what is the significance of candles during wakes for catholic and buddhist?

Question

since all saints day is coming up, am just wondering why we need to light candles

Answer 1

religious ceremonies tend to stick to rituals that have been around for hundreds of years..... well, that was obviously before light bulbs/electricity .... hence the candles look nice, ritualistic and well worth keeping around in churches , temples and on birthday cakes

Answer 2

It's more symbolic than anything - Scripture notes that it is a smell pleasing to the Lord (Ex 30:34-37), and it is to be used in the Holiest of places (Ex 31:11). Revelation (ch 5 and 8 specifically) note that it is like the prayers coming to the Lord at His altar in Heaven. Catholic churches are distinct from many Protestant churches in that they are held to be for worship alone. As a sign of the holy purpose of the church, incense is to be burned there. Thus you see the "Catholic imagination" as Dan Greeley puts it at work to stimulate the senses and bring a fuller sense of worship. Blessings in your discernment about the Catholic faith.

Answer 3

I'm not sure about the wakes, but I know the candles in the Catholic church itself are for prayers said for different people and things. It could be the same reason at wakes.

Answer 4

I think candles have been used to symbolised the mortality of human beings, and we lit the candles, as a gesture of faith, of handing over our lives to the higer powers.

Candles also can be seen as a guiding lights, for the lost and wayward souls. And may the lights guide them to their eternal resting place and let their souls know peace

Answer 5

Many things attached to religious worship, like candles, music, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc. are shared by many if not all religions.

They are part of the natural language of mystical expression. Many are even used in secular ceremonies.

In Christianity, candles have been used as a symbol of the spiritual enlightenment of Jesus Christ since the earliest Church days.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03246a.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 6

Symbolizes the light that will help the soul see the path towards eternal bliss.

Answer 7

ALRIGHT!!! a burning candle question!!!!
I've NEVER had to answer one of these before
*rubs hands together with glee*

Answer 8

It's one of the symbols they use to represent the holy spirit

Answer 9

It's to symbolize mans complete disregard to the environment that supports us.

Answer 10

THE use of lights as an adjunct to worship goes back to the beginning of the Church, and even farther. Among the Jews and in many pagan rites the use of lights had long been looked upon as appropriate in connection with public homage to their God or gods. It is probable that among Christians they were first employed simply to dispel darkness, when the sacred mysteries were celebrated before dawn, as was the custom, or in the gloom of the catacombs; but the beautiful symbolism of their use was soon recognized by the writers of the early Church.



The Symbolism of Candles.
Light is pure; it penetrates darkness; it moves with incredible velocity; it nourishes life; it illumines all that comes under its influence. Therefore it is a fitting symbol of God, the All Pure, the Omnipresent, the Vivifier of all things, the Source of all grace and enlightenment. It represents also our Blessed Savior and His mission. He was "the Light of the world,"[John 8:12, NAB] to enlighten "them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death."[Luke 1:79, NAB; see also Matthew 4:16 , NAB.]

1John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all." NRSV, NAB.
Even the use of wax has its symbolic meaning. The earlier Fathers of the Church endeavored always to seek out the mystical significance of Christian practices, and one of them thus explains the reason for the Church's law requiring candles to be of wax:

"The wax, being spotless, represents Christ's most spotless Body; the wick enclosed in it is an image of His Soul, while the glowing flame typifies the Divine Nature united with the human in one Divine Person."

In addition, the flame, and thus fire, is a symbol of God according to scripture:

Acts 7:30 "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 'I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." NRSV, NAB.

Matt. 3:11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." NRSV, NAB.

Acts 2:1 "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability." NRSV, NAB.

Deut. 4:32 "For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? 33 Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived?" NRSV, NAB.

1Kgs. 18: 24 [Elijah said] "then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the LORD; the god who answers by fire is indeed God." All the people answered, "Well spoken!" NRSV, NAB.

Ps. 68:2 "As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God." NRSV, NAB.

Heb. 12:29 "...for indeed our God is a consuming fire." NRSV, NAB, quoting Deut. 4:24 NIV, NAB.

Rev. 2:18 "These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire..." Emphasis added.] NRSV, NAB.
[Therefore, the candles burning next to the ambo or altar should remind us especially of the tongues of fire that appeared above the apostles when the Holy Spirit descended on them at Pentecost. Just as God was present in them, he is present in the Word of God, and at the altar during the liturgy of the Eucharist.]