Today is the feast day of St. Lucy. She is honored among the other women martyrs in the Roman canon, or the first Eucharistic Prayer, the most traditional of the Eucharistic Prayers. She is the patron saint of sight. Although there are various stories related to her martyrdom, she is remembered for having had her eyes gouged out after speaking truth to her accuser. She died by the sword and after she died it was discovered that her eyes were restored.
Although these stories of martyrs may at times strike our 21st Century sensibilities as strange or unappealing, they are stories of perseverance but also ways to show us the fruits of wisdom. We often don’t see even if we have 20/20 eyesight. In parts of Europe, St. Lucy’s feast day is celebrated by having a young woman wear a crown with candles, again signifying the light and bringing serving special saffron bread to members of the family. This feast related to sight and light occurs almost at the darkest time of the year in our hemisphere and again pointing to the Light, the sight that banishes the darkness.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus points to what people don’t see and how they fail to act. He points to the how people perceive him and John the Baptist. Is he a glutton because he eats and drinks with the tax collectors and sinners? Is John possessed by a demon because he fasts and lives a life of penance in the desert places? What light informs what we see? It is in the darkest time of the year that we celebrate the coming of the Light. “Wisdom is vindicated by her works.” A martyr’s death and torture, a man crying repentance in the wilderness, an “unkingly” messiah eating and drinking with, caring about those disliked by social norms. What are we missing? Don’t miss the point! Can we see in light that allows us to have new healed eyes?
