Unholy Mary

"See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God."

Hebrews 3:12

I've always thought me and my brother would marry into our religion, yet here we were - my brother, a righteous man, joined in unholy matrimony with this spiteful heathen .

When he brought home the news of the engagement the whole family was in outrage - how could he possibly marry someone like of her? An apostate on top of all?

Mary, though with the holiest of names, was herself the furthest from what it should represent. She was raised in the church but had left it and the community long ago. A runaway, a disgrace to her family.

At first our parents were persistently refusing, understandably so, to give their blessing. They demanded her either acknowledge the one true faith or never be seen amidst our family ever again. She kept refusing and my brother kept pleading until finally our parents gave in. For mother and father to approve of this came as a surprise, to say the least. I had asked them how could they possibly be content with such a thing but they seemed to have made up their mind.

" Have faith God will guide your brother. We must do what is best for him" was the answer i got from my father.

He seemed not to be bothered with my brother's choice any longer, which disturbed me to my core. This Mary (forgive me, Holy Mother of Jesus, for tainting your name) had already influenced my brother with her heretic ways so much so that i could sense he was beginning to question his faith. Could it be that she was starting to get to our parents as well?

That viper! Look at her standing all... blasphemously glowing in her gown that exposed her collarbone, shoulders and... this cleavage. Women who dress so immodestly are put here by the Devil with the sole purpose of seducing good men and planting impure thoughts inside their minds, everybody knows that! And apparently so for she has somehow managed to seduce my brother, she has bewitched him - that much is sure.

That succubus, a spawn of Satan, standing among the righteous. Even now, I admit, she was tainting my thoughts with her plump lips and shiny hair and the devilish curves of her body (forgive me, Father, and rid me of temptation). It was clear she was sent from hell.

We were all gathered in this hall, our whole community, sitting at the tables, ready for the celebration. Well, "celebration" would be an overstatement, because I knew with certainty that everyone here thought the same, even her parents.

My father, our pastor, stood up and cleared his throat, my mother followed. The guests went quiet as my father spoke:

"I would like to raise a toast to our young couple. I believe God has brought them together for a purpose as He is all-knowing and wise. He may tests our faith in many ways but always puts the right path ahead of us. The only thing that is required from us is to follow it so that we can get closer to His light. Mary, sweet child, you have went astray for far too long but now God has given you the chance of redemption and now through marrying my son you finally have the chance to walk the righteous path alongside him. And this is why our families have prepared for you a wedding gift - your second baptism. God is rejoicing your return to Him in Heaven, as are we here on Earth"

Applause followed. It all made sense now - I knew our parents couldn't just let my brother marry someone by the likes of her so light-handedly. Then Mary stood up and spoke:

"Thank you for this toast and your acceptance but there has been a misunderstanding that I would like to clear. Respectfully, i will not be baptised. I've made it clear that i will never again be part of the church. I understand you choose to believe what you choose to believe and you are free to do so - I have nothing against that. After all I am having my wedding here with all of the community. But I should also be free not to believe in your ways. They no longer align with me and I can't force myself to be something I am not. I hope you can understand that so we can live in peace and mutual understanding as a family"

A few moments of silence followed after these scandalous words.

"Joseph?" mother glanced at my brother, expecting a reaction.

"God is all-forgiving, mother. He would want for Mary to be content and so do I. I cannot force her into doing anything she doesn't want "

I thought our parents would insist but instead mother said:

"Alright then. Here here!"

Everyone raised their glasses and drank in awkwardness and soon enough people turned to their plates and started to chatter quietly in disbelief as mother still stood there, staring at the bride and groom. A few seconds had passed when my brother and Mary started coughing simultaniously. At first very slightly but it started to intensify progressively and everyone went quiet as our mother and father stepped closer to their table.

Mary looked down at her cup and then back to our parents and slowly stood up, barely holding herself.

"You did this. You poisoned us" Mary yelled, her voice shaking.

"You have poisoned yourself with heresy and tricked our son into taking the poison, just as Eve gave Adam the apple. A woman committed the first sin and so all women that followed are naturally born sinners and so they must pay for their sins and prove their loyalty to God their whole lives. But there is a chance of salvation"

Mother pulled out a flask filled with yellowish liquid and raised it above her head. Mary tried to walk closer to her but her knees were getting weak and she fell before her, growling.

"Repent" mother said firmly "Repent and God will save you. This is His final test"

Mary looked up, her eyes red and full of spite

"Never! This is why I left, this is why I will never go back to your sadistic faith. I spit on you and your God" she yelled and spat onto our mother's face.

How dare she?

"Witch! Sinner!" I shouted in resentment

Others followed filling the hall with their voices:

"Sinner!"

"Repent!"

"Witch!"

"Devil!"

My brother then stood up with effort and collapsed to his knees next to Mary.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name..." He started praying, his voice shaking, the cough interrupting his words.

"Joseph" Mary desperately tried reaching to him but he would not listen. A spark of disappointment flashed through her eyes as he continued to say his prayer.

"Repent" father said, looking down on the two.

"I hate you!" the witch cried and started choking and gagging, barely gasping for air.

"I repent, father" my brother said humbly, his gaze filled with tears of regret.

"God is good" our mother said gently and handed him the flask.

Joseph quickly gulged the liquid, somehow managing not to choke and tossed the flask aside. Soon enough he started to regain his strength, his breathing normalised while Mary's life slowly faded.

"Temptation is the Devil's tool and my son has fallen victim to it. But because he is strong-willed, he managed to find God again. There is always a chance for redemption" father said solemnly " Joseph, do you repent for your sins and vow to serve the one true God?"

"I do"

"Do you renounce Satan and accept God in your heart?"

"I do"