When I was very young, my mother gave me a stuffed dolphin during a trip to SeaWorld. This odd little stuffed animal was beloved. There was even a time in elementary school when I snuck it to school in my backpack. I knew this was forbidden, and if discovered, would bring the scorn of my teacher and the relentless ridicule of my classmates. But I distinctly remember weighing the risk and taking it because it represented my mom. It was a way that her love could be with me when I needed her most. In a way, it was a sacramental of my mother’s love.
Men and women are created in the Divine image and manifest this in different ways. A mother’s love is a unique and exquisite reflection of God’s nurturing and life-giving love. As a child, I believed I could endure anything as long as my mother’s love was there to sustain me. Somehow her love kept me in existence. Even as an adult, something primordial inside me still credits my continued existence to her sustaining love.
This is an extraordinary image of God’s life-giving love. Every moment of our existence is because God’s love genuinely sustains us. If even for a moment God stopped loving us, we would cease to exist.
As my stuffed dolphin manifested my mother’s love when we were apart, so too Jesus assures us “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me…” (Jn 14:18-19). Rather than a dolphin, His love is manifested perfectly in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity. It is also visible in
the gifts of the Church and the sacraments.
We call the Church Mother because of the nurturing care she gives under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The sacraments, a gift within the gift of Mother Church, efficaciously manifests God’s love, mercy, and presence when we need them most. Like our mothers, God makes His love visible and exceedingly accessible.
While certainly true of my mother, I only became conscious of it after seeing my wife with our children. The nature of motherhood is distinctly eucharistic. Her vocation and love reflect the divine heart of Jesus. At every Mass we hear Jesus’ words, “This is my body, given for you” (Lk 22:19). In a very real and sacrificial way, a mother gives her whole body for her children. From pregnancy and birth to sleepless nights and varicose veins, every part of a mother is poured out in self-giving and life-giving love. Even to the point that her “body is true food” for her newborn baby (Jn 6:55).
Jesus tells us there is no “greater love” than to “lay down one’s life” for another (Jn 15:13). Mothers exemplify this type of selfless love, daily. This maternal eucharistic love disposes us, from the youngest age, to comprehend and receive God’s perfect Divine love in the Eucharist. It also invites us to live similarly.
The gift of faith is the greatest treasure many of us receive from our mothers. Whether in words or actions, mothers are often the most enduring figures of faith in our life. In a recent study of new converts to the Church, the faithful and persistent witnesses of mothers and grandmothers were among the most cited reasons for a renewed interest in the faith that ultimately led to conversion.
Sirach 7:28 says of our parents, “what can you give them for all they gave you?” The answer is to return the self-giving love and precious gift of faith they freely bestowed to us. All women are invited to participate in Jesus’ Eucharist heart, as spiritual or biological mothers. With your yes, may your “soul proclaim the greatness of the Lord” (Lk1:46). Happy Mother’s Day!
