Lucy, Odilia, and the Promise of Light
Advent is a season of contradictions and juxtapositions. This is the season of "already" but "not yet," as we prepare for the coming-in-fullness of the One who has already been born into time and history. This is the dark season when we watch and wait from the dawning of the One who is the Light of the World, lighting the candles of the Advent wreath and praying in the Magnificat antiphon for December 21: O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: Come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. This theme of light is a fundamental part of our prayer in these Advent days and we recall John the Baptist, the great prophet of Advent, testifying to the coming of this light (see John 1:6-9 ). This is the light of the Lord that illumines the darkened heart of a sin- and war-weary world. Reflecting on this, Quaker writer Isaac Pennington wrote, “But of what nature is this light, which shineth in man in his...