The Feast of St. Lucy

Saturday, December 13th Readings Reflection: Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

Today is the Feast of St. Lucy, a virgin and martyr who died in the early fourth century during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian. All we know for certain about St. Lucy’s life is that she was from Syracuse, which is modern-day Sicily. Various pious legends exist about the saint, including one in which the girl’s mother arranged for her to marry a pagan. Unbeknownst to her mother, the young Lucy had vowed her virginity to God, and so she persuaded her mother to allow her to keep her virginity and remain unmarried.

According to another pious legend, St. Lucy’s eyes were gouged out during her martyrdom, but after her death, they were found restored in her body. As a result of this legend, St. Lucy—whose name means “light”—is the patron saint of the blind. Since her death, the martyr’s body has been venerated by the faithful and transferred around Europe. On November 7, 1981, her body was stolen from its reliquary in Venice, but on December 13 of that year, it was mysteriously found in a bag outside the city.

In today’s Gospel, Our Lord tells His Apostles that St. John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy of Elijah, who was foretold would return before the Messiah to prepare His way. The people did not recognize St. John the Baptist as the prophesied precursor to the Messiah, and as a result, King Herod put him to death. Likewise, Our Lord tells His Apostles, Christ too would suffer at the hands of the unbelievers.

This somber reminder of Christ’s Passion and Death can seem untimely in the midst of our joyful Advent preparations. However, this Gospel reading reminds us of the three-fold preparation of Advent: first, to prepare for the birth of the Infant King; second, to prepare to receive Him into our hearts, which occurs physically each time we receive Holy Communion; and third, to prepare for Christ’s Second Coming. Each of these three receptions of Our Lord is intrinsically connected with the other. We cannot properly prepare our hearts for Christmas without also preparing our hearts to receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, which we do through the Sacrament of Penance. Likewise, our reception of Holy Communion serves to strengthen us in our earthly journey so that we might hear Christ call us to our eternal Home at our judgment.

The Nicene Creed, which we pray at Mass, shows this connection between the Incarnation and Christ’s Passion and Death. As we straighten from kneeling or bowing at the profession of the Incarnation, we immediately profess our belief in the Crucifixion, which Christ endured “[f]or our sake.” This connection is especially striking in the Latin version of the Creed, in which the very next word after “et homo factus est” (and became Man) is “crucifixus” (He was crucified).

Our observances of martyrs’ feasts during these days of Advent, and soon in the Christmas season itself, reminds us of the three-fold reason for which we celebrate this beautiful and holy season. We celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, yes, but we also celebrate His coming to us at each and every Mass in the Holy Eucharist and anticipate His coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. May this Feast of St. Lucy help us to remember this true reason for the Christmas season, so that we may enter the upcoming feasts more fully prepared to greet Him in His three-fold coming.

St. Lucy. Source