Thanks, Mom(s)!

 

As Christians, we believe that the love of Jesus embraces everyone and shows God’s divine love for all of us.  We can’t praise the wondrous deeds the Lord does for us and for others without love.  We can’t be a witness to God’s love without loving others.  We can’t follow the commandments without love.  We can’t keep Jesus in our hearts without love.  And we can’t go out and bear fruit that will remain without love.  We can’t ask the Father for whatever we need if we don’t know of God’s love for us.  Hearing that we’re called and sent isn’t enough.  We must remain focused on our response to God’s great love for us.  We’re called and sent to share God’s love for us with others.  It’s all summed up with one commandment: “Love One Another!”

Who loves with a sacrificial and unselfish love more than a mother?  That’s what we celebrate today, Mother’s Day, and why we salute our mothers.  Mothers should be saluted for their tenacious and sacrificial love for their children, for the tremendous impact they have on their children, and for their intimate relationship with us from birth to death.  

“The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the love of a mother.” -St. Therese of Lisieux

On this Mothers’ Day, my attention is drawn to the Good Shepherd who reminds us that “my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27).  Mothers instinctively recognize this.

“Mom, Mama, Mother” or something like this were the first words we formed as tiny infants.  Always hungry, needing diaper change, always needy.  And our mothers were there, available with milk, or a powdered butt and a fresh diaper.

She fed us with her milk before we knew what it meant to eat.  Taking care of diapers, dirty clothes, and, when we were tired, or whined, or were in tears, she was there.

Sometimes we have had only God’s presence or voice inside of us to keep us company. “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”

Many years later, when we fell in love for the first time and only Mom knew what was going on.  If or when we fell out of love, she could help us pick up the pieces of loss, anger, confusion and hurt.

Mother’s little secret is where she gets the energy. “My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10: 27-28)

Men, love your wives and the mother of your children.  Have there been times when you’ve taken her for granted?  I know I have!  But I also know that my wife has gotten through disappointments or self-doubt because I’ve let her know that she’s loveable.  Even though I wasn’t able to find the right words, I stayed with her by her side.  

Sons, daughters, grandchildren, how many years were you totally dependent upon your Mom?  How many times, did you just walk away, not realizing from what you were leaving…all the energy, patience, mercy, and the desire she had deep within her to be able to understand you, and even, take you in her arms.  How many times did you not pay attention to what your Mom has gone through? (By the way, she doesn’t want you to know).

Mothers can hide their grief, their loneliness; they don’t want to burden anyone, so they carry their own burden.  Yet, our burdens, all the stuff we carry around, our mothers are there to carry, they’re there with us not just for us.  Our fears, our worries, – mothers have this capacity to hold us up, not to abandon us.

Need a further explanation?  Look at the One who lives inside of her.  You can find Him on the Cross.  “My sheep hear my voice.  I know them, and they follow me.”

On Mother’s Day, we Christians should acknowledge the truth that we have two mothers: our earthly mother and our Heavenly Mother, Mary, the Mother of Jesus (John 19:26-27).  The Catholic Church proclaims the great nobility of the Mother of Jesus, Mary most holy, and presents her as the supreme model for all mothers.  Born into humble surroundings, she was called by God to be the Mother of the Son of God.  She affirmed her obedience to the call of God, and she lived her vocation throughout her entire life.  Mary is the true model of motherhood.  “It can thus be said that women, by looking to Mary, find in her the secret of living their femininity with dignity and of achieving their own true advancement. In the light of Mary, the Church sees in the face of women the reflection of a beauty which mirrors the loftiest sentiments of which the human heart is capable: the self-offering totality of love; the strength that is capable of bearing the greatest sorrows; limitless fidelity and tireless devotion to work; the ability to combine penetrating intuition with words of support and encouragement” (Pope St. John Paul II).  Through Mary, the work of Motherhood is glorified and sanctified.  

On this Mother’s Day, let’s gratefully admit the fact that we can’t return, in the same measure, all the love that our mothers have given us.  Let’s thank our mothers today by lavishing our love on them if they’re alive and by offering our prayers for them if they’ve gone for their eternal reward.  Who can ever take the place of a mother who gave us birth, trained us, sacrificed her time and health for us?