Today the Church celebrates another great Advent feast: the Feast of Saint Lucy (i.e., Santa Lucia). During Advent, we also observe the Feast of Saints Andrew, Nicholas, Ambrose, and Juan Diego, along with the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Advent is such a rich liturgical season.
Santa Lucia lived in the late third/early fourth century. Along with Saint Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Agnes, Cecilia, and Anastasia, and, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lucia is one of the eight women named in Roman Canon, which we typically call Eucharistic Prayer I. All of these women, apart from the Virgin Mary, were martyred.
At a young age Lucia committed to remaining a virgin. Unaware of her daughter’s commitment to virginity, her mother arranged a marriage for her, which was the custom of her culture at the time. Because she was determined not to marry, she intended to give the money set aside for her dowry as alms to the poor. Her prospective bridegroom was not pleased at losing her dowry and denounced her to the Roman governor as a Christian. After being tortured horribly, including having her eyes gouged out, Lucia was killed. Examples like this lend some gravity to the question “If you were charged with being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
Young Lucia insisted on the validity of her vow of virginity and her commitment to the poor by the same authority Christ invoked in today’s Gospel: love of God and neighbor. This authority is in no way coercive. In fact to bring any kind of coercion or manipulation into it nullifies it. In other words, it is a matter of the heart and not a matter of law, unless it is divine law.
Divine law is simple: love God with your entire self and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Because “God is love,” divine law is the law of love. You see, divine law is nothing other than God himself. The law, such as it is, isn’t something apart from God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As Simone Weil importantly noticed: God is always subject, never object.
As Jesus’s followers, we are to live and to teach- mostly by example, like Santa Lucia and the other women martyrs- by the same authority with which Christ lived and taught; the authority of God, which is the love of God. In our Gospel this evening, not only was Jesus cannily avoiding being trapped, he understood that because it is firstly and lastly a matter of the heart.
In his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope Saint Paul VI pointed out that people today listen “more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”1 Pope Paul continued by pointing out that “St. Peter expressed this well when he held up the example of a reverent and chaste life that wins over even without a word those who refuse to obey the word.”2 And so, it is “primarily by her conduct and by her life,” he continues, “that the Church will evangelize the world.”3
Showing is more powerful than saying. Setting the example is more attractive than directing, demanding, and certainly better than damning. If you are concerned about the sanctity of marriage and you are married, live your marriage in a holy manner. If, like Santa Lucia, you want to highlight the value of celibacy, then live celibacy in a Christ-honoring, that is an other-honoring, way. This is true across the spectrum of so many issues the Church faces today. It costs you nothing to take a political position, or voice your views on social media. It costs you time, effort, and resources to concretely help another.
Observing a holy Advent teaches you what it means to await the joyful hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In a very real sense, most of human history- both before and after the birth of Christ- is an Advent. An Advent well-observed also prepares you for the celebration of the Incarnation of the Son of God. What Advent teaches is that Christ is not really born until he is born in you. Christianity is more than theory. In fact, as a theory, Christianity lacks. Christianity is incarnational.
Christian faith is not just some things that you do, or even merely a way of life. Being Christian is a mode of existence. As the martyrs show us, being Christian is ecclesial being. There is a subtle but importance difference between being a Christian and being Christian. One cannot be a Christian on one’s own. Hence, the Church is not incidental but necessary for accomplishing God’s purpose in and for the world. Where else but in the Church are people like Santa Lucia remembered? We remember her because, along with others, like six woman whom we also recall in the Roman Canon, she shows us what being Christian is all about: self-emptying, self-sacrificing love. This is how we bear witness to Christ.
1 Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization in the Modern World [Evangelii Nunitiandi], sec. 41.↩
2 1 Peter 3:1.↩
3 Evangelii Nunitiandi, sec 41.↩
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