“The world is charged with the grandeur of God,” wrote Irish Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins — and it’s charged not only with his grandeur but also with his sensitive attentiveness. When you pause to pay attention, you begin to see his thoughtfulness present in even the smallest details.
A fun online video recently gave a great example of how even small details are “charged” with God’s presence. Fr. Chris Lawton, a Paulist priest, showed how a “magic trick” involving a candle actually contains an unforgettable lesson about faith.
In the popular Instagram video, Fr. Lawton said:
Did you know that, if a candle is extinguished, it can actually be relit from a distance?
From a physics standpoint, we know that wax in the air catches fire and the flame travels back and relights the candle.
From a spiritual standpoint, though, we could say that, if the light of faith has gone out for someone in your life, we don't have to be heavy handed and light a fire under them.
Rather, we can let the light of our own faith shine brightly and gently nearby. And even if theirs has gone out, we can let ours shine—and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.
The "candle trick" in our own lives
We had to know: Can you really relight a candle by lighting its smoke trail? It turns out you can!
Just after a candle is blown out, the smoke consists of vaporized, unburned wax particles rather than just soot. When a flame is introduced to this trail, the flammable wax vapor ignites, causing a fire to travel down the smoke path and relight the wick.
This little “magic trick” of lighting a candle from above is a great reminder that our own faith can be a light to others. Fr. Lawton reminds us: Be a light to the world for all those around you, and let the light of your faith shine.
When we let the light of Christ shine brightly within us, the Holy Spirit can use our faith to relight the faith of others.
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