Happy Mother’s Day! *Weekend Open Thread*

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers, whether by birthing a child, adopting a child, or being a chosen mother, you are a mother indeed. Thank you for your willingness to bring children into the world, for rearing them up, and (hopefully) making good citizens of them. The commitment you have made/are making is no small thing, not at all. It is truly one of love, time, and devotion, that’s for sure. As someone who wasn’t able to have children, I can tell you you are greatly admired!

I have written before about my own mother, Anne, who was a wonderful mother to the five children. Is now when I mention – again – that I am the only planned child out of the bunch? I’m the fourth. And yes, I absolutely lorded that over my siblings! I can thank one of my cousins for that. My mom thought she was the most beautiful little girl she had ever seen, and voila, here I am!

I wish I could say I was an easy child to raise. Maybe in some ways – I spent a LOT of time with Mom, learned how to cook, how to clean, what her life was like, what her dreams were…For that I am exceedingly grateful. But I was hyper, always on the move, stubborn, and all that. I was a good student, and – surprise, surprise – loved church, but yeah. I am sure I gave Mom more than a few grey hairs over her years! I have to say, though, I look a lot like my mom, who looked a lot like her mom. That’s definitely a gift that keeps on giving, know what I mean? I was born when Mom was 28, and she was born when her mother was 28. There seems to be something to that!

Anyway, Mom was an amazing mother, a confidant, welcoming to all, no one was turned away from her table, a lover of animals, and a lover of God. I am blessed to have had her as my mom.

Please share, if you are so moved, stories or photos of your mothers in the Comments below. I love reading those stories myself, and I think it’s just good for us to remember our mothers (and fathers), and sharing stories about them.

There’s another Mother about whom I want to write on this Mother’s Day. That, of course, is the Holy Mother, Mary. She was a Mother to One, then became a Mother to all. What an incredible gift and blessing that is, to have a Mother who looks out for us, intercedes for us, and loves us so much that she creates miraculous moments for us here on Earth. She is all this and so much more.

Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, had a beautiful description of the Mother Mary I wanted to share with you. From the National Catholic Register:

“We can picture Mother Mary as she walks, carrying the Baby Jesus in her arms. She brings him to the Temple; she presents him to the people; she brings him to meet his people. The arms of Mother Mary are like the ‘ladder’ on which the Son of God comes down to us. … In our heart we can contemplate this double movement by imagining the Gospel scene of Mary, who enters the Temple holding the Child in her arms. The Mother walks, yet it is the Child who goes before her. She carries him, yet he is leading her along the path of the God who comes to us so that we might go to him. Jesus walked the same path as we do and shows us the new way, the ‘new and living way’ (Hebrews 10:20), which is he himself.”

When I think of the Mother Mary, I cannot help but think of Jesus on the cross, and extending to the disciple, John, His mother to become John’s mother. And for Mary, John is now her son. How beautifully bittersweet is that moment.

I mean, Mary knows her Son is the Son of God, and at some point, His ministry will take Him Home. And even in the midst of His most extreme physical pain, He made sure that His mother was cared for as she moved into older age, AND that she had a son to love, one who would treat her as his own, and who would make sure she was cared for up until her dying day. And John did. In John 19:25-27:

²⁵ Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” ²⁷ Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

Not only did this provide Mother Mary the security of knowing she, a widow, would be cared for in her old age, it gave JOHN the honor of caring for the Holy Mother. I mean, come on, that’s STAGGERING, isn’t it? Think about that – can you imagine if Jesus, in His dying moment, said to you that His holy Mother is now YOUR mother. What?! Dang, that’s just stunning. Extraordinary. And beautiful beyond beauty itself.

And now she is Mother to us all. What a gift of a magnitude hard to even fathom. What a gift.

Mothers are just that – a gift (most of them anyway). They care for us, they love us, they rear us, they teach us, and they provide for us, to name a few characteristics. They are a gift, too.

I know I am grateful for my mom, and for my mother-in-law, Luann. Mothers are a blessing, and I am indeed blessed by them.

This is for all you mothers out there:

Happy Mother’s Day! May God bless and keep you all!

This is the Weekend Open Thread.