St. John Damascene
One
Today is the feast day of St. John Damascene.
Born of a Catholic family in Damascus, Syria, in the year 675, John grew up under Muslim civil rule. His father was the Chief Financial Officer for the Muslim ruler and later John became the Chief Counsellor of Caliph Abdul Malek.
However, in the year 726, the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople, Leo III, issued a law that all sacred images and icons of Jesus, Mary, and the saints must be destroyed. As soon as John heard of this, he began writing and distributing pamphlets to convince the people to ignore this unjust law. He explained to them that we need sacred images and icons because they remind us of the presence of God and the help of Mary and the saints.
Crucifixes, pictures, statues, and icons are vital reminders that God is with us and caring for us. When we remove these visible reminders of God’s presence from society, we quickly forget about God and his promise to care for all our needs. Then, thinking we are on our own, we experience the weight of our responsibilities and we begin to feel overwhelmed and anxious.
Anxiety comes from pride. Pride is self-reliance. But God never asked us to go it alone. He wants us to rely on Him, on Mary and Joseph, and the Angels and Saints. And he wants us to rely on each other.
Icons, statues, and pictures of Jesus and the Saints remind us that we’re not alone, so we need to stop living like we are.
Two
When the Byzantine Emperor received the news that John was undermining his law to destroy the religious art the emperor wanted John killed but he could do nothing, because John lived outside his empire under Muslim civil rule. So, the Byzantine Emperor had a letter forged, allegedly from John, stating John’s intention to destabilize the Muslim Caliph and hand Damascus, the Capital of the Muslim Umayyad Empire over to the Byzantine Emperor. This letter was then delivered to the Caliph who upon receiving it had John arrested and his right hand cut off in the public square.
John took his severed hand and went to the Catholic Church where he lay prostrate in front of an icon of Mary holding the child Jesus. Clutching his severed hand to his breast, he begged Mary for help until he passed out. While unconscious, She appeared to him, promising to restore his hand, and encouraging him to fight for the truth and goodness of religious images and not to give up. When he awoke his hand was restored, completely healed. With that hand John went on to write and defend sacred images, encouraging the people not to destroy them. And due to John’s efforts we have images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints today.
In gratitude, John had a silver hand, representing his own, attached to the icon of Mary and Jesus he prayed before. This icon came to be known as the Icon of Three Hands and it resides on Mt. Athos in Greece to this day.
Soon after, John left everything and became a monk and priest at the monastery of St. Saba just outside Jerusalem.
Three
We should imitate the trust John Damascene had for Mary.
John said, “Mary you are my Mother and Queen. I belong to you. I cannot restore my hand. I can’t fix this, so I surrender everything to you.” Because His trust was great, Mary did great things for him.
We, on the other hand, place our trust in ourselves and not in God or Our Lady. We make plans, take action, do what we can to control all the variables, but it’s all done in self-reliance. And then we suffer from anxiety, anger, and exhaustion.
Instead, ask Mary to conduct all your affairs. Entrust everything to Mary because the Holy Spirit works through her.
Say to Mary, “I am all yours and all that is mine is yours.” Pray and consult Mary, ask her what to do. Then think, make plans, and do what you reasonably can. Don’t worry about the rest. Leave it to Mary!
But still we obsess, “Have I done enough, should I do more, do I need to do more?” Then we take it out of the Hands of Mary and back into our hands…anxious, worried, and exhausted.
Consecrate everything to Mary. If she wants it, she will work it out. If she doesn’t want it, then neither do you. The result is peace because Mary is the Queen of Peace.
In a homily given at the empty tomb of Mary in Jerusalem on the feast of her Assumption John said, “What is sweeter than the Mother of God? She has taken my mind captive; she has possession of my tongue; she is on my mind day and night.”
Four
If I belong to Mary, then I have no reason to worry.
We need to learn to live like Jesus. At Cana, Jesus was totally unconcerned about things. Mary was watching over everything, the wedding feast, the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus, the faith of the Apostles, everything. She saw what needed to be done and said to Jesus, “They have no wine. Jesus, totally unconcerned replied, “Woman, what is this to me?”
Mary watched over everything, and then she intuited and prompted Jesus to act. He was docile to her. Then He worked His first public miracle, saving the wedding feast, launching His public ministry, and causing the Apostles to believe for the first time.
What do you worry about that is beyond your ability to control?
Consecrate or entrust that to Mary. Ask her to conduct all your affairs. Then pay close attention to what she does and how she inspires you to take action. We want to be docile to her inspirations and cooperate with her rather than fight against her.
St Maximilian Kolbe wrote, “I see Mary everywhere; I see difficulties nowhere.”
When at times I am tempted to worry I immediately say to myself, “silly one, why do you worry? Is this your work? If all belongs to the Immaculate, will she not attend to it? Then let her lead you.”
Five
In the 700s St. John Damascene taught everyone to consecrate themselves to Mary.
At the empty Tomb of Mary in Jerusalem where she was assumed into heaven body and soul, John consecrated himself to Mary with this prayer, “We today also remain near you, O Lady. Yes, I repeat, O Lady, Mother of God and Virgin. We bind our souls to your hope, as to a most firm and totally unbreakable anchor, consecrating to you our mind, soul, body and all our being and honoring you as much as we can with psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles.”
Through this Rosary Podcast, we are preparing to consecrate ourselves to Mary once again on December 8th. But we can renew this consecration every day, “I am all yours and all that is mine is yours, dear Jesus, through the hands of Mary.”
And throughout the day, “Mary, I am all yours.”
Then pay attention and do whatever she tells you.