The Feast of Candlemas is also known as the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus in the Temple. It marks to day, forty days after Jesus was born, that Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple to be presented to God.  The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus was met by Simeon and Anna in the Temple.  Simeon held the baby Jesus and called him "A light to the world."

This festival is called Candlemas because it is the day we remember when Jesus was seen as the light of the world.  We know that Jesus is our light, helping us in times of darkness.  Today the church will bless the candles it uses and remember the light of Jesus.