St Lucy of Syracuse, and more...

We who follow the True Kalendar remember St Lucy to-day and the comfort of the knowledge of Christ's imminent birth for us. One of the finest sermons I ever heard was preached at a carol service on her Gregorian festival day, in a prominent Anglican church some years ago. I wish I could produce it here but the general thrust was the significance of celebrating this lady of light in the cold and dark of the year, even as a glass through which Christ's eternal light shineth in the darkness (c.f John 1:5). Remember how Shelob was confounded by Frodo's star glass? Power of night old and strong she was, as Tolkien says, and she comprehended not the light that stabbed with awesome fire into the depths. I consider Frodo's star glass as a type of St Lucy, inasmuch as her life was a vessel filled with God, even as Frodo's cry Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima! can be seen as an invocation of St John the Baptist, who bore witness to the light.

All these new saints just don't compare...

I read The Dean of Westminster's Christmass address the other day. It was accompanied by seasonal addresses by a Muslim imam and a Jewish rabbi. Of them all I actually thought Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra's was the best. The Dean's address seemed mistaken on a few points, such as Christ's apparent coming to bring peace (which contradicts the Saviour's express words in Matthew 10:34) and the ideal of material well-being. The "rabbi's" typically contained no religion whatever. So you can see how much more we have in common with Muslims. You can read them here.