Tuesday, December 13, 2016 Feast of Saint Lucy

Matthew, Chapter 21, verse 21:
Jesus said to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.

Believe and you will receive! In believing it is that you produce fruit unlike the withered fig tree. The cursing of the fig tree is the only miraculous action of Jesus that does any harm or works of destruction. Matthew stresses the miraculous action saying immediately the fig tree withered. Christ is who He says he is and He tells us that by the power of faith we can share in His authority and shows us the dynamic effect of prayer and faith.[1]

Today is also the feast of St. Lucy.  Lucy is an excellent example of a person whose heart is filled with faith.  She is one of the church’s incorruptibles.  That is her body is still intact long after death.  She had a great heart of abundant courage.

Father Kenelm Digby Best knew her example of fearlessness when he penned in his book “A Priest’s Poems”[2] on St. Lucy:

Flames might not harm her: Saint Lucy stood fearless, Still as a statue's the neck which they smote: Scarcely another save, Lucy, was tearless. When the sharp dagger was plunged in her throat.

The customs surrounding the Feast of St. Lucy also illuminate the themes of Advent and Christmas. Lucy, whose name means light and whose association with light has made her the patron saint of the "light of the body" (the eyes), once had her feast fall on the shortest day of the year. (Before the Gregorian calendar was reformed in the Middle Ages, December 13 was the day of the winter solstice.) For all of these reasons, St. Lucy is honored with a number of customs involving fire. Lucy candles were once lit in the home and Lucy fires burned outside. In Sweden and Norway a girl dressed in white and wearing an evergreen wreath on her head with lit candles would awaken the family and offer them coffee and cakes. She was called the Lussibrud (Lucy bride) and her pastry the Lussekattor Scandinavian-Christmas-recipes.

The Feast of St. Lucy comes at a propitious time during the observance of Advent. Reminding us of the importance of light, the light of St. Lucy foreshadows the coming of the Light of the World at Christmas like a spark foreshadows the sun.[3]

Full Cold Moon

According to the almanac today is a Full Cold Moon; today would be a good day to take the children/grandchildren out in the cold and enjoy hot chocolate afterward.



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