St Lucy with her eyeballs on a plate

Carroll Gardens is lousy with statues. One of the more famous one is of St Lucy with her eyeballs on the plate at the corner of my old block on Third Place. It is a memorial to Tuddi who was an old time resident who died many years ago.

What is interestting is you can see the bar in the background. Back in the day it used to be the Three Fours as the address is 444 Court St. Now it is a hipster bar called Abeline with a Western motif. It is run and patronized by hipsters. They had outside seating before the virus and the typical hipster drinker was a mom with a stroller and a dog attached getting their drink on in the middle of the day. The bar is always full of kids as these hipster parents don't want to lose out on their drinking so they bring their brats everywhere.

The other thing that is interesting is that the statue gets a lot of offerings. Not candles or cards or other tokens of respect. No cigarette butts  the the hipster scumbags toss on the floor. The owner of the building has to come clean it every day.

It is sick out there and getting sicker.

Did you ever think about Judas?

Did you ever think about Judas?

He was Jesus good friend. One of his followers. Someone he trusted and wanted to spread the Good News. But Judas didn't really love Jesus. Well at least not enough. He just sold him out. For money.

I mean he repented later. He was sorry he did it and tried to give it back. But you can't give it back when you take those thirty pieces of silver. Once you do it you can't undo it.

On the corner of my block there is a statue of St Lucy with her eyeballs on a plate. St. Lucy wouldn't marry a pagan and give up her devotion to Jesus. She took her dowry and gave it to the poor and starving. Her bridegroom was outraged and denounced her as a Christian. When they couldn't move her to change her ways or even burn her at the stake they gouged out her eyeballs with a fork. That is why she is traditionally depicted as holding a plate with her eyeballs on it.

You will find a statue of St Lucy in most real old style Churches. She is one of the most popular and venerated saints. You know you are in a real old school Catholic church when you see St Lucy with her eyeballs on a plate.

St Lucy wasn't like Judas. She didn't take the life of ease and comfort. I mean all she had to do was deny her faith. Maybe not even that. She would just have to hide it. Hide the symbols and practices and not give witness.  You know what the Supreme Court wants us to do now. Then she would have all the riches of the world. She just had to pretend.

St Lucy was no Judas.

Are you Judas or St Lucy?