St Lucy was an early Christian martyr who lived in the 200s-300s. She died during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian. She is one of eight female saints mentioned in the Canon of the Mass.
St Lucy suffered a brutal martyrdom with great courage. You can use this novena to seek intercession from this courageous martyr in your life!
St Lucy was probably born around the year 283. Her parents were members of the nobility and were wealthy.
Lucy’s father died when she was five years old. Her mother, who suffered from a bleeding ailment, feared that Lucy would soon have no one to care for her. Lucy’s mother quickly arranged a marriage for Lucy.
But Lucy had no desire to marry. Instead, she consecrated her virginity to God. She also hoped to have her dowry given away to the poor.
When Lucy learned about the arranged marriage, she began praying for a way to change her mother’s mind on the matter. She prayed frequently at the tomb of St Agatha, asking for assistance in this situation.
Lucy had a dream in which St Agatha appeared to her and told her that Lucy’s mother would be cured of her condition through faith.
Lucy’s mother was soon cured, and her mother agreed to allow Lucy to consecrate her virginity to God rather than marry. But the man to whom Lucy had been promised in marriage was very angry to hear that the match had been called off. He was even more angry when he learned that the dowry that had been promised to him had actually been given to the poor.
Lucy’s rejected bridegroom took revenge on her by betraying her Christian Faith to the governor, who was accustomed to persecuting Christians for their Faith.
The governor commanded Lucy to offer a sacrifice before an image of the emperor, but she refused. The governor then ordered her to be sent to a brothel as punishment. One tradition holds that the guards who attempted to bring Lucy to the brothel were unable to move her, because she had miraculously become too heavy to lift. Even a team of oxen was unable to move her.
Another tradition says that Lucy told the governor he would be punished for what he was doing. This made the governor so angry that he ordered her eyes to be gouged out.
When she was sentenced to death, the guards attempted to burn her by setting fire to wood that was stacked around her. But this did not work because the wood wouldn’t burn. Lucy was finally killed by a wound to the throat from a sword.
According to tradition, Lucy’s eyes were found to have been miraculously restored to her body when her body was being prepared for burial in her family’s mausoleum.
St Lucy is the patron saint of the blind. You can seek her intercession if you are blind or having problems with your eyesight. You can also ask her to pray for someone you know who is blind or is having problems with their eyesight.
You can also ask St Lucy for prayers if you are being persecuted for your Faith, since she suffered a lot for her Faith and eventually gave up her life in martyrdom. Or you can ask St Lucy to pray for someone you know who is being persecuted for their Faith.
Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named.
Michael appears in Daniel’s vision as “the great prince” who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God’s armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honoring Michael and the angels in the fifth century.
Gabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel’s visions, announcing Michael’s role in God’s plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah.
Raphael’s activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit’s son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah’s marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit’s blindness, and the restoration of the family fortune.
The memorials of Gabriel and Raphael were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their individual feasts to Michael’s.
Reflection
Each of the archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God’s protection, communication, and guidance in ways which defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly.
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are the Patron Saints of:
Death Germany Grocers Police Officers/First Responders Radiologists
Saint Gabriel is the Patron Saint of: Broadcasters/Communicators
Saint Raphael is the Patron Saint of: The Blind, Travelers
Every little girl named Lucy must bite her tongue in disappointment when she first tries to find out what there is to know about her patron saint. The older books will have a lengthy paragraph detailing a small number of traditions. Newer books will have a lengthy paragraph showing that there is little basis in history for these traditions. The single fact survives that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian, and she was executed in Syracuse, Sicily, in the year 304. But it is also true that her name is mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer, geographical places are named after her, a popular song has her name as its title, and down through the centuries many thousands of little girls have been proud of the name Lucy.
One can easily imagine what a young Christian woman had to contend with in pagan Sicily in the year 300. If you have trouble imagining, just glance at today’s pleasure-at-all-costs world and the barriers it presents against leading a good Christian life.
Her friends must have wondered aloud about this hero of Lucy’s, an obscure itinerant preacher in a far-off captive nation that had been destroyed more than 200 years before. Once a carpenter, he had been crucified by the Romans after his own people turned him over to their authority. Lucy believed with her whole soul that this man had risen from the dead. Heaven had put a stamp on all he said and did. To give witness to her faith she had made a vow of virginity.
What a hubbub this caused among her pagan friends! The kindlier ones just thought her a little strange. To be pure before marriage was an ancient Roman ideal, rarely found, but not to be condemned. To exclude marriage altogether, however, was too much. She must have something sinister to hide, the tongues wagged.
Lucy knew of the heroism of earlier virgin martyrs. She remained faithful to their example and to the example of the carpenter, whom she knew to be the Son of God. She is the patroness of eyesight.
Reflection
If you are a little girl named Lucy, you need not bite your tongue in disappointment. Your patron is a genuine authentic heroine, first class, an abiding inspiration for you and for all Christians. The moral courage of the young Sicilian martyr shines forth as a guiding light, just as bright for today’s youth as it was in A.D. 304.
Jesus asks Bartimaeus that question today. Bartimaeus knows exactly what he needs—to have his eyes opened. And he knows exactly who can heal him—Jesus.
THIS WEEK’S GOSPEL IS MARK 10:46-52
Today, Matthew reflects on how Jesus asks all of us the same question:
What do you want me to do for you? Do you know your answer?
St. Filippo Smaldone (1848–1923) was born in Naples, Italy, during a time of upheaval and unrest both in Italy and in the Church. He decided to become a priest, and while in seminary he took on a personal apostolate of assisting the deaf and mute community in Naples. He dedicated so much time to this work that he barely passed his exams. After his ordination he continued to assist the marginalized of his community, especially the sick. When the plague hit his city he contracted it, however, he was healed after praying to Our Lady of Pompeii, to whom he had a special devotion. He continued his pioneer work in the education of the deaf and mute, though he became discouraged at the difficulty of the task and considered going into the foreign missions instead. Dissuaded from the abandonment of his work by his confessor, St. Filippo committed his life’s mission to the needs of the deaf and mute, training a group of nuns in the work which grew into a new religious foundation. He later expanded his work to include children that were blind, orphaned, and abandoned. His feast day is June 4th.
Bl. Margaret of Castello (1287–1320) was born to noble Italian parents who were awaiting the birth of the child of their dreams. Instead, they bore a daughter who was blind, dwarfed, lame, and hunchbacked. Margaret’s parents were horrified by the physical appearance of their newborn child, so they hid her and kept her existence secret. A servant had her baptized and named her Margaret, meaning, “Pearl.” When she was six years of age she was nearly discovered, so that her father confined her to a cell inside the wall of a church with her necessities given through a window. The parish priest took it upon himself to educate Margaret. She lived in this way until age sixteen, when her parents took her on pilgrimage to a shrine famous for miraculous healings. There they prayed earnestly for their daughter to be cured of her deformities, which they loathed. When no cure came, her parents abandoned her in the streets and returned home, never to see her again. Margaret begged for food and was helped by the town’s poor who took turns sheltering her in their homes. She became a Dominican Tertiary and took up the work of serving the sick, dying, and imprisoned. Margaret was known for her great joy, sanctity, and profound mystical experiences. She died at the age of 33, and hundreds of miracles were credited to her intercession both before and after her death. Her body is incorrupt. She is the patron against poverty, and of the disabled, handicapped, and unwanted. Her feast day is April 13th.
“When You Wrestle With Pigs in the Mud, You’re Gonna Get Dirty“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
March 20-21, 2021
Gospel: John 11: 1-45
I’ve hear a lot these days that we live in a “cancel culture.” Do you know what that is? It’s when people say mean things about you and try to erase your very existence. However, I disagree that we are living in a cancel culture. I was in a cancel culture. I was in the U.S. Army for 24 years and served in three wars. They tried to put an expiration date on my birth certificate, and they were pretty darn good at it too. That’s cancel culture. We are not living in a cancel culture. What we have here is an evil culture. People are trying to do evil under the appearance of good. They are claiming what was evil is now good. These sins are included in the four sins in scripture that cry out to Heaven for vengeance. Members of the cancel culture scream at you just as they screamed at our Lord and crucified Him. There’s nothing new under the sun as scripture says. And there’s not. The good news for us is that we don’t have to be that way. But, if you wrestle with pigs in the mud, the pigs doesn’t mind, but you’re going to get dirty.
Let me ask you a question. Do you know what the secret to happiness is? Want me to tell you? Our Lord has told us to be holy. He said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” This is a peace that the world cannot take away. So, if we seek and strive for holiness and to be one with our good Lord each day, we will have a happiness that no one can take away. That doesn’t mean you won’t have your share of sorrows and troubles. We all have our illnesses, and we all have our struggles. Our loved ones have been taken from this world to Heaven. That happens to us all. It doesn’t mean Christ stopped loving us. It means we are sharing in some of His Passion for the sake of the Body of His church, for our own redemption, and for the souls of others. We know deep down that as long as we do not turn away from our Lord through mortal sin or unrepented venial sin, He will always be there. Even though we cannot feel it, He is always present with us. Our peace and joy will come later after our trial on Earth is done. Our suffering is redemptive.
Saint John Paul II was suffering from end-stage Parkinson’s. He loved classical music, so they brought in a world famous orchestra and conductor to play for him. I don’t know his name…it’s not ZZ Top, so it’s beyond me. Because of the steroids he was on for the Parkinson’s, he was bloated, shaking and drooling. He could barely move. The last piece the orchestra played was his favorite, and the orchestra played it so beautifully, it would have made angels weep. When the orchestra finished playing, the conductor turned around and looked nervously at the Pope. The conductor was a little scared, because they were playing for the pope. The Holy Father could barely move, but he looked at the conductor and gave him a thumbs up. Even in his suffering, you knew he was a man of God. He had a happiness about him no matter what happened. He had the weight of the whole Church on his shoulders. He had a fatal illness that is terribly debilitating. But, he still had peace. And, that’s what we can have, because we have Christ. However, because we have Christ, we have an obligation to help others.
So, how do we fight this so-called cancel culture? We must try to be even more holy and to pray for people. Some of them are like those in I see in the gated community, a state sponsored residence with its own security system. Those incarcerated never had a chance. They were abused in childhood, so the chances were less than average that they would have a good life. They had a lot of things working against them. Granted, they chose to do evil, but they had a lot more crosses than we do. That’s not an excuse, but it’s a mitigating factor. How do we help those people who are evil and who try to say what we believe is evil and must change? Even the Catholic Church says sometimes what we believe must change. That’s not true. They are lying. They aren’t wrong…they are lying. Educated people who know better are lying. How do we change that? Have a little chat with them? Even though I’m almost 68, I’m still a soldier, and part of me would love to say, “Let’s go outside and discuss this.” No. Our Lord said to love them, sacrifice for them, and pray for them. They were taught from a young age that sin was good. We see the outcomes of sin and evil. We don’t have to be like them. But, instead of fighting with them, we need to love them.
Those who advocate evil are just like little children who don’t get their way, and they throw a tantrum. That’s me some days. Ever had a child…or a husband…throw a temper tantrum? What happens? Like our guardian angels, and like any good parent, we slowly take them in our arms, close to our heart. They are all worn out from their temper tantrum and break down in tears. So, we hold them close to our heart, giving them comfort and love. That’s what we are to do with this cancel culture. We can hold out our arms to them, no matter what they say to us, and no matter what they try to do to us. We can pray for them, sacrifice for them, and slowly bring them in to our heart.
This culture is not cancel…I know what cancel is. Cancel is evil. We are living in an evil age. Actually, every age is evil. But, we don’t have to be like that. Remember, when you grow close to Jesus, you have both a gift and a command to go out and bring others in and to change the culture. What’s very sad about people who are caught up in the cancel culture is that they don’t see how blind they are. They are like someone who has had too much to drink. The cops stop them, and they say, “I only had two beers!” Really? That math is wrong. They can’t stand up, never mind drive. “I’m okay!” They don’t see it…they are blind. It’s just like alcohol blinds the alcoholic and dope blinds the dope addict. And, the only cure for that is divine love.
During my time working in hospitals, I’ve learned that the only proper way to treat a disease is to find out what the disease is. So, we shouldn’t say it’s a cancel culture when it’s an evil one. People who are not eradicating evil are promoting it. There’s a big difference. Saint Mother Teresa tried to eradicate evil, and look at the love she spread. So this is what we do. We don’t have to be like them; instead, we need to love them, to pray for them, and to sacrifice for them.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you, like Saint Mother Teresa, try to eradicate evil by spreading God’s love?
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes. From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page). There is also a search box if looking for a specific topic.
“I do not know whether [Jesus] is a sinner or not, I only know this much, I was once blind, and now I see.”—John 9:25
“I came into the world to divide it, to make the sightless see and to reveal to those who think they see it all that they are blind.”—John 9:39
Our lack of self-knowledge and our lack of wisdom make humans do very stupid and self-destructive things. Because humans cannot see their own truth very well, they do not read reality very well either. We all have our tragic flaws and blind spots. Humans always need more “light” or enlightenment about themselves and about the endless mystery of God. Here are some themes from today’s Gospel reading.
• The “man born blind” is the archetype for all of us at the beginning of life’s journey.
• The moral blame game as to why or who caused human suffering is a waste of time.
• The man does not even ask to be healed. It is just offered and given.
• Religious authorities are often more concerned about control and correct theology than actually healing people. They are presented as narrow and unloving people throughout the story.
• Many people have their spiritual conclusions before the facts in front of them. He is a predefined “sinner” and has no credibility for them.
• Belief in and love of Jesus come after the fact, subsequent to the healing. Perfect faith or motivation is not always a prerequisite for God’s action. Sometimes God does things for God’s own purposes.
• Spirituality is about seeing. Sin is about blindness, or as Saint Gregory of Nyssa will say, “Sin is always a refusal to grow.”
• The one who knows little, learns much (what we call “beginner’s mind”) and those who have all their answers already, learn nothing.
“God of all Light and Truth, just make sure that I am not a blind man or woman. Keep me humble and honest, and that will be more than enough work for you.”
“Thus sin renders the soul miserable, weak and torpid, inconstant in doing good, cowardly in resisting temptation, slothful in the observance of God’s commandments. It deprives her of true liberty and of that sovereignty which she should never resign; it makes her a slave to the world, the flesh, and the devil; it subjects her to a harder and more wretched servitude than that of the unhappy Israelites in Egypt or Babylon. Sin so dulls and stupefies the spiritual senses of man that he is deaf to God’s voice and inspirations; blind to the dreadful calamities which threaten him; insensible to the sweet odor of virtue and the example of the saints; incapable of tasting how sweet the Lord is, or feeling the touch of His benign hand in the benefits which should be a constant incitement to his greater love. Moreover, sin destroys the peace and joy of a good conscience, takes away the soul’s fervor, and leaves her an object abominable in the eyes of God and His saints. The grace of justification delivers us from all these miseries. For God, in His infinite mercy, is not content with effacing our sins and restoring us to His favor; He delivers us from the evils sin has brought upon us, and renews the interior man in his former strength and beauty. Thus He heals our wounds, breaks our bonds, moderates the violence of our passions, restores with true liberty the supernatural beauty of the soul, reestablishes us in the peace and joy of a good conscience, reanimates our interior senses, inspires us with ardor for good and a salutary hatred of sin, makes us strong and constant in resisting evil, and thus enriches us with an abundance of good works. In fine, He so perfectly renews the inner man with all his faculties that the Apostle calls those who are thus justified new men and new creatures.”— Venerable Louis Of Grenada, p. 46
