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Quite to the contrary, she was smart, tough,

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a street person, probably quite physically strong,

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capable of surviving the very dangerous and often

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deadly activities in the streets of Alexandria.

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But make no mistake here, Mary of Egypt was a

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very formidable woman who had been hardened by

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a very harsh life. of living conditions on the

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streets of Alexandria. But little did she know

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that in the very sinful harshness of that life,

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God was preparing her for a future life of extraordinary

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deprivation and asceticism. Yes, God had prepared

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her for the challenge of a life of repentance

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in the desert. She began that life as a lark,

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really, a frivolous kind of activity, finagling

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her way onto a ship of pilgrims bound for Jerusalem

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for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

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So from that, we know that it was probably the

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end of September that she went to Jerusalem.

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After partying in the streets for a few days,

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she joined a crowd walking up toward the Church

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of the Forerunner in Jerusalem, thinking she

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would, oh, maybe I'll get a look at the church.

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true cross of Christ. But she was prevented from

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entering the church several times, not once,

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several times, by a mysterious, what she described

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as, force, a mysterious force. And it's at this

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point that she begins her remarkable life of

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repentance, standing beneath the icon of the

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Theotokos and lamenting from the depths of her

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heart her life. She asks permission, actually,

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from the Theotokos to enter. And, most importantly

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of all, she, one, vows to never defile her body

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again, two, to renounce the world, and three,

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go wherever the Theotokos tells her. Well, she

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enters the church, venerates the cross, and before

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leaving, she pauses again before the icon and

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hears these words, If you cross the Jordan, you

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will find glorious rest. And her response? Just

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a short phrase. She says, O Lady, do not forsake

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me. She crosses the Jordan the next day, and

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for the next 47 years, that's right, 47, she

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struggles in the most fearsome spiritual combat

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imaginable. She's continually attacked by the

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remembrances of her former life, its pleasures,

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sensual temptations, the food and wine she said

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she loved so much, the coarse, crude, ribald

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street songs that she loved singing, and probably

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more than all, I imagine, the false and very

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seductive sense of unrestrained freedom. She

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was tormented by cold, heat, hunger, thirst,

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lack of shelter. And yet, with every attack on

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her, she called on the Theotokos to help her.

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During those 47 years, she never saw another

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person or animal, so she said. During her first

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meeting with Saint Zosima, he recognized her

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as a... As a clairvoyant, she was able to tell

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him things about his life that she had no possible

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way of knowing. He observed her when she prayed,

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levitating off the ground. This actually made

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him afraid. He thought he didn't know whose presence

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he was in. But as he heard her story, he realized

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he was in the presence of great holiness. At

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their second meeting, to give her communion,

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As per their agreement, she joined him from the

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other side of the Jordan River by walking across

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the water to him. And the third time he met her,

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it was to bury her with the aid of a desert lion

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who dug the grave in the hardened desert soil.

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Her story was kept in the oral tradition of St.

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Zosima's monastery, and it was written down eventually

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by St. Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem,

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many years later. Well, what can we say? This

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is certainly one of the most extraordinary stories

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of the Christian faith. But everything about

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her life really was extraordinary. Extraordinary

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sinning, followed by even more extraordinary

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repenting. Surely, she was a type of that woman

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that we heard of today in the Gospel of Luke,

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the one who wiped the tears from Christ's feet

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with her hair. And whom Christ said about, she

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is forgiven much because, not that she sinned

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much, but because she loved much. So we look

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at this and we look at her life and I don't know

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about you, but I think, well, what about us?

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What about me? What about our lives? While some

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of us may have sinned mightily, more than likely,

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no one here, has repented mightily like this,

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at least in the radical and profound manner that

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she did. And really, you know, that's as it should

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be. In our lives of comparative ordinariness,

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let us remind ourselves that St. Mary's struggle

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was certainly for her own salvation, for sure,

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but it was also for us. That her crossing over

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the River Jordan was also for us. Let's remind

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ourselves that all of our circumstances are given

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to us by God. And while they may appear very

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common, even seemingly insignificant at times

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compared to hers, that's as it should be. And

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whether our sins be common or extraordinary,

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that's really not the point. The point is our

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Lord Jesus Christ gives us, through his love

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and mercy and grace, the strength, the willingness

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to struggle with our own difficulties and our

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sins. And if we will listen carefully, the voice

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of the Theotokos will direct us. in the way we

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must go. And as St. Mary of Egypt, as a sure

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example for us, let us, let us cross over the

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River Jordan of our lives and go into that land

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where we will also find glorious rest. Glory

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to Jesus Christ.