The Importance of Motherhood
For many years, a large number of women in our society
have claimed that they do not find meaning and fulfillment in motherhood. Let us consider for a moment the thoughts of
two great men about the role their mothers played in their lives.
George Washington once said, "My
mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I
attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical
education I received from her."
Abraham Lincoln spoke similar words
when he said, "All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel
Mother."
Unfortunately, many people in our
society would not agree with these great men who had great mothers. Today, many think that their lives have no
meaning unless they are employed in the workplace; thus only in this way they
regard themselves useful for society.
They consider the role of a stay home mom to be a waste of time.
However, although the circumstances of
some women oblige them to work, today many more married women are finding that
staying home and raising their children is the right way to go.
Motherhood is a very high
calling. What relationship can ever
replace the love of a mother and a grandmother? It is essential for women to realize that the love, guidance, and
influence they provide to their children are distinct and invaluable.
Another great man who became a great
president was Theodore Roosevelt. Let
us listen to what he had to say about the importance of motherhood.
“Into the woman's keeping is committed the destiny of
the generations to come after us. In bringing up your children you mothers must
remember that while it is essential to be loving and tender it is no less
essential to be wise and firm. Foolishness and affection must not be treated as
interchangeable terms; and besides training your sons and daughters in the
softer and milder virtues, you must seek to give them those stern and hardy
qualities which in after life they will surely need. Some children will go
wrong in spite of the best training; and some will go right even when their
surroundings are most unfortunate;
nevertheless an immense amount depends upon the family training.
If you mothers through weakness bring up your sons to be selfish
and to think only of themselves, you will be responsible for much sadness among
the women who are to be their wives in the future. If you let your daughters
grow up idle, perhaps under the mistaken impression that as you yourselves have
had to work hard they shall know only enjoyment, you are preparing them to be
useless to others and burdens to themselves. Teach boys and girls alike that
they are not to look forward to lives spent in avoiding difficulties, but to
lives spent in overcoming difficulties. Teach them that work, for themselves
and also for others, is not a curse but a blessing; seek to make them happy, to
make them enjoy life, but seek also to make them face life with the steadfast
resolution to wrest success from labor and adversity, and to do their whole
duty before God and to man. Surely she who can thus train her sons and her
daughters is thrice fortunate among women”.
There is no doubt that motherhood is a
very high calling. But, to whom can
mothers look as the real model of motherhood?
Today’s modern culture offers many role models through television,
movies, and women’s magazines. However,
often these role models are either all together wrong or they offer a very
limited and unrealistic view of true motherhood.
All mothers who wish to be true to
their high calling, need only look to the woman who became the greatest mother
of all. Born into humble surroundings,
she was called by God to be the mother of the Son of God. She affirmed her obedience to the call of
God, and lived out her vocation throughout her entire life. Mary, the mother of Jesus, our Blessed
Mother, is the true model of motherhood.
“It can thus be said that women, by
looking to Mary, find in her the secret of living their femininity with dignity
and of achieving their own true advancement. In the light of Mary, the Church
sees in the face of women the reflection of a beauty which mirrors the loftiest
sentiments of which the human heart is capable: the self-offering totality of
love; the strength that is capable of bearing the greatest sorrows; limitless
fidelity and tireless devotion to work; the ability to combine penetrating
intuition with words of support and encouragement” (John Paul II, Redemptoris
Mater)
One aspect of Mary’s life that has
particular meaning and inspiration for many mothers today, is the profound
suffering that she endured during the passion of Our Lord. Stabat
Mater. Mary stood at the foot of
the cross.
Divorce, separation, single moms,
widows, mothers forced to work out of necessity, grandmothers raising grandchildren,
prodigal children and prodigal grandchildren, are realities that cause deep, daily suffering for many women. Added to all of these sufferings, is the
pain endured by many married women who would like to be mothers.
All mothers and grandmothers need to
find in Mary, our Blessed Mother, the faith, hope, love, and fortitude to stand
firm at the foot of the cross. All
suffering has power when we unite our suffering to the cross of Jesus. Take your suffering, united to the suffering
of Jesus, and offer that suffering for your children and grandchildren.
As we honor our mothers and
grandmothers on this yearly celebration of motherhood, we also need to consider
the essential duties of husbands and children.
St. Paul exhorts husbands to love their
wives as Christ loves the Church (Ephesians 6: 25). Husbands have the solemn duty to sacrifice themselves continually
in their total love for their wives and their children. Each day provides numerous opportunities for
husbands to live out their family life with many acts of patience, kindness and
service.
Through loving obedience and the
living out of the virtue of charity, children become a joy and not a burden to
their mothers and grandmothers and the children in turn learn to emulate these
same virtues. Conversely, children who are self-centered will be unable to love
the way that they should.
To be a true mother today is certainly
very challenging indeed. However, our
yearly celebration of Mother’s Day should motivate all mothers to understand
the importance of their call by God to motherhood.
Going back to President Theodore
Roosevelt, he said some amazing words that will serve as a conclusion for our
Sunday reflection on the importance and beauty of motherhood.
“If either a race or an individual prefers the pleasure
of more effortless ease, of self-indulgence, to the infinitely deeper, the
infinitely higher pleasures that come to those who know the toil and the
weariness, but also the joy, of hard duty well done, why, that race or that individual
must inevitably in the end pay the penalty of leading a life both vapid and
ignoble. No man and no woman really worthy of the name can care for the life
spent solely or chiefly in the avoidance of risk and trouble and labor. Save in
exceptional cases the prizes worth having in life must be paid for, and the
life worth living must be a life of work for a worthy end, and ordinarily of
work more for others than for one's self.
The woman's task is not easy--no task
worth doing is easy--but in doing it, and when she has done it, there shall
come to her the highest and holiest joy known to mankind; and having done it,
she shall have the reward prophesied in Scripture; for her husband and her
children, yes, and all people who realize that her work lies at the foundation
of all national happiness and greatness, shall rise up and call her blessed”.
I am very grateful for the hard work
and dedication of the women in my parish.
No matter where I have ever been as a seminarian or as a priest, I have
always seen the promise of Jesus fulfilled:
“And everyone who has left houses,
brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or land for the sake of my name
will be repaid a hundred times over, and also inherit eternal life” (Matthew
19: 29). Concretely, not only have many
dedicated women assisted me in my ministry as a priest, I have also received
many spiritual mothers and many spiritual sisters that have always taken very
good care of me by keeping my refrigerator filled with delicious meals.
Aside from the apostolic activity that
many women provide in a parish family, it is good for a good priest to have the
emotional support of spiritual mothers and spiritual sisters. In order to be fully human, the faithful
celibate priest needs to experience the richness of celibate friendships with
the women of his parish family. Life
without the experience of the feminine dimension of human reality would be
incomplete and cruel.
Women who
truly live out their femininity are living icons of the tenderness of God. The celibate priest reminds women that love
is eternal. Women remind priests that
love is not only paternal, but maternal as well.
On this Pentecost Sunday, we must contemplate the
reality that God is love. The Holy
Spirit has given us, through the sacrament of baptism, the gift of love. It is through a profound spiritual life that
we encounter the Holy Spirit. In this
way, he can give us the ability and the power to love more and more each
day.
My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will renew the hearts
of all mothers so that they can live out their calling to motherhood with a
deeper and more generous love.
One final note for this week’s Sunday Reflection. As of next week, you will need to access my
Sunday homily by going directly each week to my Electronic Parish at http://www.fjicthus.com. God bless and a happy Mother’s Day to all
the moms and grandmothers.
