Celebrating Mother’s Day is always a wonderful opportunity to express our affection for our mothers and demonstrate our love for them if they are still alive. But it can also be a difficult day if we have a broken relationship with our mother as it seems everyone else is celebrating a harmonious relationship. It can be even more difficult if we have just lost our mothers recently and are grieving our loss. Yet it is a day when we ought to reflect on the gift of motherhood and celebrate the loving bond between mothers and their children and the extraordinary memories they’ve made.
Most mothers I know do not see themselves as heroes. Rather they see themselves as ordinary women who have tried their hardest to be the best mothers they could be. For the most part, they know the mistakes they have made and are not particularly proud of those moments especially when it seems the wounds of hurt can continue to the present day. Sometimes they realize they did not do well in certain circumstances and wish they could change it. Rarely do I ever hear a woman say, “I was a great mother. I got it all right.” But if they only knew what a gift they are to their families, living God’s work each and every day by loving freely and caring for their children and for some, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren too.
Motherhood is not so much a thing as much as it is the art of being in a relationship through the ups and downs of life. It is a lifetime of experience shared in tiny moments of grace. It is fabric woven over many years shedding tears and sharing laughter as they weave. It is a poem that is never complete until the last breath of life is taken. It is a mystery to be lived and celebrated at every opportunity. It is a river of water that carries us back to the ocean, our creator God.
We celebrate Mother’s Day and honor our mothers as part of the Creator God’s great gift and circle of life. Mothers gave birth to us, raised us as best they could while we were young. Now that we are older, they guide us still as best they can. Eventually, they will leave us till we meet again in heaven. Until that day, we try to honor and respect their great gift of sharing their love with us in every little and large way they knew how.
If your mother is still alive, honor her as best you can. Hopefully that will mean showering her with love without condition. Give her a hug, kiss, or gift and maybe all three! Let her know how much you love her and give her the satisfaction of knowing that she is precious to you even now, no matter what her age. Share some tender moments of loving memories and remember you are fulfilling God’s plans in honoring her.
May God bless all mothers alive and dead and may God reward them in heaven.
Speaking of mothers, some people can act as mothers to us even though they are not our biological mothers. They can encourage us, care for us, help us to be our best selves and love us for who we are. May we celebrate those women in our lives as well.
One such person, Sr. Rebecca, who has acted like a mother to so many here in the ways of faith, has decided to retire from our St. Simon Community. This is another bittersweet announcement for me to make. Of course, you know the sisters never really retire and she will continue her ministry in her own way and in her own time. She has been a mother to many parishioners in so many ways and we are eternally grateful for her enthusiasm for Jesus and the joy she has shared with generations of children here at St. Simon’s during her 19 years on staff! Sr. Rebecca – thank you for your gift of love and joy as sister and mother to so many. Please see her note below.
Finally, I want to remind everyone of our upcoming contemporary music concert with John Angotti, Meredith Augustin, ValLimar Jansen, and Jesse Manibusan on Friday, May 20 at 7pm. Please invite your friends to come and join us for a special evening of music and faith sharing stories Sr. Rebecca will sing a song with them that night too. Come and join us, it will be a truly inspirational evening!
God Bless,
Fr. Brendan