The Easter Candle is used during the Easter Season and at baptisms and funerals throughout the year.
Most Easter candles have three common features - the five wounds of Christ, the year, and an Alpha and Omega.
Picture
Five marks make up the cross representing the five wounds of Christ.
Top - Crown of Thorns
Left and Right - Nails in each hand
Bottom - One nail through his feet.
Middle - Where a spear was put into his side, which then flowed out blood and water.
Also on the candle is 2023 (using an image from last year), for the year in which the Easter Candle was blessed.
The Alpha (looks like the letter A) is above the cross, and the Omega (looks like a horseshoe) is below. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last one. These two letters represent the eternal nature of God. It anticipates Jesus' second coming and comes from the Book of Revelation 1:8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”* says the Lord God, “the one who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
On our Easter candle, we have additional images.
1) Below the cross is a victorious Lamb with the seven seals (Revelation 6), similar to what is on the front of the Saint Valentine Altar of Sacrifice (see http://www.stvalentinechurch.com/mosaics.html)
2) An angel is bowing down to a risen Christ in a golden oval. The oval is a symbol of holiness and new life.
3) Above the risen Christ is a decoration of the overflowing abundance of God's love, mercy, and grace. It has lilies and other plants showing our new life in Christ through the Paschal Mystery of His passion, death, resurrection, and ascension.
The Easter Candle is also called the Paschal Candle, coming from the word Passover. Christians believe that Easter is the fulfillment of the Jewish Passover celebration - the Last Supper was a Jewish Passover meal, and the resurrection was the fulfillment of the ancient Israelites passing from slavery to new life from the Exodus narrative.