The Dragon-Born

St Margaret, patron saint of puked up women

“I have 95 days sober.” she said with a type of smile that only a survivor of hell could wear. Her tats, piercings and gnawed upon countenance were evidence of being dragon-born. A rescued daughter from the horrors of addiction. She sat there joyfully munching on Tamales and testifying of her transformation by Jesus and her hope of better days ahead.

She reminds me of the pagan convert and martyr St. Margaret of Antioch:

“During the reign (284–305) of the Roman emperor Diocletian, Margaret allegedly refused marriage with the prefect Olybrius at Antioch and was consequently beheaded after undergoing extravagant trials and tortures. Her designation as patron saint of expectant mothers (particularly in difficult labour) and her emblem, a dragon, are based on one of her trials: Satan, disguised as a dragon, swallowed Margaret; his stomach, however, soon rejecting her, opened(vomit), and let her out unharmed.” (Britannica)

95 days.

It’s hard to understand what living three months with out drugs is like to anyone who hasn’t been an addict. In many people’s minds that might seem like not enough days clean to celebrate, but to those who have been churning in the bile of beasts every day it’s like being resurrected or if that’s not visceral enough, like escaping the house of a serial rapist.

Being “clean and sober” is language that’s far too sanitary to really express the realities it describes, but washing off vomit comes close. Being Dragon-born isn’t a title spoken with pride as much as context, like saying you were raised in Sodom, yet, Jesus still sends Angels to Gamorrah.

I am honored to meet and pastor many women and men born out of the mouths of Dragons by the cross of Christ.

“I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.” -Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭

“You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.” -Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭28‬ ‭

These moments of mission give my confessional life much more bite and bile:

“I believe in…Jesus Christ…crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead…” -Apostle’s Creed

I know the Harrowing of Hell is real, because I meet the saints that were delivered from its bowels every week.