Thanksgiving is previous. The secular “Christmas season” and the Christian season of Creation have arrived. We’re getting ready for, and we’re within the midst of, many festivities. It appears that evidently Christmas lights are compulsory as we put together for the events and for the Christmas vacation itself.
I, too, am a part of this cultural pattern. I’ve been on a ladder and on the roof of my home making an attempt to determine what lights and extension cords I would like and which instructions all of them ought to go. Sooner or later, I’ll most likely even must courageous the site visitors and the buying crowds to obtain correct items for my family members.
As I used to be pondering all of those realities and endeavors, I spotted that I would like an intercessor. Within the midst of pondering, the Lord supplied a swift and stable reply. St. Lucy, whose identify means “mild,” is strictly the intercessor I would like! She’s the intercessor that every one of us want! She will be able to present immense assist, and a terrific instance, throughout this season of lights as all of us attempt to convey the sunshine and love of Jesus a bit extra absolutely into our world.
St. Lucy lived within the late-third century (born in A.D. 283). She was born to a noble household on the island of Sicily. Throughout her teenage years, she selected a lifetime of consecrated virginity as a result of she wished to be completely dedicated to God and Jesus. Moreover, she wished to serve the poor by gifting away all of her worldly items. The fiancé whom her household had organized for her didn’t admire her needs and her plan, and he handed her over to the native Roman authorities throughout the brutal persecution of emperor Diocletian. She met her dying at simply 20 years of age.
Whereas comparatively little is thought about her life, we do know that the Church venerates her reminiscence in an essential means. In any case, she is considered one of only a few ladies whose names are talked about particularly within the Roman Canon, the primary and longest Eucharistic prayer that we pray at Mass. Even when that is all we all know of her, we nonetheless can look to her mild, her instance of holiness, for help in our lives, particularly throughout occasions like these when lights are distinguished.
Two examples from her life make the purpose. First, Lucy consecrated herself as a virgin, vowing to reside out the advantage of chastity in a selected means. All of us is probably not referred to as to consecrated virginity, however each considered one of us known as to domesticate the advantage of chastity, which permits us to see the world rightly and to like others absolutely within the correct means. Chastity permits our minds and our bodies to be full of sunshine, simply as Jesus taught within the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt. 6:22). On this season throughout which we’re getting ready for the appearance of the Mild of the World, we must always pray that we are able to domesticate the purity of coronary heart (that’s, chastity) that can enable us to see most clearly and shine most brightly.
The second instance from her life could also be extra highly effective than the primary. As a substitute of continuous to reside by the amassed wealth of her household, she selected to make use of all of her worldly items in service of the poor. Isn’t this a strong instance throughout this season of rampant consumerism! Too many occasions, we get caught up in enthusiastic about what we would like for Christmas or how a lot we are able to purchase with our allotted Christmas budgets. It could be incredible if every of us made a concerted effort to convey pleasure and lightweight to the poor throughout these holidays, even to the purpose of giving up materials items that we need, as a result of we all know that it’s for his or her good and our personal.
It’s no coincidence that her feast day, December 13, is true in the course of this season of lights. So, let’s ask for her intercession, not simply on her feast day however all through the entire season. Let’s ask her to hope for us as we climb ladders to string lights on our properties, as we enter into retailers embellished with myriad lights, and as we attend firm, household, or neighborhood Christmas events. Let’s ask her to assist us love others in a means that brings the intense mild of Jesus to them. Let’s ask her to assist us develop within the advantage of generosity, so we enjoyment of specializing in others greater than on ourselves. In all these methods, St. Lucy may also help us convey a bit extra of the sunshine all of us want into the world.
picture: Oxfordian Kissuth [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons
