The Light of the World

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Students at St. Rocco School observed the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas, with a candlelit procession and Mass celebrated by Pastor Father Angelo Carusi on Friday, February 2. Candlemas commemorates the purifying of the Blessed Virgin according to the Mosaic Law, 40 days after the birth of Christ, and the presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. The feast began in the Eastern Empire by Emperor Justinian I, and is mentioned in the Western Church in the Gelasian Sacramentary of the 7th century. Candles are blessed on that day in commemoration of the words of Holy Simeon concerning Christ “a light to the revelation of the Gentiles,” and processions with lighted candles are often held in churches to represent the entry of Christ, the Light of the World, into the Temple of Jerusalem.