By Sister Justine Nutz SSND
At St Joseph School, 87th St, Manhattan, our 4th grade always attends 8 AM daily Mass together, in assigned pews. Then we eat a brown-bag breakfast at our desks, mostly milk and jelly bread. We carefully wipe our desks clean. It is spring,1947.
9 AM, hands on hearts, we stand, pledge allegiance first to the Cross*, and then to the Flag, and then pray the Morning Offering. As we wait for our first class, Religion, we are whispering and wondering why our teacher has 3 candles on her desk: small, medium, and tall.
Sister Francis Paula, SSND, a large, exuberant, kindly woman, has a flair for drama! It is a week before Pentecost and she has been preparing us for Confirmation at the end of May. Now she says:
Children, when we are born, God puts an invisible candle in our souls. Each of you has a candle. Some of you have tall candles, some have medium ones, some have small ones.
Those with tall candles live a very long time, like your grandparents.
Those with medium candles live medium years, maybe around 50. Those with short candles live shorter lives, maybe 10 or 20.
Of course, by this time we are all mesmerized, staring at these candles, wondering, “Which one did God give me? I hope it’s not a short one.”
Then Sister takes a pack of matches and, with a flourish, slowly lights each candle, pausing for dramatic effect.
Now, children, the important thing is not how tall your candle is, because God knows best how many years to give you. See these flames? The important thing is always, every day, to keep your candle lit and keep your light shining!
Then she expounded on how the 7 Gifts and 12 Fruits keep the flames burning, a mystery to 9-year-old minds. I can still recite the Gifts and Fruits and see those three candle flames clearly.
Back in the day when teachers could light candles on their desks, I, too, would enact the visual of the Three Candles and teach how one’s Gifts and Fruits are both personal and for sharing. It always seemed to touch young hearts.
Today, I am grateful to God for the tall candle God put into my soul!
I hope my candle keeps on burning till 2033, because I hope to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of SSND. Meanwhile, I ask God’s Holy Spirit to the keep our Gifts coming and our Fruits ripening!
*I pledge allegiance to the cross of Christ, and to the Church for which it stands, one, holy, catholic and apostolic, with grace and salvation for all.
