Peace Light from Bethlehem in parish

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

While lighting a candle with a flame from Bethlehem at her church in Worcester, Bernadette Pucyk talked eagerly about Jesus.
The fire from Christ’s birthplace came by way of Austria and New York, said its local coordinator, Wieslaw Rachon, Scoutmaster for the Polish Scouting Organization in Massachusetts that works with the Peace Light from Bethlehem campaign.
After the 11 a.m. Polish Mass on Sunday at Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish, Mr. Rachon stood near a candle lit from that flame, while Lana Pucyk, one of the Scouts, lit parishioners’ candles from it.
Among the parishioners was Margaret Drozdowski who said she keeps this light burning on her kitchen table, or wherever people eat, until Epiphany “because it is Christmastime.” When the candle burns down, she replaces it with a new one, but she never lets the flame go out, she said.
Mrs. Pucyk, Lana’s mother, returned to the church Sunday to get her candle relit after the wind blew it out. She lights a bigger candle with it at home, and keeps the light burning at least until Christmas Eve, she said. She expressed gratitude for the people who bring this light.
“I think that’s a wonderful tradition … it’s coming from Bethlehem,” she said.
The flame brings hope, which gives people strength to move forward even in the midst of tragedy, and reminds her of Jesus, who always comes with light, she said. Sometimes we don’t see that, she said, “but when … you open your heart for him, he always will work in that heart.” When you have a really hard life, he’s the only one who can help you, even in the pandemic.
“With him you can survive everything,” she said. “He’s the love and he’s going to burn your heart with love. When he touches the heart, you’re going to do things you never did before” – good things that better the world.
Bringing peace on earth is a major goal of sharing the flame.
“The Peace Light, symbolic of the Light of Christ especially evident at Christmas, promotes peace, harmony, and unity among all people of the world – every race, ethnicity, and creed,” says the website peacelightnorthamerica.org. “For several decades, the Scouts around the world have actively promoted global peace and harmony through sharing the Peace Light.”
The Peace Light from Bethlehem campaign was organized in 1986 by the Austrian Broadcasting Company as part of a relief mission for children, the website says. Since then, Scouts have helped the light travel through Europe.
A child from Austria goes on pilgrimage annually to get the flame from the grotto at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where oil lamps have burned continuously for more than 1,000 years, according to the website. During the third week of Advent, Scouts come to Vienna for a dedication service, and take the light back to churches, hospitals and other places in their countries.
The light was first introduced to the United States in 2000, the website says, and after 9/11, Austrian and United Kingdom Peace Light organizers brought it to Maine, where Scouts met it. It was taken to Ground Zero in New York City with a message of peace and hope. Soon after, it was formally presented to the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral as a message of love for Americans.
Today, in cooperation with Austrian Scouts and Austrian Airlines, the light is brought to New York and welcomed by the Catholic Committee on Scouting of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and Scouts share it throughout the nation, the website says.
Mr. Rachon said he knew about the Peace Light tradition from his contacts in Poland, and 10 years ago introduced it at Our Lady of Czestochowa and to Scoutmasters of Polish troops on the East Coast of the United States.
He sometimes picks up the light in New York, he said, but this year someone coming to Massachusetts brought it. Mr. Rachon said when he goes himself, he lights an oil lamp during a ceremony in a chapel at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and transports the lamp in a bucket.
“I cannot describe it,” he said of this experience. “It’s overwhelming. It’s very nice … knowing where this came from and what it represents.”
At Our Lady of Czestochowa, he lights a candle from the oil lamp, and keeps both burning, checking on them every other day. (He also keeps backup flames at home.) From the candle at church, people can light candles to burn in their homes.
The flame is also shared with St. Joseph Basilica Parish in Webster, and other churches are welcome to it too, Mr. Rachon said.
He said his idea is that families use the light on their tables for Christmas Eve dinner to remember that Christmas is about Jesus’ birth.