Long ago, on Christmas Eve, it was the custom to place a lighted candle in the window as a signal to any passerby that there was a welcome for them, a light shining in the darkness. The lighting of a candle in Catholic churches, in memory of a loved one, or to mark a prayer for someone in need, is a deeply meaningful action. When we leave the church, our candle burns on, eventually to be succeeded by others, a symbol of the ongoing stream of prayer. It is an outward expression of an inner instinct to do something for someone we love or who is in need. Lighting such a candle becomes not only an act of piety but also of poetry, an outward symbol of an inner reality.
