The Feast of Light

Why have we adopted 2 February, feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple as the day of celebration for all Faith and Light communities in the world?

There hasn’t been a big discernment or official decision. This date came about quite naturally. The first pilgrimage took place at Easter 1971 and since 1972, a French community (Allier) decided that its annual celebration would take place at Candlemas, the day when Jesus is presented as the Light of the world and where the symbol of candles is so telling.  The idea of this celebration spread across the whole world like wildfire, as is evident. At the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, as at Faith and Light, parents are reunited with their small child and his/her friends, Simeon and Anne.

The parents, members of Faith and Light, are felt and feel more often still in their flesh, the prediction of Simeon to Mary: ‘A blade will pierce your heart’. And we see that their child is a sign of contradiction. He reveals deep thoughts which hide in the hearts. The person weak, disabled, ill, dying... deeply disturb us but it transforms us if we want to put our hand in theirs.

The Feast of Light takes place in very different ways depending on the province and communities. If the Feast of Light can rarely be celebrated on February 2nd because it is difficult to gather the community on that date, we can still encourage each other to pray «together» on this special day, wherever we are: alone, in our little prayer corner, or in small groups, or in a friendship group, or in connection with the monastery or the contemplative community praying for us, in communion with the communities around the world, forming a chain of prayer and thanksgiving for Faith and Light.