Dear Friends,
We pray you are safe and well.
Yesterday was the Feastday of St. Lucy/Santa Lucia. She is the patron saint of those who are blind, of those who are seeing and seeking. Her name means light/lucidity. In this time of darkness and division, she models one who guides us through.
Deepak Chopra talks about the stress of these days and provides a strategy to cope: STOP: S: stop what you are busy about, what you are worried about. T: take 3 deep breaths and smile through your whole being, from head to toe. O: observe what is going on in your body, what you are feeling, what your body is telling you. P: proceed to pass on loving kindness and compassion to those you meet. So when St. Lucy meets Deepak Chopra in our hearts, we experience well-being. Imbibe the spirit of Deepak Chopra in the attached YouTube video and the spirit of Santa Lucia in the attached article.
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in healthcare, in the workplace, in the Church--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that in God’s economy of abundance, when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
We hope and pray that you and your loved ones experience genuine peace of mind and heart, and remain in good health during this challenging time.
May this Advent Season be a time of peace, of healing and hope, of the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron & Jean
MEDITATION 225: St. Lucy meets Deepak Chopra
https://youtu.be/SFYetaUP7Wg
St. Lucy's Feast Day: Celebrate with Lights and Sweets!
Dec 4th 2016 by Gretchen Filz
December 13th is the feast day of St. Lucy. St. Lucy was a virgin martyr during the earliest centuries of Christianity under its worst persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire, therefore making her one of the most glorious saints in heaven.
She is of such renown that she is one of the saints mentioned by name in the Roman Canon of the Mass, one of only seven female saints listed.
Lucia means “light,” a fitting name for a young woman who was known to visibly glow and radiate in her love for her spouse, Jesus Christ. Falling during the Advent season—and thus a long, dark winter—there are many beautiful traditions associating this saint with the meaning of her name, the story of her life, and her glorious position in heaven. Her feast day is celebrated with candles, torches, and even bonfires.
St. Lucy Feast Day
- ST. LUCY'S DAY TRADITIONS
In some Catholic cultures (especially in Scandinavia) it's common to have a Mass procession on St. Lucy's feast day with young girls carrying candles, with the lead girl wearing a wreath of lights (which looks similar to an Advent wreath).
Tradition holds that St. Lucy would wear a wreath of candles on her head so she could see better, her arms full of supplies, as she served the poor Christians hiding from persecution in the dark underground catacombs.
St. Lucy's Day Procession
Many countries have special St. Lucy's day traditions, but perhaps the most well-known are the ones of Italian and Scandinavin origin.
According to this resource, in Sweden,
“The oldest daughter of a family will wake up before dawn on St. Lucy's Day and dress in a white gown for purity, often with a red sash as a sign of martyrdom. On her head she will wear a wreath of greenery and lit candles, and she is often accompanied by 'Star Boys,' her small brothers who are dressed in white gowns and cone-shaped hats that are decorated with gold stars, and carrying star-tipped wands. 'St. Lucy' will go around her house and wake up her family to serve them special St. Lucy Day foods” which were usually baked sweets.
One simple way to incorporate a St. Lucy's day sweet treat into your family is with St. Lucy's bread. Read one family's fun and easy St. Lucy day tradition (perfect for young girls!) here and here.
St. Lucy Feast Day Treat Photo: showerofroses.blogspot.com
THE LIFE OF ST. LUCY
To celebrate her feast you can also read more about St. Lucy's fascinating and inspiring life from a detailed account written by one Catholic parish who enjoys her at their patron saint:
The story of St. Lucy is connected with a period of great political uncertainly and anxiety in the Roman Empire. It was an anxious time as the enemies of the Roman Empire attacked on all sides. After 400 years, the Roman Empire was declining under the constant onslaught of its enemies.
Diocletian (Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, 245-313) became the Emperor in 284 and set about trying to regain Rome’s former power and glory. Diocletian would celebrate Rome’s last great military victory over its ancient enemy, the Persian Empire. Other victories came on the Germanic border but these victories would not bring peace to the Empire.
It was into this time of great anxiety that Lucy was born, in Syracuse, Sicily; into a rich and noble Roman family about the year 283. Her father, a patrician, died when she was five years old. That left her dependent upon her sickly mother Eutychia, who was of Greek descent. This is not surprising considering Syracuse was originally a Greek city and at one time the richest Greek city in the Greek Empire.
Lucy raised a devout Catholic, privately decided in her teenage years to consecrate her virginity to God, and devote her worldly goods to the service of the poor. However, Eutychia, not knowing of Lucy’s promise and suffering from a bleeding disorder feared for Lucy’s future. She arranged Lucy’s marriage to a young man of a wealthy pagan family. Lucy had to do something. Continue reading the Life of St. Lucy.
Saint Lucy Prayer
The poet Dante prayed to Saint Lucy for the relief of an eye ailment, and in his Divine Comedy he gave this saint one of the most honored places in heaven, next to that of Saint John the Baptist.
Lucy means “light” and she is the patron of eye troubles and blindness. Her feast originally coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feastday has become a feast of light…of course, not The Light, but pointing to Christ our Light.. There are so many approaches to thinking of light — Christ the Light of the World comes at Christmas; Christ our Light in the Paschal Candle at Easter; we see light through the gift of eyesight; we are enlightened by our Faith and grace; light comes through sunlight, fire, electricity; scientific analysis of the speed of light and the light spectrum, the rainbow colors…and this merely scratches the surface. All over the world we remember this virgin-martyr saint less than 2 weeks before Christmas. Whether you embrace the Lucia Child of Sweden, the Sicilian customs or particular family traditions, light should play a prominent role in the feast!