Imagine a young girl of 14 today taking such a stand. We might not have men ready to torture girls into renouncing their faith in such a bloody way in today's time. However, do we not see girls being forced to submit to the ways of society through peer pressure? The ways might be different but they lead to the same end...and the girls who wish to stay true to their commitment are tarred and feathered...hung out to dry...by their friends and peers every day. To me, it is even worse, as St. Lucy saw the end to her torture quickly...girls today must suffer for years with little support from our culture...praying that they will not succumb to the ways of this world.
I will get off my soap box but take some time to pray for our daughters today...it is such a hard life as a teenager and into adulthood. St. Lucy, we ask that you look down on our daughters and beg for extra graces to be showered down upon them from God in Heaven. Amen!
Traditionally, the youngest daughter would wake up early in order to make a special breakfast (we always made Lucia Buns). Then dressed in a St. Lucy costume, she would awaken the others in the house with the words, "Make way for the Lord!" Unfortunately, our little sweetie is still a little too young to make breakfast and holler out any understandable words. Amanda, of course, is far away in NY...We tried it with the boys last year, but it is just not the same...LOL! So, I woke up and made a nice breakfast waking the boys with the words of St. Lucy. It was still not the same and all in the house looking forward to the day when we can truly enjoy this feast day tradition. Get ready, Zaira! I tried to find a picture of Amanda from year's past to show you the simple costume worn on this day in our house but I was not able to find one.
St. Lucy is one of the patron saints for those with eye problems due to the fact that her eyes were removed as one of her tortures. We always say a special prayer for those who are blind (in sight and in spirit) because of my dear niece, Clare (born without the formation of one of her eyes).
We continue with our Bible devotions. Today we read from Gospel of Matthew, to hear Jesus telling the crowd to be willing to open themselves to the prophecies and open their ears to the message of John the Baptist. This passage is reinforcement of the message St. Lucy also sends us today. May we all take notice and hear the warning to prepare for the coming of the Lord!
What I always find interesting about this passage is the straightforward message that Jesus gives the crowd. Imagine...you have been waiting for the return of a special relative...you know that when that relative comes, he/she will be followed by an even more special gift. Then the relative appears one day (maybe looking a little different but still your relative), and you ignore him/her because you are just not sure if it is really him/her. THEN...the gift arrives and tells you...your relative has come in disguise...maybe you missed their arrival but that's OK because now I am here! SURPRISE!!! Would you ignore the gift? Would you say...I think I will wait around to be sure of the signs? Well, we do that every day that we reject the Word of God for our own desires. I do it...you do it...we are no better than those of the crowd....let us not walk away from the message with a self-righteous attitude.
BUT...wait...it will all be OK because Jesus tells us that if we open our ears to hear the Good News, and we are willing to accept it...we will find what we are looking for...the gift will be ready for us! Once again, we hear the message of Advent...the gift comes to us on Christmas day and all days we are ready to do His will.
As we come to the conclusion of our school quarter, we have more time to enjoy the special blessings of Advent. Today, I had Advent music playing in the background. NO...that does not mean Christmas music...there are special songs that help us prepare for the coming of Christ. You will not hear Christmas music in our house until December 25th! We intentionally do not turn on the radio or pull out the Christmas music until then. If you would like to learn more about these hymns and chants, look at St. John's Choir and this Advent Choral Music website. I also have a more modern CD that I like that is not so much of the chant-style called Wait for Me.
The other bit of interest for us today was making a decision about "Christmas" parties. This is always a hard one for us...everyone wants to have a party this time of year. It seems the closer we get to Christmas day, the more parties we are invited to attend. We have to decide what the right option is for each one...we base our final decision to attend on the purpose of the party. Is the purpose to fellowship...allowing us an opportunity to talk about the real reason for the season...or it about getting something in a frenzy of secular icons. Maybe that seems harsh to some, but to confuse the children with Santa and reindeer and winter wonderland fantasies has no appeal.
Tonight was one of those occasions to talk to the boys about why this party was OK compared to others we would politely decline. Tonight the party was with our local beekeepers association. I thought about who would be attending and how the event would most likely unfold, and I knew that it would be a very enjoyable evening of fellowship. We chose to go to have the opportunity to share stories about our bees and ourselves....knowing there could possibly be an opportunity to share our traditions.
Sure enough a more family atmosphere was presented and we were able to sit around enjoying a few sweets and talk. The boys had a great time listening to the veteran beekeepers talk about their hive experiences. And, when those stories ended we settled into talk of the holidays. An elderly woman asked if we were excited to watch Zaira open gifts for the first time. I smiled and said Christmas was a little different in our house. She asked what I meant and I told her about the joy we had in giving to others. Before I knew it, most of the group was listening to how our family celebrates Christmas. We were able to share with about 15-20 people in a short little talk.
And, wouldn't you know it we were then blessed with food and bee supplies from the group. Each of the beekeepers gave each of the boys something to carry out as we were leaving! So sweet and it helped the boys to see that we are often blessed in ways we least expect by sharing our faith with others.
We came home and learned about the King Hezekiah's trust in the Lord that would save his people from their enemies. His faithfulness also gave him blessings that were unexpected when his enemies were defeated in the quiet of the night leaving their tents empty! (2 Kings 18-19)
We also read from Jesus of Nazareth about the account from Luke of the census that would lead Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. It was another evening of deep historical content about Caesar Augustus. The parallels between Augustus and Jesus were very interesting but probably will need more focus of thought to fully understand. I think the main point tonight was that Jesus exists within an historical context. Also, Augustus also considered himself a savior for the people as he unified the known world under his leadership. However, as we know, it is not about temporal needs but our spiritual needs that the true Savior comes to us. Finally, it is good to understand that God's timing is better than we could imagine, as He knew that through the unification of the 'world' under Roman rule would allow an easier dispersal of the Good News to all mankind.
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