Walking with the Saints Podcast | Feast of St. Mary Of Egypt, Patron Saint Of Women Penitent l April 1
Our saint for today may not be familiar to many of us, but her life became the subject of popular literary works in the past centuries: three operas, two long dramas, two novels and two long poems. The source of information was her biography, written by St. Sophronius, a patriarch of Jerusalem; therefore they aretrustworthy. The underlying theme of the story is the sincere repentance of a sinner and God’s limitless mercy to those who repent. Nothing is said about theearly life of St. Mary, except that she was born in 344 and at twelve years old, she ran away from home and went to Alexandria to make an adventure. Unfortunately, she became a prostitute, offering herself to the men around. She enjoyed the comforts and pleasures of the sexual act and at times would even return the money the men paid her.
One day, she heard about a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and she was attracted to join it. When they arrived, she went her own way and like many others, she
wanted to enter a church. When she tried, however, a strong unseen force blocked her. She tried and tried but could not really enter. In those moments,
she became aware of herself and her sinful life which she thought was the reason why she could not go inside the church. She looked at the wooden Cross at the altar and the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and she began to weep. She prayed and promised to stop displeasing God with her sins and would make
penance for them. At this point, she was able to enter the church. Remembering the incomprehensible mercy of God, she kissed the floor and cried bitterly. She
turned to the Mother of God and asked her to lead her to a holy life. Then she seemed to have heard these words: “If you go beyond Jordan, you will find rest
Mary immediately left the church and took the road leading to Jordan. She found the church of John the Baptist which stood at the bank of the rivers. She looked
for a priest and confessed her sins. She received Holy Communion at Mass and after a while left Jordan. She ran and looked for the desert and decided to
stay there the rest of her life. In fact, she lived there for forty-seven years, living in prayer, solitude and prayer. When she was nearing death, she met Zosimus, a holy monk to whom she related all the events in her life. She also made a good confession and received the Body of Christ. It was Holy Thursday. Before they parted, Mary made a request if the holy monk could return the following year, on Holy Thursday so she could again receive Holy Communion. The monk was just happy to agree. After one year, when Zosimus returned to the place where he met Mary, he was dismayed to find her corpse lying on the ground with the inscription of her name and the date of her death. She must have died on that same day. Many authors believe that it was on the year 421. Today, she is honored as the patron saint of women penitent and her feast day is celebrated on April 1st.
Virtue: humility,honesty, faith, hope, penitence, courage, commitment, patience, fortitude
Prayer: “St. Mary of Egypt help us to avoid the occasions of sin and guide us to live a pure life.
