“Through self-denial thou didst tame the savagery of the passions, and through violence thou didst break the rebellion of thy flesh.” (Verse at Vespers)
St. Mary of Egypt is set before us today because her life was one of excesses and extremes. Like the rebellious Prodigal, Mary led an undisciplined, immoral, worldly life seeking pleasures and plunging headlong into sexual depravity.
Then one day, she tried to enter a church but was “stopped in her tracks” by an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary hanging above the doorway. In that instant, Mary’s whole life rushed over her and she realized just how sinful and far from God she was. She immediately confessed and repented of her sins, but fearful of persistent temptations retreated to the desert, enduring the opposite extreme of a harsh, solitary life to overcome her lust and quest of pleasure.
Mary’s severe ascetism reminds us, that balance, equilibrium, and the taming of one’s passions are often achieved by an equal and opposite action. Thus, we overcome indulgence by abstinence, rebelliousness by obedience, violence by peace, pride by meekness, sexual depravity by strict morality, and retaliation by “turning the other cheek.”
Going to such extremes not only creates balance, but physical and spiritual “wholeness,” sanctifying our existence and purpose as Christians.
