Rorate Mass and Candle Offerings at the National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori

“All of the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
—Saint Francis of Assisi

Holy Mother Church has given us the tradition of Rorate Mass in the midst of Advent as an opportunity to contemplate the mystery of darkness and light. Outside, the streets and fields wait in night’s stillness for dawn, but inside the sanctuary, candlelight leaps into the shadows and overpowers them. We may feel as if the darkness of sin and indifference – like the darkness of the troubles that plague our world, our nation, and our Church – threatens to overwhelm and destroy the Light of Christ. But darkness cannot overcome light. The light of just one candle is enough to dispel darkness. Imagine the power of the Light of the World!

It is especially poignant that this candlelit Mass is offered in honor of Our Lady, as it was she who held and nurtured inside of her the Eternal Light. The Rorate Mass is a visible, burning reminder that, by vigilantly tending the flame of faith in our own hearts through prayer and penance, humility and hope, we prepare for the dawn of Christ inside ourselves too.

It takes days to set up all the candles in the Shrine before Rorate. Hundreds of tiny, flickering flames set the altar and sanctuary aglow. We invite you to join us in this spiritual labor by offering a candle to Our Lady this year for your particular intentions. The Rorate Mass will be offered for those intentions enrolled. And the candles that burn for those intentions will continue to bear your prayers to Heaven for seven days and nights.

Unite your prayers to our Lady’s at this year’s Rorate Mass by lighting a candle. Together, let us hearken to the Dawn, hidden just beyond the horizon: https://stalphonsusbalt.org/rorate

Watch the live broadcast of High Mass from the Shrine, featuring Francisco Guerrero’s Missa Beata Mater and a prelude and motets by Biebl, Poulenc, Ola Gjeilo, and Palestrina. Mass begins just before dawn at 6 am on Saturday, 14 December: https://youtube.com/live/pwwZi8T9-Yk