Offaly influencer reflects on the 'most precious of God's creation'

The occasion of Mother's Day is extraordinary for all of us. It's a time to give our love to the most precious creation of God - our Mom!

Mother’s Day is a time to tell them we love them and appreciate them even if it's just by phone or text or email. No matter how, please do it.  Each year we pause to think about our mothers and those who have shaped our lives.  We give thanks to God and share memories as we think about our mothers who have gone before us.  We give thanks to God and reach out in love to our mothers who are in our lives today.  We give thanks to God and celebrate those who, like mothers, have shaped us. 

We give thanks to God and celebrate those who are mothers, or like mothers, to the ones we love. It is a time to celebrate the joy of being a mother and of having a mother and knowing the warmth of her love. It may also be a day to quietly remember a Mum who is no longer with you - you feel the gap that her passing has left and you honour her legacy and all that she meant.

It is a day to think of Grandmothers, Godmothers and extended families and the link that mothers are in keeping family ties and traditions together. For some, Mother’s Day means only sadness - their child may be estranged or their dream to bear children may not have been fulfilled. Or perhaps they are the mother of a child who has died. So Mother’s Day has many meanings and it can be a time when joy and sorrow come hand in hand.

Reflecting

In reflecting on Mother's Day, we acknowledge and celebrate mothers and mothering. I make that distinction because I know that many people – aunts, step parents, close family friends, dads – also at times and in some cases fulfill the chief mothering role in families. We think about how children and mothers who have been forcibly separated through government policy, war, or natural disaster are feeling. We think about how women and children affected by domestic violence are feeling.

But hopefully we do more than think. We pray, we speak out and up for mothers everywhere. We are inspired by no less than Our Blessed Mother Mary. In the Magnificat, Our Mother Mary Queen of Peace imagines a world that reflects the face of God’s love and compassion, where all are fed and every hurt is removed, and where a strong light is thrown on the face of human degradation and suffering. This is a different image of Mary Our Mother from the often romanticised view of her as forever patient and suffering. It is a cry for justice for all mothers everywhere in our world. God himself needed a mother: how much more so do we! Jesus himself gave her to us, from the cross: “Behold your mother!” (Jn 19:27). He said this to the beloved disciple and to every disciple.

Our Lady is not an optional accessory: she has to be welcomed into our life. She is the Queen of Peace, who triumphs over evil and leads us along paths of goodness, who restores unity to her children, who teaches us tenderness, mercy, love and compassion.  Mary, take us by the hand. Clinging to you, we will pass safely through the straits of history. Lead us by the hand to rediscover the bonds that unite us. Gather us beneath your mantle, in the tenderness of true love, where the human family is reborn. Let us together pray these words to Our Lady: “We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God."

Epitome of Love

All through our lives we love to put our heads in the lap of our mothers, unmindful of our status, position and standing. For her, we will always remain the small child, but this is the day to visit our Mom, spend time with her and reassure her of our love and care. Mother's Day is a great reason to honor your mother and express gratitude for all the hugs, cuddles, kisses and lullabies she has endowed upon you. Mothers bear the hardships and the joys in bringing up a child.

A mother is the epitome of love, serenity and forgiveness. Mother's Day holds great significance for all of us. It's that time of the year to let your mother know that no one loves her more than her own children. It's a time to be grateful to your mother who's mainly the most loving, kind-hearted, understanding and caring person in your life. So this weekend celebrate Mother's Day and have a beautiful time on this day as much as you can.  As usual a story or two might help us better understand.

Creation of mothers

When God was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of "overtime" when the angel appeared and said. "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one." And God said, "Have you read the specs on this order?" She has to be completely washable, but not plastic. Have 180 moveable parts...all replaceable. Run on black coffee and leftovers. Have a lap that disappears when she stands up. A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair! And six pairs of hands." The angel shook her head slowly and said. "Six pairs of hands.... no way." It's not the hands that are causing me problems," God remarked, "it's the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have." That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. God nodded.

One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'What are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows! Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he or she goofs up and says, 'I understand and I love you' without so much as uttering a word." God," said the angel touching his sleeve gently, "Get some rest tomorrow...." I can't," said God, "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick...can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburgers...and can get a four year old to stand under a shower." The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly.

"It's too soft," she sighed. But tough!" said God excitedly. "You can imagine what this mother can do or endure." Can it think?" Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise," said God. Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told You that You were trying to put too much into this model." It's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear." "What's it for?" "It's for joy, love, kindness, sadness, empathy, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride." "You are a genius," said the angel. Somberly, God said, "I didn't put it there."

Why do Mothers Cry?

Mothers certainly feel all our pain. It’s like when a little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I’m a woman," she told him.   "I don’t understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will." Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mammy cry for no reason?"   "All women cry for no reason," was all his dad said. The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he prayed to God who would surely know the answer. When God responded he asked, "God, why do women cry so easily?"

God said: "When I made the woman she had to be made special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort. I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children. I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining. I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly. I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. I gave her the wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly. And lastly, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers and only hers exclusively to use whenever she needs it. She needs no reason, no explanation, it’s hers." "You see my son," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."

A Mother's Day Prayer

A lovely prayer that I like to pray about mothers and now in these worrying times more than ever goes as follows, "Let us praise those mothers who have striven to balance the demands of work, marriage, and children with an honest awareness of both joy and sacrifice. Let us praise those mothers who, lacking a good model for a mother, have worked to become a good mother.  Let us praise those mothers who by their own account were not always there for their children, but who continue to offer those children, now grown, their love and support. Let us pray for those mothers who have been wounded by the neglect and hostility of their children. Let us praise those mothers who, despite divorce, have remained in their children's lives. Let us praise those mothers whose children are adopted, and whose love and support has offered healing.  Let us praise those mothers who, as stepmothers, freely choose the obligation of motherhood and earn their step children's love and respect. Let us praise those mothers who have lost a child to death, and continue to hold the child in their heart. Let us praise those women who have no children, but cherish the next generation as if they were their own. Let us praise those women who have "mothered" us in their role as mentors and guides.  Let us praise those women who are about to become mothers; may they openly delight in their children.  And let us praise those mothers who have died, but live on in our memory and whose love continues to nurture us."

 
Mother's Day Poem

Finally, a familiar Mother's Day poem written in the early 1900’s is:  M  is for the Many things she gave me,  O  means only that she's growing Old.  T  is for the Tears she shed to save me,  H  is for her Heart of purest gold.  E  is for her Eyes with love light shining,  R  means Right and Right she'll always be. Put them all together, they spell  MOTHER. A word that means the world to me.

Thought for the week

As a final thought, even if we have great worries all around us at present make your Mother feel the most special woman in the world by showing your care, love and affection, especially during these our most worrying times. Most of all let your Mother know how much you love her not just for Mothers Day but for all time. Spend as much time as you can loving and caring for the people who truly love you. Enjoy each moment with them before it’s too late. There is nothing more important than family, especially during this time of . uncertainty and anxiety!!! Make your mother and the mother of your children feel the most special woman in the world by showing your care, love and affection. Most of all let your mother know how much you love her, for life is short and time is running out. Most of us have been blessed by a mother or someone like a mother in our lives.  Mother’s Day is a time to pause, remember, give thanks to God, and share our gratitude with those who have shaped us. 

And, let them know you love them and thank God for them. A very Happy Mother's Day to all our Mother's both living here on earth and those who, like Jesus, have been lifted up from the earth, forever to be with us in our hearts. 

For all of them - mothers by blood, mothers by heart—a blessing on this Mother's Day ...Blessing our Mothers, Who are our first sanctuary. Who fashion a space of blessing with their own being: with the belly, the bone and the blood or, if not with these, then with the durable heart that offers itself to break and grow wide, to gather itself around another as refuge, as home. Who lean into the wonder and terror of loving what they can hold but cannot contain. Who remain in some part of themselves always awake, a corner of consciousness keeping perpetual vigil. Who knows that the story is what endures, is what binds us, is what runs deeper even than blood and so they spin them in celebration of what abides and benediction on what remains: a simple gladness that latches onto us and graces us on our way. Loving God, we thank you for the love of the mothers you have given us whose love is so precious it can never be measured, whose patience seems to have no end. May we see your loving hand behind them and guide them. We pray for those mothers who fear they will run out of love or time or patience. We ask you to bless them with your own special love. We ask this in the name of Jesus.

Amen.