Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

Lectionary: 184

Oak Leaves

From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force.
All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.
And if you are willing to accept it,
he is Elijah, the one who is to come.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."

The poet/saint Francis of Assisi didn’t need to tell people the times were changing. They knew it although, at the time, significant cultural, economic or political change was almost unthinkable. Nonetheless the monasteries were losing their appeal to those who wanted to serve God. A new spirit wanted to find God in the public arenas of university, city and village. Mendicant preachers would become professors, military chaplains, mediators between warring factions, confessors to the poor and advisers to the wealthy. These were ministries the monks never dreamed of.

Until that time, wealthy young men who did not want to serve their rulers as knights retreated to the monastery to do “spiritual warfare.” They often practiced their faith with the disciplines one expects of soldiers: midnight vigils, fasts and physical mortification. They could not be tortured by an enemy because they had already tortured themselves. They laughed at physical suffering.

These warrior monks readily understood today’s teaching, “… the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.” The Prophet Elijah was a ferocious warrior for God, an ideal saint for spiritual warriors.

It seems that warriors and those who grow up in a violent society make the best martyrs. They learn to ignore their desires, discipline their wills, subject their bodies to punishment, and consecrate themselves to a higher cause at their mothers’ breasts. Many brutalized people will scourge the world around them; but a few will become saints. Francis represents a bridge between those two generations because he grew up in a violent family and warlike society. He was terribly hard on his body but taught a spirituality of astonishing gentleness. People meeting him could hardly believe their eyes or their ears as he spoke, but they wanted what he had.

Eventually, I have seen that gentleness will take me only so far in obedience to God’s will. I must also exercise a focused, energetic discipline against the body that wants to stay abed, eat too much, exercise less, prefer entertainment over learning and prattle over personal disclosure. It’s easier to suppose God forgives everything than to examine one’s conscience.

As we celebrate the feast of Saint Lucy we recall a young woman who chose to see clearly with the eyes of faith as she surrendered her physical eyes to torturers. May we have the same blessed clarity and vision.