Lent celebrates Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness to strengthen his life witness. The Spirit guides Jesus while rulers who act as devils plot his end in a torturous and violent ‘Good’ Friday. Lisa Pilenko, later known as Mother Maria Skobtsova, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to strengthen her life witness. Her life too is guided by the Spirit which rulers who also act as devils also end in a torturous and violent ‘Good’ Friday. Maria was born into a religiously devout family of wealth whose circumstances changed when she was a teen and her father died. From her sorrow she declared herself an atheist and became enamored of the rising Russian Revolution. As a revolutionary she married, had a baby girl Anastacia, was divorced, and was elected mayor of her town. Experiencing Communism’s torturous suffering its rulers inflicted against any who questioned it, she returned to the faith of her childhood and gained entrance to a seminary. She started speaking out against the ruling Communists. With the help of a friend, whom she soon married, she fled Russia and settled in France where she gave birth to a son, Yuri. Three years later, in 1926, her five-year-old daughter Anastacia died of influenza. Maria was inconsolable. She divorced again and struggled through her heartbreak. “When someone you love has died… all natural life has trembled and collapsed, yesterday’s laws have been abolished, desires have faded, … Everything flies into the black maw of the fresh grave: hopes, plans, calculations, above all, meaning… everything has to be reconsidered.” Maria discerned God calling her to a new motherhood. There was a “new road before me and a new meaning in life, to be a mother for all, for all who need maternal care, assistance, or protection.” With her son Yuri by her side, Maria took work as the traveling secretary of the Russian Student Christian Movement. She was able to alleviate the poverty and misery of Russian refugees throughout France and nearby nations. She envisioned starting a community and became a nun to live what she called “monasticism in the world.” She shared life with the poorest of people in a house in which all were welcome. She kept attracting more people, as helpers and guests, and securing more buildings to house and feed them. In addition to welcoming those who came to her, she sought out those who needed her. She traveled to the streets and the bars and the jails and invited the lonely and the drug addicts and the lost to come home with her. As the Nazi rulers closed in on France, she had no illusions given her experiences with Communist rulers. Though she was personally given opportunities to flee with her now adult son Yuri, she stayed with her children, all her children. She and her son refused to comply with Nazi orders, forged documents, and hid and transported Jews. In 1943 the Nazis discovered their underground work. Mother Maria, her son Yuri, and other members of her community were deported to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. Yuri died soon after. Maria was later transferred to Ravensbrück concentration camp where she endured two years of inhumane suffering. On March 30th of 1945, which in that year was ‘Good Friday,’ the day of Jesus’ suffering and death, Mother Maria was taken by the Nazis to the Ravensbrück gas chamber.
Prayer: ‘Let us turn with our spiritual world toward the spiritual world of another person – we encounter an awesome and inspiring mystery… we come into contact with the true image of God in humanity.’
Question: Towards whom do I feel called to extend Mother Maria’s enduring care?
March29, 2027 Gospel Matthew 26:14—27:66 Palm Sunday