until the last ounce was spent.