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The Virgin Birth itself was angelic, in that it pointed to the Christ to come. The Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." [Is. 7.14] Angels point to Jesus; they proclaim "For unto you...a Savior." Isaiah pointed to the Christ; so too did the Virgin Birth.

Yesterday was the Feast Day of a now rather obscure Christian Saint, Lucia of Syracuse; Saint Lucy. Little is definitively known about her from a critical historical point of view. Thank God we are not critical historians but brothers and sisters of Jesus; family members who delight in knowing more about our siblings in the Faith who went before us. We are told that Lucy was a young woman and a native of Syracuse. Like all of you she openly proclaimed her faith. Unlike the American government however, the Emperor Diocletian was engaged in a rather forceful persecution of Christians who were "openly Christian." Lucy could not be a "light" that was placed under a bed, or under a bushel basket. She showed her faith by openly distributing her goods to the poor, in the Name of Jesus. For this she was denounced to the authorities by her own Judas; the young man to whom she had been betrothed to by her parents. Lucy had resisted his immoral advances. Lucy was a virgin. Lucy did not want to marry the man but wished to remain a virgin. She suffered a violent and horrible martyrdom in around 303 AD.

There are myriads and myriads of angels; a veritable "host of Sabaoth." The fact that we know only a few names, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, does not diminish the anonymous Messengers of the Most High. The Lord knows His own. The fact that we know little of this Second Century Christian girl, and that most who call themselves Christians have never heard of her, nor want to hear of her, does not diminish this Messenger of Christ.

Virginity like angelology is greatly misunderstood. There is perfect Virginity, and there is physical virginity. Anyone who has not had sexual intercourse would be considered by the "world" to be a virgin. Christians would almost concur with this definition. But Luther added comprehensive decency and chasteness when in commenting upon the Commandment against Adultery he says: "we should fear and love God that we may lead a chaste and decent life in word and deed..." So even if one has not had "relations with another," one must still, also, treat ones own body in a decent and God pleasing way. But virgins are still sinners. If someone refrains from sexual impurity before marriage, and does so as a self-meriting "good work" then that very heart and conscience is sinful. There is only one perfect Virgin, the Lord Almighty. Even His blessed Mother, Saint Mary, Semper-Virgo, was a sinner.

Sex is not the point, sinless-ness is. God made Adam and Eve to come together and be of one flesh. Sex within the bonds of Holy Matrimony can be God pleasing. To be a faithful spouse, loving and honoring ones' mate is God pleasing. To be a faithful single person, and that means to be a faithful virgin (or celibate in the case of a widow or widower) is also God pleasing. If one desires to remain a virgin and never to get married, that too can be God pleasing; so long as the sin of pride and self-righteousness do not claim credit for what is really a gift from God. Only God can give the gift of discipline and abstinence. When Jesus was teaching the "12" about marriage and the sin of divorce, they asked Him: "If such is the case...it is better not to marry," to which the Lord replied: "All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given...there are eunuchs (and here the Lord means Virgins) who have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it." [St. Mt. 19. 10-12]

Women are not given the gift of the Office of the Holy Ministry, nor are most men for that matter. Men are not given the gift of childbirth. Not all are given the gift of physical virginity. The Apostle Paul was, for he writes: "I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am." [1 Cor 7.8] Why? Are virgins better than loyal husbands and wives? No, we've already said all are sinners; all need the True Virgin Christ Jesus to live and work for them, to suffer and die for them, to be raised and re-united with the Father and the Spirit for them. Is Paul simply making an argument from convenience or pragmatics? No. It's all about angels, i.e. it's all about how the Lord uses messengers, proclaimers, gospel-ers, and sign-posts, who can point to Him and His works of Redemption saying: "Behold, for unto you is born a Savior." Moses served as an angel for he typified that the Christ to come would be like him, a Prophet, Priest and King, only a perfect one, a sin-less One. Every Good King pointed to Jesus; every faithful Prophet shimmered in the reflected angelic light of the Christ. Every barren woman of faith (Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Hannah, Samson's mother) spoke with silent prayer that it would be God who brings forth light and life, not man. That only the Holy Spirit can birth a Christian. So too it is with Virgins. From Dinah and Jephthah's daughter, to the Blessed Virgin herself, the testimony is clear, Jesus would be born of a virgin because He Himself would be both Virgin and Groom; as seemingly paradoxical as His being both God and Man. The state of virginity points to Christ as does the arm of an angel. To be virginal is to be pure and spotless; to be clean and wholesome; to be health and youth and light and life. While Saint Mary's birthing of Christ was virginal her own life was sinful. Only her Son, our Lord is both Spotless and forever Pure. And here is exactly where the Lord has placed Saints such as Mary and Lucy to serve as little angels. For even as the Blessed Virgin in a large, unique, and singular way is an image or icon for the Church, so too is our little anonymous Lucia. For the Church herself is the spotless bride of Christ.

God the Groom deigned in humble love to be born of a Virgin; to be raised as an obedient Jew; to be a Husband "in and of" Blood, dying to secure the life, health and perfect chasteness of His bride.

Little Lucia's death as a martyr, a Virgin Martyr in Christ, points us not to her, but to her Jesus, your Jesus. When the Blessed Virgin Mary held up the Babe of Bethlehem, we look not to her but to Her Son, God in-the-flesh. The gifts that the Lord bestowed upon Mary, Joseph, Peter, David, Moses, Paul, and Lucy, He bestows upon all of you; the same way, by Grace through faith in His life and atoning death for your trespasses.

You are clean and fresh and unblemished. All is new again.

By her faithful witness, by her perseverance unto death, the "angel" known to you as Saint Lucy shows forth the Christ. Peer with this Syracuse sister of the faith into the creche this Adventide. See the babe, have the Prince of Peace, believe in the Redeemer, the Christ.

In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost