One of the little-known works of early Christianity is the enigmatic biography known as The Testament of Theophilus. The Theophilus that is referred to in the title, the purported author of the work, is the predecessor, uncle and mentor of St. Cyril as the Archbishop of Alexandria in Egypt. The Testament begins with an account of the way that the Christians of Alexandria, unable to endure the terrible blasphemies all around them for even a moment longer, rose up in great numbers, killed the pagans and their priests and burned to the ground the last and greatest of the city's pagan temples, the Serapeum, along with its very extensive library. In the opening paragraphs of the book, the Christian community then braces for what they believe to be inevitable, the vengeance of the Emperor, who, they feared, would come and impose terrible punishments on them for their vandalism and disorderliness. Yet, in the end, the Emperor Maurice does come to the city, but he rewards the Christian community with enormous imperial largesse. Afterwards, the Archbishop Theophilus takes him on a marvelous tour of the extensive treasuries of the Church of Alexandria, showing to him all of the precious things offered to the Church since its legitimization under the Emperor Constantine the Great.
After the Emperor departs to make his return journey to Constantinople, a trance falls upon Theophilus, and he sees a detailed vision of all the characters and events of the life of Jesus and His Holy Mother (as well as of St Joseph the Betrothed) during their stay in Egypt, fleeing from the murderous intentions of the King of Judea, Herod I. In the sections that follow, the entire journey of the Holy Family through all the parts of Egypt that they visited is told in great detail, and most of the places that are referred to in the text are still known and recognizable. Many of these places are still marked by churches and shrines, for example the great church erected at the river crossing, Ma'adi, where the Holy Family is said to have spent the night in a pagan temple before crossing the river at dawn the next day. From the account in the Testament, the entire sojourn can be reconstructed with all its various different movements, many of which were motivated by the Holy Family's need to evade spies from Herod, who were seeking them for years after their entry into Egypt. Because of their need to avoid these spies and to also avoid the many occasions of sin that filled pagan Egypt at the time, the Holy Family never entered the cultivated areas. All of the sites associated with them are in the desert one both sides of the Nile.
The only problem with this otherwise interesting work of early Christian literature is that the Most Holy Mother of God is completely insufferable. She is presented from beginning to end as the consummate whiner, whose bitterness and complaining does not cease for any appreciable period of time during the entire journey. Most of the sayings that Theophilus attributes to her begin something like, "O that I had died in the land of Israel, surrounded by kinsmen, before this particular suffering could come upon me...." Yes, indeed, the entire depiction of the Most Holy Mother of God is "off." It's just not consistent with what we believe regarding the one, who "kept all these things, pondering them in her heart."
I always strongly recommend to everyone that they develop for themselves a Rule of Prayer, a short description of everything that they commit to do during the course of the day as regards prayer. One of the features of my own Rule is a short reading each evening before I retire from Father Alexandre de Rouville's work The Imitation of Mary. Now listen to what de Rouville relates concerning the Mother of God. These are words that he puts in her mouth: "When some affliction is close to you or already upon you, when it stays with you and even intensifies, or when it is followed by others, repeat frequently to God: Yet not my will but Yours be done....Banish from your soul in time of adversity every thought that cannot be expressed in these few words: It is God's will."
When we hear words such as these, especially after laboring and suffering through the pages of Theophilus, we recognize the Mother of God that we know. The one who is not a complainer, not a whiner, but a person deeply conformed to the Will of God. In de Rouville, as well as in the Scriptures, she is a person who understands that the Almighty, All-Knowing and All-Compassionate God is directing her life, through the instrumentality of other human beings to be sure, but that instrumentality never disrupts God's gracious plan; it only brings it to completion.
So, why are these two depictions of the Mother of God important for us? Because they represent two distinct modes of being. The first of these modes is reactive. Such a human being is in constant need of responding to external events, and a life lived in constant reaction to what happens around us leads, inevitably, to resentment. On the other hand, the second mode is contemplative. Completely convinced of God's unique agency, such a person seeks communion with God in every action and event. In the same way that one can and should ponder the words of the Scriptures, so too can such a person ponder his or her circumstances, learning of God, because He is the unique Actor. Such "keeping and pondering," as the Gospel puts it, is only possible for one who recognizes God's gracious action. By all means, "Banish from your soul in time of adversity every thought that cannot be expressed in these few words: It is God's will."
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