Special Commentary: Mother's Day and Mary

Today we honor mothers. True, it is not a Holy Day of Obligation, but it is a special day of celebration.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - When my children were small, each year I would take them on a special shopping trip to buy gifts for Mother's Day. My two older girls must have been early elementary and pre-school age when we went on our "mission for mom" at WalMart.

As we entered the store I told Dena and Debbie that we had to look for something very special. We wandered from aisle to aisle, seeking something that would have deep and supreme "I love you" kind of meaning. I could tell they were trying hard to come up with ideas. Then Dena excitedly announced, "Dad, I've got it! Potholders!" with Debbie nodding in eager agreement.

My daughters had caught an important aspect of their mother's love. They captured the joy she felt in feeding them, clothing them, loving them, and caring for them. They thought nothing thrilled my wife more than working in the kitchen on behalf of her family. She needed potholders... beautiful new ornate matching potholders for her sacred space.

Knowing Sandy, anything the girls brought home would be described as "the best gift ever," because that is a mother's heart. Still, how wonderful when you can touch that heart with a message that not only says "I love you" but makes an indelible impression.

I have learned a lot about motherhood watching my wife as we moved from one passage of parenthood to the next. I better understood self-denial and sacrifice, where nurture was more important than her necessities. I beheld a love from her, as Holy Scripture teaches, that "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

I also have learned a lot about the Church and, in particular, the important role of Our Blessed Mother from beholding the gift of motherhood at work in my wife, my now-grown daughters, and other friends and family. Motherhood is the glue of family relationships and the heartbeat of life for those who are joined together. There is nothing else quite like it in all creation.

Recently, I saw a posting on a website about a group of women who did not believe that fatherhood is a necessary or important component for family life. I'll leave my commentary on that obscene and ridiculous concept for a father's day piece. However, I've never heard of any group - male, female, or mixed - who believes that motherhood is unimportant, but...

The world in which I spent many years of my life seems to be the only place where motherhood, with respect to Christ and the Church, is diminished. The role of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God - the Theotokos (the "God-bearer") - is relegated, in many protestant churches and denominations, to that of a surrogate mother who simply gave birth and stepped away.

How sad to miss the incredible dynamic that exists between a mother and her son, when that Son is God! I only have to look at my wife's life of sacrifice and service as a mother to see an incarnational model of Mary's "fiat" to the Lord. Her "let it be" was without limits, she was in it for the long haul.

How I long to reach back into that world with a message of encouragement, calling out for this wonderful part of the Body of Christ to open themselves more to Mary - His mother and a most wonderful gift to us all.

Today we honor mothers. True, it is not a Holy Day of Obligation, but it is a special day of celebration. We remember the gift God placed in the hearts of women from the foundation of the world - a gift that gives the world life, generation upon generation. Motherhood is not just about bringing biological life, but the fullness of life through love, sustenance, and nurture.

The gift of motherhood also assured the world of redemption, as God brought forth from a mother's womb His only begotten Son. That was not the end of it, however. She was with him through his years of development, nurturing and strengthening Him. She provided the maternal foundation upon which our Lord grew "in wisdom and in stature, in favor with God and with man." (Luke 2:52)

And through Him she has become our Mother as well, in His Church.

Today is Mother's Day and Pentecost Sunday. How fitting!

Let us honor our mothers and the mothers of our children, for truly this is a supreme work of womanhood. Let us also pause once more and remember our Blessed Mother, whose gift of motherhood is perpetually offered to us, through the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, in her Son and in her strength. She was there with the Church on the first Pentecost and she continues to be with the Church at every Pentecost since.

So we raise our voices today before God saying, "Come Holy Spirit! Come upon our mothers to strengthen and encourage them. Come upon our Church for grace and power. Come upon us all, that we might fulfill the great mission of Christ to make disciples of all nations."

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