You can easily identify Santa Lucia because she holds eyes on a plate. In my last post I mentioned that she denied her promised dowery and hand in marriage to a young pagan man during a period in the early 4th century when Christianity was illegal. Well, she wanted to devote herself to Jesus, and he turned her in to authorities! There are two legends about her eyes: one is she gouged her own eyes out to make herself unattractive to him; another is that in the skuffle of her arrest, the Roman soldiers did it. In both cases, the miracle is that her eyes grew back!
Let’s talk about eyes. Not just your organ, but also, what they represent. They represent sight, certainly, but they also represent insight. A knowing. And I think in Lucia’s symbolism, that’s what they mean. They are asking you to consider – – what do you need to see that you aren’t seeing? What insight do you have about yourself or a problem you are seeking to understand? She is asking you to shed light in the dark. She is reminding you to see. To look. To examine. And also to look inside yourself for the answers. She is in awe of what she knows – – the divine spirit she has encountered, and she wants to share that with you. She wants you to step into her light. She is a messenger of grace. To consider your own grace. To see yourself. To see the light within you.
We’ll talk more about it on Sunday, December 10 at Cacio e Pepe restaurant in New York City during our afternoon Festa di Santa Lucia. We have a few spots left! Join us.
Register at https://experiencesicily.com/events/festa-di-santa-lucia/
(This Lucia statue is located in a church in Geraci Siculo.)
