Death cannot claim Mary as its prey, Mary: Day 263

Death cannot claim Mary as its prey

St. John of Damascus explains why death could not hold Mary in the grave.

Long ago the Lord God banished from the Garden of Eden our first parents after their disobedience. They had dulled the eyes of their heart through their sin, and weakened their mind’s discernment, and fallen into deathlike apa- thy. But now, won’t paradise receive her who broke the bondage of all passion, sowed the seed of obedience to God and the Father, and was the beginning of life to the whole human race? Won’t heaven open its gates to Mary with rejoicing?

Yes, indeed! Eve listened to the serpent, followed his suggestion, and was caught by the lure of false and deceptive pleasure. She was condemned to pain and sorrow, and to bear children in suffering. With Adam, she received the sen- tence of death and was placed in the recesses of the realm of the dead. But how can death claim as its prey this truly blessed one? Mary listened to God’s word in humility and was filled with the Spirit. She conceived the Father’s gift through the words of the archangel. Without concupiscence or the cooperation of man, she bore the divine Word, who fills all things, bringing him forth without the pains of childbirth, being wholly united to God.

How could the realm of the dead open its gates to her? How could corrup- tion touch her life-giving body? These are things quite foreign to the soul and body of the Mother of God. Instead, death trembled before her. In approaching her Son, death had learned from experience with his sufferings, and it had grown wiser. The gloomy descent to hell was not for her, but rather a joyous, easy, and sweet passage to heaven. —St. John of Damascus, Second Homily on the Dormition

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

“In approaching her Son, death had learned from experience with his suffer- ings, and it had grown wiser.” These words call to mind the title of John Donne’s poem “Death, Be Not Proud.” What is it about Christ’s death and resurrection that changed forever the meaning, and the status, of death?

CLOSING PRAYER

Almighty and eternal God, you assumed into heaven, body and soul, the immaculate Virgin Mary, mother of your Son. Grant, through her intercession, that we may always long for you and one day be brought to the glory of the resurrection with her.

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