The Shabbat candles have ushered the holiness of Shabbat into the Jewish home for thousands of years -- ever since the matriarch Sarah illuminated her tent with her Friday night lights.
The primary function of the Shabbat candles is to bring peace and tranquility into the home and to enhance our enjoyment of the Shabbat meal. The candles also serve to remind us of the spiritual dimensions of Shabbat: just as a physical candle reveals the otherwise unseen contents of a room, so, too, in a spiritual sense, the Shabbat candles reveal the unseen and intangible G-dly energy which permeates our existence.
