Question: Why has the Easter Candle not been lit during this week’s Masses? (The week after Ascension Thursday.)
Answer: The Easter Candle—usually called the “Paschal Candle”—is a symbol of the risen Christ. It is blessed at the Easter Vigil after the priest carries the light of a newly kindled fire into the Church, proclaiming that it is “Lumen Christi—the Light of Christ.” It is a pillar of wax made by virgin bees, representing the virginally conceived flesh of Christ, into which are inserted five red grains of incense which represent His wounds.
The Paschal Candle is used later in the Vigil service in conjunction with the blessing of baptismal water, for Easter (together with Pentecost and the Epiphany) is a traditional feast for the Baptism of adult converts. During the blessing, three times, each more deeply, the priest immerses the base of the burning candle into the water, saying each time:
The Candle remains lit during the Vigil Mass and the Office of Lauds, and is lighted for the Masses of the Easter season until Ascension Thursday. The Epistle and Gospel of the Ascension describe our Lord’s bodily ascension into the heights of heaven on the fortieth day, so after the principal Mass on Thursday the Paschal Candle is extinguished and remains that way in the sanctuary during the nine days until Pentecost, the feast of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Mary and the Apostles. The candle is not lighted again, unless baptismal water is again blessed on the Vigil of Pentecost.
A modern practice has developed in which the Pascal Candle is lighted again for the Masses of Pentecost and its Octave. This is not altogether unreasonable—as we have seen, the Candle is used to symbolize “the power of the Holy Ghost descend[ing] into all the waters of this font”—and the Church refers to Baptism as “a new birth by water and the Holy Ghost.” Yet it must be clearly understood that God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are two distinct Persons for all eternity. It is erroneous to think that the Second Person somehow “morphed” into the Third Person. There may be this danger if one and the same symbol is used to represent first the risen Christ, and then the descended Holy Ghost.
Sounds like a good sermon topic for Trinity Sunday, which comes the week after Pentecost.