We hear a very interesting Scripture reading this morning from Isaiah, one of the prophets whose message is identified with the holy season of Advent. The Lord, speaking through Isaiah, tells us that he teaches us what is for our good to lead us and guide us in the right direction. The Lord explains that if we would hearken to his laws and commandments, our prosperity would flow like a river and our vindication would be like the waves of the sea.
Sounds like a straight-forward message, but probably not so simple to follow in practice. How do we always know God's will for us? How do we follow the Lord's commandments in the complex situations that confront us in our modern lives?
St Lucy is the saint we celebrate today on December 13 each year during the season of Advent. She is a very popular saint in many parts of the world. Her feast is connected with the celebration of light and winter, as her name means light and her feast day originally coincided with the winter solstice, marking the shortest day of the year. In Italy, Lucy is known as Santa Lucia. In Sicily, she is honored for her intervention in the midst of a severe famine in 1582. In a miracle attributed to St Lucy, ships filled with grain appeared in the harbor on December 13, her feast day. The people were so hungry that they didn't take the time to grind the grain into flour, but instead boiled the grains immediately. Sicilians eat a popular dish on this day in honor of this event made with boiled whole wheat berries, ricotta cheese, and sugar. Lucy is said to have been martyred during the Diocletian persecutions in the year 304. Tradition has passed down that Lucy had her eyes gauged out as a form of torture before she was put to death, so she is remembered as the patron saint of the eyes. I love how the saints help us in so many different ways, in so many different realities, how they can appear in different places, times, and cultures to help us in our time of need.
As we journey during the Advent season, we remember St Lucy today. We ask for her intercessions to help us on our journey of faith.
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