The Church has honored Saint Lucy as a virgin martyr for
almost fifteen hundred years.
Like St. Cecilia, St. Agnes, and St. Agatha, we honor St. Lucy
as a consecrated virgin. Consecrated
virginity was a counter-cultural sign in the Roman Empire when she lived, and
it continues to be this way today.
The virgins remind us that we are not to live for this world
alone, and that all of us, whether priests, married, single are to dedicate our
entire selves to God. All of our gifts,
physical, mental, spiritual, time , talent, and treasure, are to be given back
to God for the building up of his kingdom.
Where our culture worships promiscuity—the virgins teach us
of the great joy of purity and chastity, and remind us that happiness is found
in embracing Christ.
Where our culture worships physical beauty, the virgins
teach us that physical beauty is inferior to spiritual beauty. And that the human soul is made beautiful by
imitating Christ, who himself was a virgin consecrated to His Father’s Will.
Our Catholic History is full of extraordinarily courageous women
like St. Lucy, who teach us by their grace, their strength, and their love of
Christ. Her name, Lucy, in Latin, means "Light" and
is regarded as the patron saint of the blind.
The collect prayer for her feast asks for her help so that we may “behold
things eternal.” We are so often distracted by temporal, passing things.
Instead of nurturing our souls, growing in charity, we become enamored with the
trivial and spiritually blind to that which matters most.
Perhaps we do well to identify this things and activities which
vie for our attention, which distract us, which all too often draw our gaze
away from Christ. Perhaps we would do well to fast from these things for the
rest of Advent.
St. Lucy is another wonderful Advent saint, who helps us prepare
to gaze upon the loveliness of Christ by focusing more intently upon Him. May St. Lucy truly help us turn more deeply
to behold things eternal for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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