Lucy's Light

Lucy's Light

Lucy of Syracuse, martyr and patron saint of the blind, is celebrated on December 13 in Scandinavia with candles and light — one of the darkest times of year in the far north. The tradition connects her name (from the Latin lux — light) to the Advent theme of light coming into darkness. The feast of St. Lucy has been observed since the early medieval period as a defiant celebration of light precisely in the deepest darkness of the year. In Sweden, girls dressed in white with candles on their heads process through the darkness — a visual proclamation: the light is not overcome.

John 1:5 is one of the most quietly powerful declarations in the New Testament. The light shines — present tense, continuous action — in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it — perfect tense, completed action with ongoing result. The darkness tried. It failed. It has not and cannot overcome the light. In the deep darkness of December, this is the Advent proclamation: the light that the darkness sought to extinguish is still shining. The cross was the darkness's greatest attempt to overcome the light. The resurrection was the light's vindication. The light still shines. Whatever darkness surrounds you today, it has not overcome the light in you.