Happy Mother's Day to Our Ultimate Mother

It is natural to think of our mother today and to honor her. It is one of our most impactful human relationships. And I must admit that until I went to mass this morning, I hadn't thought about Jesus mother "the Blessed" Virgin Mary. I wonder if for Him, too, she was and is the most impactful of human relationships on Him.

Most Christians honor Mary as the woman who was graced by the Angel Gabriel's visit. He paid tribute to her and said "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" Luke 1:28. He informed her of how special her role was to be. She would be the vessel by which the salvation of the world would come to be. She would conceive, nourish in her womb, and give birth to Jesus without knowing a man. She would raise and instruct Him and do all the things that mother's do. What an amazing privilege and grace! I guess that's why she is blessed and why all generations would call her blessed. Luke 1:48.

Although science is changing this intimate relationship, for the vast majority of us, we too began in our mother's womb. Here, we were physically and spiritually nourished and our mother was our vessel. So vulnerable are we, that our mother has the power to stop our growth and end our life.

I then think of the mothers who choose not to have the baby growing in their womb. Some choose repeatedly and for a variety of reasons. In all cases, a mother chose her own life over her baby's. She chose fear instead of faith and love. She chose to interfere after a choice she made or was forced to make that led to conception. Whether the circumstance was rape, incest, out of wedlock or in, if their is a life in the womb we must do something in order to end that life. The reasons for terminating the baby's life can varied; a baby can seem to be developing mental or physical disabilities; it can seem as if a mother's and/or baby's life is at risk, or that the baby just was not planned for and is inconvenient.

The baby is inconvenient. That could be said about all the prior circumstances and arguably about 100% of babies. As much as any mother wants and loves a child, pregnancy is rarely if ever a cake walk. Morning sickness, hair loss, diminished mobility, temporary and permanent body changes and the list goes on and on. And this just during pregnancy. Of course, there are many positives that far outweigh the negatives or we wouldn't be here! Nevertheless, the cost is great.

I think of mother's who chose to carry the baby and keep it or give it up for adoption. I think of a mother whether she carried the baby or not. She generally and consistently had to choose her child over herself. This leads us to the definition of love.

My thoughts here lead to my own mother, whose love became most apparent when she was losing her own. According to friends and family, they asked my mother if she was afraid when it became apparent she was dieing. She said no, but I am afraid of what will happen with Angela. Recalling this still brings tears to my eyes.

This mother's day, no matter what relationship we have or had with our mothers, let us embrace the symbol that each of us carry in our soul. To all the mother's that lost their opportunity to be a mother whether by choice or not, let us embrace that divine call deep inside us to love others more than ourselves. Despite the fact that we ALL choose against love more often than we choose for love, let us rejoice in God's (love's) mercy and know that if we let HIM in, He will show us who we really are.

We can then surrender and choose love(God) more often. And who better to guide us in this surrender to God than the Mother of God. May the Blessed Virgin Mary's words be a guide for us all "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" Luke 1:38. Happy Mother's Day to our ultimate Mother!