Yesterday's gospel in catholic liturgy is usually the woman taken in adultery:
On Saint Mary of Egypt
"O Lord, open Thou my lips. and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise"
Today, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, is for the Orthodox Church the Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt - she whose story has been called "an icon in words of the theological truth of repentancc" (Sr. Bcnedicta Ward). We have heard this story many times. It is a simple one: the sinful woman becomes the penitent, and the least worthy is revealed as God's chosen treasure. It offers us familiar words about the power of faith, and familiar inspiration in the heroic actions of St. Mary herself. But it is, above all, a disturbing story. In the end. it haunts me far more often than it comforts me. Today. I would like to explore where the heart of this story lies, and why it is given to us especially to remember it on the Fifth Sunday of Lent each year.
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