Mary Comforts Eve
Sr. Grace Remington, OCSO, Crayon and Colored Pencil Drawing,
2005
The Cistercian sisters of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey
support themselves by marketing the greeting cards they design. This provocative
image was designed for a Christmas card by two of the sisters. Sr. Grace
prepared the drawing and Sr. Columba, the abbess, wrote this poem to accompany
it:
O Eve!
My mother, my daughter, life-giving Eve,
Do not be ashamed, do not grieve.
The former things have passed away,
Our God has brought us to a New Day.
See, I am with Child,
Through whom all will be reconciled.
O Eve! My sister, my friend,
We will rejoice together
Forever
Life without end.
My mother, my daughter, life-giving Eve,
Do not be ashamed, do not grieve.
The former things have passed away,
Our God has brought us to a New Day.
See, I am with Child,
Through whom all will be reconciled.
O Eve! My sister, my friend,
We will rejoice together
Forever
Life without end.
How telling that Mary “comforts” rather than “confronts”
Eve; how lovely that the sisters surround the two women not with the apples
that represent the sin and the fall, but with the pear tree (think "12 Days of
Christmas") that symbolizes our redemption. Contrite Eve and consoling Mary are
sisters in the story of our salvation, the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb
overcoming and undoing all that was wrought by the cursed fruit Eve clutches to
her breast.
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