Hey! Where did they go?

Yes!



Where did they go?
Are they under there?
Is this a part of Spring Cleaning?
How can I know who I am lighting a candle to?
Where are they?

A custom dating back to the Middle Ages is being revived in many parish churches in recent times. Parishioners are discovering that the statues and images that surround them and often invite them to light a votive candle are now being covered, draped in purple bunting. These coverings  are appearing now, or perhaps next week (Holy Week) or, as I understand, in some places they have already appeared back on Ash Wednesday.
And for those who do not remember back "when," this may be something of a mystery.
Some blogs ago I wrote about a time when we had a brief pre-Lenten season called Septuagesima. In that time our whole structure of Lent (and pre-Lent) looked different from what we are used to today. We had that time to get ready for Lent, Septuagesima, and then Lent itself which culminated in a kind of season within a season.
We called this season within the season of Lent "Passiontide."
It was the final two weeks of Lent, and in those days Lent itself extended to Holy Saturday at noon. (And please don't ask me how the decision was made to end Lent at noon on Holy Saturday!)
Passiontide, those final two weeks of Lent, focused our attention strongly on the great events leading to our salvation in Jesus Christ. Little by little, cautiously and carefully, reverently we made our way to the Upper Room and the table and the bread and wine and the garden and the courtyard of Pilate and at last to that hill called Calvary.
During these days, to keep our attention riveted on these great events, we sought to remove what might distract us. That gave rise to the covering of statues and images.
Just focus on the Table.
And the Cross.
And the wonder of God's love for you!
Nothing else really matters.
Everything else is secondary.
This is what matters.
This is what we must never forget.
This is what we must never stop gathering to celebrate.
Those covered images are still there, under all that purple bunting.
They are just calling us to focus on the very heart of our Message.
"As often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes!"  (I Corinthians 11:26)