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Reading the spiritual writings of Bl.Chavara is a feast to my spirit. What surprises me is the fact that such holy souls are so aware of the sin factor in their beings, while ordinary people like me take life for granted!Bl.Chavara is a person who could be so confident at his death bed, so as to proclaim that he never allowed his baptized soul to get profane! I used to wonder....., until recently, when I sat down to read one of his spiritual writings, 'Dhyana Sallapam'. His Malayalam is slightly difficult since the language of 19th century is a bit different from that of the modern Malayalam. Still, the flow of his passionate penitence makes such difficulties irrelevant.
What fascinated me is the way he has made some women saints to keep him company so as to help him meander through the road to holiness. First and foremost, he has got Virgin Mary whose maternal protection he had started enjoying even from his days of infancy. Then he has, as his second spiritual Mother, none else but the great St.Terese of Avila herself.
This much , I can digest. But next comes three women saints , whom he calls as his "special patron saints of penitence"! They are two Marys - Mary Magdalene and Mary of Egypt- and St. Margaret of Cortona. Very very strange indeed. These two 'Marys' are so unlike the Virgin Mary, who was Immaculately pure even from the moment of conception. The Mary of Magdalene as anyone knows was a sinful woman, and the Egyptian Mary was a greater harlot ! And Margaret of Cortona too almost falls in line with them. But what makes them "saints" is the way they made their U-turn, the moment they encountered Christ. They lived their lives in unimaginable penance ever since - in voluntary penance and physical suffering!
St. Gertrude relates that St. Mary Magdalen said to St. Mechtilde: "Whosoever shall give God thanks for all the tears I shed upon the feet of Jesus, our most, merciful God will grant him, through my intercession, remission of all his sins before his death, and a great increase of love to God."(http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Litany%20Magdalen.html) )There is a legend which says that she spent the last thirty years in France devoting herself to solitary penance for the sins of her past life.In art pieces she is usually shown in a desert or rocky landscape, sometimes with a cave, and with a skull or a crucifix.Some paintings show her as a very thin woman due to her austere living by fasting.The story of Mary of Egypt too has some similarity.This Mary lived her life of harlotry not for the sake of money , but out of sheer lust .( In her 'Vita', she tells St. Zosimas that it was "her insatiable desire.")One day, she got attracted to a swarm of pilgrims going to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. She joined them, again out of her impure passion for gratifying the flesh.
But at Jerusalem a strange event occurred that changed her whole life style.As she joined her companions to enter the Church , she was stopped by a mysterious force at the threshold and try as much as she could, she could not enter!!!As she watched the others flowing into the church , she had her moment of epiphany, the moment of her self-realization. She , for the first time in her life was shocked to realize her own sinfulness that held her in shackles at the door of the Church, where her Saviour was crucified.With all her might, this repentant sinner turned to the image of the Theotokos, the Mother of God, the Refuge of sinners!Then, when she turned around towards the door, she could enter the Church with an ease which surprised her. She says in her Vita ( ie. Biography):
"A great terror and stupor came over me, and I trembled all over, but when I came to the door which until then had been closed to me, it was as if all the force that had previously prevented me from entering now allowed me to go in. So I was admitted without hindrance, and went into the holy of holies and I was found worthy to worship the mystery of the precious and life-giving Wood of the Cross. Thus, I understood the promises of God and realized how God receives those who repent."( qt. from http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/synexarion/maryofegypt.htm).As she came out to thank the Image of the Virgin, she heard the Voice asking her to cross River Jordan and that she would find rest there. She did so. After receiving her Baptism and the Holy Eucharist at the Church at the bank of River Jordan, she crossed Jordan with three loaves of bread as her sole possession , and went to live her New Life as the model of all penitents in the lonely desert.
A beautiful story indeed. And this story is made more beautiful in art, especially in the iconic paintings of 6th century onwards. A very interesting link I found in the net, where a Vita Icon of Aegypta Maria is described.Don't miss it. Click:
Something else that I found interesting is the fact that she is mentioned by Ben Jonson in 'Volpone ', a text I studied during my B.A days, years ago!Refer:
I quote:
"In Ben Jonson's play Volpone (1606) one of the characters uses the expression "Marry Gip". Commentators have taken this to mean "Mary of Egypt".
"In Ben Jonson's play Volpone (1606) one of the characters uses the expression "Marry Gip". Commentators have taken this to mean "Mary of Egypt".