Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

Today, as we honor Saint Lucy, whose very name means light, the Word of God invites us to reflect deeply on what it means to see the face of the Lord and to allow that vision to turn our hearts back to Him. Salvation, the Psalm reminds us, begins not with our strength or effort, but with conversion: “Lord, make us turn to you.”
In the first reading, the prophet Elijah appears “like a fire.” His life and mission were unsettling, demanding, and purifying. Elijah did not come to comfort people in their complacency; he came to turn hearts back, to shatter false securities and call Israel to renewed fidelity. Fire both burns and enlightens. It destroys what is false and reveals what is true. Elijah’s prophetic fire prepares the way for healing and reconciliation, “to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons.” True conversion always restores relationships with God and with one another.
Yet in the Gospel, Jesus reveals something tragic: Elijah did come in the person of John the Baptist but he was not recognized. People expected glory, but God sent humility. They expected power, but God sent a suffering prophet. This failure to recognize God’s visitation leads not to salvation, but to rejection and violence. The same pattern, Jesus says, will be repeated in His own Passion.
This is where Saint Lucy’s witness becomes profoundly relevant. Lucy lived in a world hostile to the Gospel, yet she refused to turn away from Christ. Tradition tells us that her persecutors tried to extinguish her light, but they could not. Her physical eyes may have been threatened, but her spiritual vision remained clear. Lucy teaches us that to “see the face of God” is not merely to look, but to remain faithful to recognize Christ even when He comes disguised in suffering, weakness, or sacrifice.
The Psalm’s cry is therefore both prayer and challenge: “Let us see your face and we shall be saved.” Do we truly want to see God’s face if it means being changed? Seeing God’s face requires allowing Him to turn us around, away from sin, indifference, pride, and fear. It means listening to prophetic voices, even when they unsettle us. It means recognizing Christ not only on the mountain of glory, but also in the valley of the cross.
As we continue our Advent journey, Saint Lucy stands before us as a lamp in the darkness. She reminds us that light is not something we merely admire; it is something we must follow. When we allow the Lord to turn our hearts, when we choose faithfulness over comfort, then the promise of today’s liturgy is fulfilled: we will see His face, and in that vision, we will be saved.

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