🕯️Born in Syracuse, Sicily, at the end of the 3rd century, Saint Lucy ("she who bears the light") came from a noble Christian family. From an early age, she consecrated her virginity to God, a vow she kept secret. Her mother, Eutychia, who suffered from an incurable hemorrhage, was persuaded by Lucy to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Agatha in Catania. After a vision of the saint, her mother was miraculously healed. In gratitude, she allowed Lucy to distribute her large dowry to the poor, as was her wish. However, her suitor, enraged at being rejected and at the loss of the fortune, denounced her as a Christian to the authorities during the fierce persecution of Diocletian. Before the prefect Paschasius, Lucy professed her faith with unshakable courage. Condemned to be violated in a brothel to lose her purity, her body miraculously became immovable, impossible to be dragged even by teams of oxen. They then tried to burn her at the stake, but the flames did not touch her. Finally, she was martyred with a sword thrust to the throat around the year 304. The tradition that her eyes were gouged out, although a later legend, has forever associated her with the protection of sight, reflecting the light of faith that her name and her life radiated.
📖Epistle (II Cor 10:17-18; 11:1-2)
Brethren: He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he who commendeth himself is approved, but he whom God commendeth. Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly: but do bear with me. For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
✝️Gospel (Mt 25:1-13)
At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: The kingdom of heaven shall be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. The wise answered, saying: Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last came also the other virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answering said: Amen I say to you, I know you not. Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.
🏮The Vigilance of the Wise Virgin
🕊️Today's liturgy presents Saint Lucy to us as the personification of the wise virgin from the Gospel. Her life was one of constant vigilance, keeping the lamp of faith lit with the oil of charity and perseverance. The lamp, as Saint Augustine teaches, symbolizes the faith we all profess, but the oil is what distinguishes it: "The oil signifies something of greater importance... I would dare say that this oil is charity" (St. Augustine, Sermon 93). The foolish virgins had faith, but they lacked the oil of good works, of love that translates into action. Saint Lucy, on the contrary, not only believed but demonstrated her faith through heroic detachment, distributing her goods to the poor, and through supreme fortitude in martyrdom. She was united to the Heavenly Bridegroom, Christ, not with an empty faith, but with a lamp overflowing with love. Saint Paul's Epistle echoes this nuptial mystery, stating that he espoused the faithful "to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." Lucy lived this consecration in a radical way, rejecting an earthly spouse to be indissolubly united with the Divine one. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that "charity is the soul of the holiness to which all are called" (CCC 826). It was this charity that made Lucy's body miraculously heavy and protected her from the flames, for the fire of divine love was infinitely more powerful than the executioners' fire. Her story exhorts us not to be Christians of appearance, but to fill our vessels with the oil of grace, prayer, and, above all, works of mercy, so that when the Bridegroom comes, He may find our lamps lit and invite us to the eternal wedding feast.
🌍See English version of the critical articles here.
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