Celebrating Our Mothers

I wrote the following for our parish bulletin for Mother’s Day.

Mothers are important.  Eve was the first mother in the Bible.  “She was the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).

There is Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and the mother of Isaac.

We remember Moses’ mother who protected his life when all the young Hebrew male infants were killed (see Exodus 1:15-2:10).

There is Hannah who prayed earnestly to have a child and, when she did, gave him, Samuel, in service to the Lord (see 1 Samuel 1). 

Of course, there are many other mothers listed in the Bible.  In our Catholic faith, at the heart of motherhood is Mary, the mother of Jesus, the mother of God.  At the Annunciation, she said yes to being the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:26-38).  She was a very faithful mother.  Even when the other disciples scattered Mary was there are the foot of the Cross as Jesus was crucified.  It was at the foot of the Cross that Jesus proclaimed Mary to our mother when He said, “Behold, your mother” (John 19:27). We celebrate her at the Mother of God on January 1^st.  We celebrate a memorial honoring Mary as the “mother of the church” on the Monday after Pentecost.

What about your mother?  What comes to mind when you think of your mother?

Each year on the second Sunday in May, we honor our mothers.  Honestly, we should honor them everyday but we have this one special day for them.  What will you do for your mother today?

Will you say thank you for what she has done for you?  Will you provide a meal, remembering how many meals she provided for you?  Will you go to visit her, or call her if she lives someplace else?

Maybe you are like me and your mother has passed away.  We can’t call them or visit with them in person.  We can still pray for our mothers in Purgatory and know they will pray for us in Heaven.

These might all seem easy to do when we have a good mother.  Even if our mother is absent from our lives or is hard to get along with, we can (and should) pray for them.  Let us pray for all mothers as we thank ours for their service.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff