Archbishop Dolan's Thought for the Week

February 3, 2009 - Year of St. Paul
Feast of St. Blaise

Dear Friends united in love and service of Jesus Christ and His Church:

Haven’t the last couple of days been magnificent? Sure, snow still lingers, but the sun has been brilliant, the sky baby-eye-blue, the wind mild, the temperatures bearable.

Sunday, I was even able to do something I had not done since Christmas: take a long walk!

We’re realists here in Wisconsin, so we admit that the cold, the snow, the bleakness, and the wind will persevere for awhile yet. But . . . in the air, in the seconds of lingering sunlight each day . . . well, we’re detecting spring!

That all took on a spiritual dimension for us yesterday, February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Candlemas Day.

See, this ancient feast comes forty days after Christmas. (In traditional Catholic homes in Europe, the Christmas decorations, including the tree, did not come down until yesterday.) As faithful Jews, Mary and Joseph took their firstborn son, Jesus, to present Him in the temple in Jerusalem. There, of course, the holy man Simeon held Him and proclaimed the baby Jesus the long-awaited savior, the light to the dark world.

Now, stay with me here. Yesterday’s feast comes at the halfway point of winter. (December 21- March 20). Get it? The darkness (and wind, and cold, and ice, and grayness) of winter is on-the-run! The light (and warmth, and breezes, and new life and color) of spring is slowly, ever-so-slowly-but-surely, on the way. (The secular calendar has of course reduced this sacred drama of winter vs. spring, darkness vs. light to “Groundhog Day.” Oh, for the middle ages again!)

Of course, the message is clear: what spring is to winter in nature, Jesus Christ, the light of the world is for us supernaturally.

Jesus Christ is not the s-u-n, but the s-o-n. He is the light that edges out darkness, the life that conquers death, the warmth of love and mercy that triumphs over the cold of sin.

These days, we’re taking a deep breath, smiling, sticking our heads out the door, and grinning that “winter is half-way over!”

These days, spiritually, a lot of us seem stuck in the snowdrift of a winter of the soul: the recession, lost jobs, fear, worry, sickness, troubles and threats around us.

Yesterday’s feast reminds us that Jesus Christ is the eternal spring, the light of the world, whose ultimate victory of life and mercy cannot be halted, no matter how much chill and bleakness now seem to have a grip on us.

Traditionally, every altar faced east. Why? Because it was then facing the rising sun, just as at Mass, we face the risen Son. Not bad . . .

Happy day after Candlemas Day!

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan

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