Today we celebrate the ancient feast of Saint Lucy. Like many of the virgin martyrs of the early Church, we know very little of her beyond legend. Notwithstanding the value of legend, some see that paucity as a kind of poverty, if not an embarrassment. Better to pass over it.
On the contrary. What's remarkable is in an age that subjugated women and did not believe in moral innocence, the early Church thought so highly of young virgin martyrs that they put them in the center of what was most valorous: the Mass! Young women who accomplished so little!
It might be my favorite part of the Roman Canon: praying the names of those perhaps otherwise unremarkable girls, who were evidently so remarkable that the Church thought it best to put their names next to the very words of the King himself. Could any higher praise be given?
Lucy, what did you see? "By what authority are you doing these things?" How strong and courageous your heart must have been, that willingness to take our Lord at his word and sacrifice all, to give your heart to him alone, long before they threatened your life! What did you see!?
"The utterance of one who hears what God says, and knows what the Most High knows, of one who sees what the Almighty sees, enraptured and with eyes unveiled." Saint Lucy, open these tired eyes of mine, shave off these calluses on my heart: help me to see by the fire you felt!
Dante too, by the prayers of his Beatrice, was aided by Saint Lucy (Purgatorio, Canto IX):
From the Office of Readings for today's Feast, from St Ambrose:
Fr Pius Parsch on how the Readings for today's feast help us to seek to share what St Lucy accomplished in Christ:
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I know some find this boorish (and was recently the object of all too typically tendentious #catholictwitter tit-for-tat) so if you do just pass it by. But as I'm teaching about this part of the CCC in RCIA this week, my mind's been on it. My thoughts:
1) I always start with an epistemological step-back with these things. Many talk about both the text and the science part with a certainty that is unwarranted (esp the science part, tbh!), especially for they *know*. We frequently repeat hypotheses as if they were facts.
But most of what we say we know we just believe, because we read it somewhere or a teacher told us this. Real archeologists tend to be much more conservative with their assertions. This is not math. Primitive history is rather sketch-like (thought not entirely so!).
I guess we're mourning Notre Dame but I'll never forget reading a book about visiting the holy places of Rome written by an English Jesuit from like 100 years ago where he tears into modernity for destroying old St Peter's and building that Renaissance monstrosity instead.
Voluntarism and Traditionis Custodes: Most bishops (with notable exceptions), despite the Holy Father’s insistence about “all its part[s]… entering immediately in force”, have communicated that they need some time to figure out how exactly to implement the motu proprio.
Does this reflect a surreptitious agreement? I say “all” and “immediately”, but you understand that “some” and “when you are ready” is what I mean? On the contrary, I suspect most bishops recognize their allegiance is to a higher law than the mere will of the Holy Father.
In no way does this mean that all these bishops have suddenly denied Vatican I’s teaching on papal authority. Rather, like any such legislation, it exists in subordination to a more fundamental principle: decrees have force because they are true, not the converse.
Thoughts on the Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes: I won't speculate on the motives of the Holy Father, nor will I judge the merits of his decision. But I will offer some commentary, to give a little clarity (I hope), and to point to the more fundamental issue that remains.
Despite the blessings gained by the ressourcement in liturgical practice inspired by the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis has judged that, because of the division that has accompanied it, it is not worth continuing the permissions of Summorum Pontificum.
While the ExForm is not being abrogated, it seems Pope Francis intends the concessions still in place to be temporary, inasmuch as he believes that those who are attached to the ExForm “need to return in due time to the Roman Rite promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II.”
It’s been said that the problem of suffering is the greatest objection to Christianity. On the contrary, we should think of the Christian faith as the answer to the problem of suffering: this problem being not so much an objection to Christianity, as the human problem itself.
Why is there evil? Why do so many suffer in misery? Why does injustice continue, unchecked and unpunished? As we know, Scripture has an initial answer: God created all things good, but because of man's disobedience evil entered the world.
And as we see throughout the Old Testament, man’s response to evil is at first a practical one: to struggle against it, seeking the good he knows he should choose, but failing, again and again. Such is the history of both mankind in general and Israel in particular.
Ever feel like Lent jumps up on you? Like you need some time to think about what you will do, to prepare? There used to be a whole season for the that! Which would of begun this Sunday! Three weeks before Lent, given to ready us, liturgically, to begin this sacred time well.
One of the great tragedies of recent Church history was the suppression of the liturgical season of Pre-Lent, otherwise known as Septuagesima or Shrovetide. Paralleling a similar tradition in the East, this season had provided a powerful mystagogy to ready Catholics for Lent.
Rather than bemoan its loss, what if we simply began the popular recovery of its celebration? Indeed, this is often how liturgical reform happens, over time. And if you’re like me, this question is not just academic: your spiritual life needs this time of preparation!