Our Lady, the One Who Strikes and Crushes the Devil

Homily of H.E., Most Rev. Charles John Brown, D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines

May 16, 2026 | Solemnity of Our Lady of the Abandoned

Parish of Our Lady of the Abandoned, Brgy. Hulo, Mandaluyong City, Philippines

Mary said, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5)

That is the theme for this year's parish fiesta here in the Parish of Our Lady of the Abandoned in Mandaluyong. It makes me very happy as your apostolic nuncio, to be invited, to celebrate this Fiesta Mass with all of you, faithful parishioners of Our Lady of the Abandoned here in Mandaluyong.

I want to greet in a very, very special way the Rev. Fr. Reginaldo V. Lavilla, MSP, Moderator of the Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP); and the Team Ministry Moderator, Rev. Fr. Adolfo Bonghanoy Jr., MSP; and the other priest who have come to concelebrate this Fiesta Mass on the Solemnity of Our Lady of the Abandoned.

This, I think, is my second visit to your wonderful parish. Because on one of my Visita Iglesia, I think in 2024, when I was walking through Makati on my way to Malate, where I live on Taft Ave., visiting seven churches, I stopped here and prayed on Holy Thursday, and was impressed by the beautiful church that you have here. This place of prayer, this place that's devoted to Our Lady of the Abandoned, our wonderful Mother in heaven.

The Mother of All the Living

So, this idea, “Do whatever Jesus tells you”. Our first reading (Genesis 3:9-15, 20) this morning is from the first book of the Bible. All of you know, in your catechism, which book that is. It’s the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. In which we hear the effects of the first sin. The consequences of the original sin, when Adam and Eve turned against God, were disobedient to Him, and symbolically ate the fruit from the tree that was forbidden to them. Then sin entered the world. Sin, sadness, death, and all bad things began at that point.

When we think about that moment, we see Adam and Eve there in the garden, and we reflect on those words that God speaks. “The man gave his wife the name ‘Eve,’ because she was the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). “Eva”, “Eve”, our first mother. 

You know, brothers and sisters? That's not just a theological point, a doctrinal point, but scholars of genetics, geneticists, people who study human nature and the evolution of the human person tell us that all of us on earth today—this is a scientific point, not a religious point, all of us on earth today are descended from one woman. This is a scientific point. We're all descended from one woman. One woman who probably lived something like 100,000 or 200,000 years ago.

In theology, we call her “Eve”, the mother of all the living. That means that all of us have life in us, because that life has come down to us biologically from our first parents. We have life in us, biological life; but that life has been compromised, has been damaged by sin. That life, as all of us know, that biological life that's in us will at some point finish, our biological life will end; and we will pass from this life into the life of the world to come. We pass from biological life into supernatural life.

That passage for us as Catholics has already happened in baptism. All of us have that natural biological life from Adam and Eve in us, as all people do in the entire world; but those who have been baptized into Christ have another kind of life in you, in your body, supernatural life, which we also call God's grace. Supernatural life that's in you, and that will carry you from this life into the life of the world to come.

So, Eve was the mother of all the living, but we see how the effects of sin have affected all of us, the descendants of Eve and Adam. God says in the first reading, we heard also, when He speaks to the devil, speaks to Satan, He speaks to the serpent, He says these words, “I will put enmity between you and the woman,” (Genesis 3:15). That means between you and Eve, between your offspring and hers. He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.

So, God is talking to the devil in that moment in Genesis, and He says He will put enmity, that means He will make enemies between you, the devil, and the woman Eve. Between your offspring, the offspring of the devil, and the offspring of Eve. He, the devil, will strike at you, and Mary will strike at his head.

Our Lady, The One Who Conquers the Snake

So, this is very interesting. In the text that we read this morning, the pronoun is “He” will strike at your head, the offspring of Eve. “He will strike at your head”, and we, of course, interpret that to be Jesus, who strikes the devil, who defeats the devil. In the original Latin translation of this text from Genesis, it is not “he” will strike at your head, but “she” will strike at your head (“ipsa conteret caput tuum” = “she shall crush thy head”).

Left: Our Lady of the Abandoned of Mandaluyong; right: a Marian image (in Dagupan City) depicting Our Lady, crushing the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).

Of course, in Filipino you don't have “he” and “she”, so a little bit confusing for all of us in Tagalog; but in English and other languages you have masculine and feminine. So, what we just read in the first reading this morning, “He will strike at your head,” in the Latin it’s “She will strike at your head.” God is telling the devil, she, the one behind me (pointing at the Our Lady of the Abandoned image on the retablo) will strike at your head.

Many of us have seen statues of Our Lady with her foot on what? On the head of the snake, on the head of the serpent. That is an artistic representation of the reading that we heard this morning. Mary, “she will strike at your head.” Mary will crush the head of the serpent. Who is the serpent? The devil. Mary will crush his head. That's why she's oftentimes portrayed with the snake at her feet and her foot on top of the snake. Because she is the one who conquers the snake, the devil.

Our Lady of the Abandoned, the One Who Strikes and Crushes the Devil

That brings us the idea of Our Lady of the Abandoned. Our Lady takes care of those who are abandoned. When all of us, any of us, feel abandoned, and we feel attacked by the serpent… (Who is a serpent? The devil, and he's attacking us, destroying us, making life difficult for us.) We need to take refuge in Our Lady, because she is the one who strikes and crushes his head. 

When we come close to Mary, Our Lady of the Abandoned, when everyone else has maybe abandoned us, we have no one to help us. The one behind me, she will help you. She will strike at his head; she will crush the head of the serpent.

Mary is our refuge.

Mary is our protector.

Mary is our defender.

Mary is our advocate.

Mary is our mother, our mother.

We heard at the beginning of this reading that Eve was the mother of all the living. Mary is the Mother of us by God's grace. On the cross, when Jesus hangs on the cross, He says to the apostle John, pointing to Mary, “Behold your mother” (John 19:27),  and John represents all of us. So, Mary becomes our mother at the foot of the cross.

Eve of course, is our mother by human nature. Mary is our mother by God's grace. A mother given to us to strike the head of the serpent, to protect us from evil. So, whenever we feel desperate, abandoned, discouraged, we need to come and pray for Our Lady, and she will comfort us. She will take care of us, because she loves us so much. She's our mother by grace.

As all of us know, and many of you here in church this morning are mothers. All of us know that our mothers, all of us know that a mother's love for children is something that always continues. A mother's love is something that is so precious. We have this mother in heaven.

So, we pray to our Lady on this, her feast day of the Our Lady of the Abandoned. When we feel abandoned, we feel ever more deeply that we are children of Mary.

So, I want to, and name of Pope Leo XIV, who is the Holy Father in Rome, I am his representative here in the Philippines, I want to greet each and every one of you on this wonderful feast day on your parish fiesta.

Let us always remember that Mary is with us. Our Lady never abandons us, even when everyone else has abandoned us. She is our mother according to God's grace.

May God bless each and every one of you. I wish you a blessed and happy fiesta!

Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo