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December 13, 2023Today we remember Saint Lucy, a virgin martyr who died in the year 304 in Syracuse, Sicily. Lucy was born to a noble Christian family. When she was an adolescent, her mother became ill, and the two of them heavily burdened with care, traveled to the tomb of St. Agatha to ask for healing. The mother was cured and in gratitude permitted Lucy to give all her possessions to the poor. When her betrothed saw this, he asked Lucy’s nurse the reason. The nurse responded, “She has found a better lover.” The man realized the meaning of these words and turned the girl into the authorities as a Christian.
The Gospel text for today is the well-known passage “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” A yoke played a role in Lucy’s martyrdom as well. At her trial, she fearlessly spoke to the judge about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the souls of the just. In response, the judge attempted to have her taken away to be mistreated, but the Lord made her so heavy that a yoke of oxen could not move her.
We see that the heavy yoke of the world is ineffectual: “young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall” (Isaiah 40:30). It is an absurd image – the ranting judge, the angry suitor, the oxen straining at their harnesses, while the maiden stands unmoved and unshaken, confident that the Lord will redeem her life from destruction and crown her with kindness and compassion (Psalm 103:4). But this is the reality, our reality. We must lay down our burdens of self-importance, anger, and fear and take up the Lord’s yoke of meekness and humility. It is difficult to accept the Divine logic that “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). The world tells us otherwise, but this is an illusion. This season of Advent is a time to see beyond the burdens of the world, to lift up our eyes on high, and know that “they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings” (Isaiah 40:31).