St. Lucy, V. M. A.D.304
by VP
Posted on Friday December 13, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
"She was a holy virgin. Pray for all who live in the profession of that state. She obtained leave of her mother to sell what was settled for her portion, and gave it to the poor. Pray for all that are under the temptations of their youthful age; when vanity, self-love, curiosity, prodigality, levity, and the immoderate desire of being admired and esteemed, press with greatest violence upon them, and the solicitude of pleasing themselves diminishes the compassion due to their neighbours. Pray for remedy against all the indiscretions and follies of that unsettled age; that they may ever remember that they are but dust and clay; that they are made for another world, and not for this; that a little given to the poor, is much more to the purpose than all they lay out upon themselves; while all this expense is only to court the world, which ought to be forsaken, and the other is to purchase everlasting rest.
St. Lucy, being accused for believing in Christ, and commanded to be carried to a place of infamy, God was pleased to deliver her, by rendering her immoveable, so that all the strength of man and beasts was unable to remove her from the place where she stood. Have you not reason to beg of God to manifest his power in you, that you may be more firm and immoveable than you generally are? Consider how easily you are prevailed upon to forsake your duty and good purposes. How little is sufficient to draw you off from your prayers, and to make you transgress the rules of order, temperance, and good discipline? As much then as you want of Christian steadiness, pray for this day; and see that the fervour of your prayers be proportioned to your wants.
Thus by the divine assistance, St. Lucy withstood all the attempts of her enemies, outlived the flames with which they had encompassed her, and at length finished her martyrdom by the sword. Examine your daily practice, and see how little of your inclinations you are willing to leave for God: How then will you give your life? How will you stand against torments, when petty flatteries make you yield, and you cannot yet bear an ordinary self-denial, or contradicted passion. Pray, then, and practise something this day: try if St. Lucy's flames will give you any courage." The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church by Rev. Fr. John GOTHER
PRAYER TO ST. LUCY: We admire, O glorious virgin and martyr, St. Lucy, that light of lively faith which it pleased the most merciful God to infuse into thy beautiful soul; enlightened by which thou didst despise the vain and trifling things of this miserable earth, keeping thine eyes fixed upon that heaven for which alone we have been created. The riches and the pleasures which the seductive world held out to thee, to the prejudice of faith and of divine grace, never clouded thy mind, nor allured thy heart. Hence, far from consenting to the proposals of thy wicked persecutor, thou didst show thyself bold and resolute to encounter even death itself, rather than be unfaithful to thy heavenly Lord. What cause of confusion for us, who, not less enlightened by faith and strengthened by grace, still do not know how to resist our guilty passions, nor to despise the evil maxims or repel the flattery of the infernal enemy. Ah! obtain for us, dear saint, from God greater light, by which we may come to know that we were not made for things here below, but for those of heaven.
V. Pray for us, St. Lucy.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Hear us, O God of salvation, that, as we rejoice in the heroic constancy of blessed Lucy, Thy virgin and martyr, so we may be filled with the spirit of devotedness to duty and of fidelity in Thy services.
The Catholic Girl's Guide: Counsels and Devotions for Girls in the Ordinary walks of life edited by Francis Xavier Lasance
