Saint John of Damascus

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Today is the feast day of St. John Damascene. Born of a Catholic family in Damascus, Syria, in the year 675, he spent the entirely of his life under Muslim civil rule. Early in his professional life, he was the Chief Revenue Officer and counsellor of the Muslim Caliph Abdul Malek of the Umayyad Dynasty.

In the year 726 the Byzantine Emperor, Leo III, issued a law that all sacred images and icons of Jesus, Mary and the saints must be destroyed. John worked to prevent this unjust law from being enacted by widely distributing articles and pamphlets to explain that sacred images and icons are good and should be venerated and protected because they remind us of the presence of God and the help of Mary and the saints. Crucifixes, pictures, statues, icons, are vital reminders that God is with us and caring for us. When we remove all visible reminders God’s presence, we quickly forget about Him and fall prey to the pride and presumption that we control everything; or the fear and anxiety at the prospect that no one has our back.

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When the Byzantine Emperor received the news that John was undermining his law to destroy the religious art the Emperor wanted John killed. But the Emperor could do nothing, since John lived outside his empire and 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 that the hand that wrote the letter be cut off in public. The punishment was carried out, John’s right hand was cut off and he was released. 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 hand to his breast, begging Mary for help until he passed out. While unconscious, Mary 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 comply. And due John’s efforts we have images of Jesus, Mary and the saints today.

In gratitude John placed on the icon of Mary and Jesus we prayed before, a third hand, fashioned out of silver to represent his own hand restored through the intercession of Our Lady. This icon of the Mother of God came to be known as the Icon of Three Hands and resides on Mt. Athos in Greece to this day.

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The attitude of John Damascene was this: “Mary, I belong to you. I cannot restore my hand. I can’t fix this, so I surrender to you, take care of everything.”  Because His trust was great, Mary did great things for him.

We on the other hand have very small trust – dinky trust.

We make plans, take action, do what we can…But there is so much we cannot control. This causes anxiety, worry, fear, anger and exhaustion…Instead of being consumed with thought or worry - Entrust everything to Mary

·       Say to her - I am all yours and all that is mine is yours

·       Pray, think, and do what you can

·       Don’t worry about the rest. Leave it to Jesus and Mary!

·       But we obsess… Have I done enough, should I do more, I need to do more?

·       Then we take it out of the Hands of Mary

·       and back into our hands…anxious, worried, and exhausted

Entrust, surrender, consecrate it 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.

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If I belong to Mary, then I have no reason to worry. At Cana, Mary said they have no wine. Jesus said 'Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not yet come.' Jesus was totally unconcerned about the situation at hand. Yet, Mary was watching over the beginning of the Public Ministry of Jesus

·       She intuited and prompted Jesus to act

·       He was docile to Her

·       Then He worked His first public miracle launching His public ministry

·       And the Apostles believed for the first time

What do you worry about that is beyond your scope of authority or control?

·       Consecrate or entrust that to Mary

·       Nothing can oppose or conquer us if we belong to Mary

·       Nothing entrusted to Mary is lost

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.

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In the 700s St. John Damascene taught everyone to consecrate themselves to Mary. Let us consecrate or renew our consecration to Mary with John’s 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.”

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.