Lenten Meditation -- St. Mary of Egypt

Source: uocofusa.org

In describing His coming Passion, Christ uses words which allude to the basis of our life in the Church right now: the cup which He is to drink and the baptism with which He is to be baptized.

Jesus promises that His disciples will also drink of His cup and be baptized with His baptism, showing us the full significance of accepting baptism and participating in communion. These are not merely things we do when we come to Church. They should be the basic fabric of our lives, making our whole life a continual martyria—a witness to Christ in the service of others.

As an example of this, we have before us today St. Mary of Egypt, who, through her encounter with the Cross, totally changed her way of life by living in total repentance and penitence, until she also partook of the cup of salvation.

Let us pray that we also have the strength to respond to Christ, not to try and avoid His Cross, aspiring after whatever we hold to be glorious, but rather recognize it as the source of our life in Him.

—Archpriest John Behr, excerpt from sermon for the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt in The Cross Stands While the World Turns