Source and Summit: Reflections for a Eucharistic Revival

Always Burning in His Presence

Father Andrew Hofer, O.P.

Originally published in Magnificat (August 2023) and reprinted here by permission. To learn more, and to subscribe, visit: www.magnificat.com

During my first year of formation as a Dominican friar, I was assigned to be the sacristan of the priory chapel. One of my duties was to make sure that the sanctuary candle, that light close to the tabernacle, was always burning. I loved that responsibility.

In the Holy Eucharist, Christ’s presence does not modify the appearances of the signs of bread and wine. Mere sight cannot distinguish between a wafer of bread and a consecrated host. That the consecrated host is within a ciborium, kept safe in a locked tabernacle, adds to the hiddenness. A candle burning in the sanctuary stirs up our devotion to the Real Presence, so mysteriously hidden.

Of course, the tabernacle itself may be constructed or veiled in a way that suggests what it holds. My favorite tabernacle design can be seen in the visitors’ center of the Carmelite monastery at the edge of the former Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, outside of Munich, Germany. 2,579 Catholic priests were interred in Dachau between 1933 and 1945. 1,034 died during their imprisonment. For a time, the priests had a tabernacle with a large inscription in German, ICH BIN BEI EUCH ALLE TAGE, which are Christ’s words before his Ascension: I am with you always (Mt 28:20). The tabernacle tells us that Christ is present–even when we experience a sort of hell on earth.

While a tabernacle is designed to hold the Blessed Sacrament, a lit tabernacle candle–which is always in the process of being consumed and therefore needs to be tended to–actually signifies the Real Presence. For example, the tabernacle at the Dachau monastery is presently empty; it used to hold Christ’s presence, but now it serves as a museum piece. No one needs to attend to it, because there is no presence within. A sanctuary candle, on the other hand, needs to be changed regularly, such as every 7, 8, or 14 days. The sanctuary candle’s flickering flame emphasizes the present tense of Christ’s abiding with us. It says to us that he is here now.

The tabernacle candle can be a symbol not only for the Real Presence in the tabernacle, but also for our own living of a Eucharistic life. Jesus who is the light of the world (Jn 8:12), tells his disciples, you are the light of the world (Mt 5:14). Ours is a borrowed light that speaks of his presence when we are true to the name “Christian.” Christ our light comes to us in the Eucharist so that we might shine with his light in the world. Just as a tabernacle candle needs to be regularly tended to in order to proclaim the ongoing truthfulness of Christ’s presence, so our lives need the frequent acceptance of God’s will, the grace of the sacraments, and the practice of charity to let the world know that Christ is here now.

This teaching has great importance, especially in the midst of suffering. You may be experiencing a sort of hell on earth. Nevertheless, think of what hell really is. The Church teaches that hell is “the definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed” (CCC 1033). In the midst of suffering, Christ is present and gives light to those in darkness. The crucified and risen Lord invites us to draw ever closer to himself and to one another in his communion. Our lives can give testimony to that communion.

I want my life to be like the tabernacle candle, and it is in daily carrying my cross that I can shine. In whatever suffering you experience, let your life be like the tabernacle candle, always burning in his presence.

Father Andrew Hofer, O.P., raised on a Kansas farm, teaches theology on the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Dominican House of Studies, in Washington, D.C.