Tag: Mother’s Day

  • Retreat to Honor Our Mothers on Mother’s Day

    Retreat to Honor Our Mothers on Mother’s Day

    This Sunday is Mother’s Day — a day dedicated to honoring our mothers. As we go through life, our relationships with our mothers evolve and our perspectives shift. We might feel distanced from our mothers or even at odds with them. This virtual retreat focuses on our changing relationships with our mothers. You can do this retreat on your own or with your mom! Live far away? Email her the link then get on the phone, Facetime or Skype. So, in addition to a card or gift (don’t forget!), celebrate Mother’s Day with your mother in a unique way. Click here to download the PDF.

    Getting Started

    Find a comfortable place in your home or even outdoors for this retreat. Take a few minutes to think about your mother or other women who have been nurturing figures in your life. You might want to light a candle in memory of any nurturing figures that have passed away.

    Now, settle into the moment …

    • Close your eyes and breathe deeply
    • Recognize that God is with you

    Prayer

    Loving God, we thank you for the gift of mothers who give us life. By their love and sacrifices, they have taught us how to love and make sacrifices for others. We are inspired by their faith and the way they have provided a foundation for knowing you. May you strengthen our mothers through your grace so that they can continue to grow as our examples of faith and love. And, may we, their sons and daughters, always honor them with a spirit of profound respect. Amen.

    Reading

    John 2: 1-11

    “On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

    Thoughts on the Reading

    This passage is most notable because it features the first recorded miracle of Jesus’ ministry. It also has a message for us about the changing relationship between a mother and a son. Mary has played a very special role in Jesus’ life. She carried the Son of God in her womb. She watched as her son grew in God’s wisdom and knowledge, and bore witness to Jesus’ life-giving ministry. No doubt the parent-child relationship of Mary and Jesus had its ups and downs. The changes in both mother and child over time transformed their relationship. So it is with us today as we grow older and our parent-child relationship and even our role in that relationship changes. These changes can lead to even deeper bonds – connections that can produce miraculous things if we let them.

    Reflecting on the Reading

    Take a few moments to think about (or even write down) your responses to the following. If you do this retreat with your mother, share your reflections with one another.

    • For children: What are 3 things about your mom for which you give thanks?
    • For mothers: Name 3 ways that your child/children has made you into the person you are today.
    • What are your hopes for your relationship with your mother/child at this time of your life?
    • What aspects of your current relationship challenge these hopes?
    • What can you offer to your mother/child to support them at this time in their lives?
    • What can you offer to your mother/child to help your relationship grow?

    Praying for the Community

    God, we lift up for prayer all of the mothers in our midst. May we especially remember mothers without mothers, mothers who have lost children, single mothers, widows who are mothers, mothers in prison, mothers who struggle to feed their families, mothers who suffer physical and emotional abuse, and all women who face injustice and rejection as they work to nurture and raise their children.

    Add your own: God, we remember mothers who…

    Make a Commitment to Nurture Relationships

    Using your reflection responses as a guide, make a doable personal commitment to embrace the changing relationship you have with your mother as an opportunity to better communicate with one another and form an even stronger bond of mutual respect and love.

    Conclusion

    God of all mothers, we draw closer to you through the relationships we have with others. As we pay tribute to our mothers this Mother’s Day, help us to always honor all of our relationships with utmost care and compassion. Help us to be patient in difficult times and rejoice at the small miracles that happen in the midst of our relationships with our mothers. Amen.

  • Saint Mom: Why Are There So Few Saints Who Were Mothers?

    Saint Mom: Why Are There So Few Saints Who Were Mothers?

    It’s fair to say the saints have taken over our home. I am up to five statues of Mary in my kitchen alone, all cheering me on through daily chores. An image of Mary Magdalene gazes down at us in the dining room. St. Anne is on my night table, reminding me to read my books. My son sleeps with St. Michael the Archangel next to him for protection, and my daughter has a quote from St. Catherine of Siena on her wall. Since we look to the saints for daily inspiration, it was natural that I would turn to them to find help being a good mom. What I learned is that there are relatively few saint moms, and their paths to holiness were shockingly similar.

    So, if you want to be a saint and a mom, prepare your family. You probably won’t be getting canonized unless your husband dies, you sell all your possessions, and become a nun. Sorry, kids. Mom won’t be around to babysit the grandchildren. She is doing the Lord’s work.

    RELATED: Mysticism: It’s Not Just for Saints

    Step one: Be born into a wealthy family.

    Step two: You must get married. An unhappy marriage is optional but preferred. Bonus points if your in-laws are also notably mean to you.

    Step three: Have some children, who will likely die young or go into religious life themselves.  

    Step four: Your husband must die or you must mutually decide to enter separate religious orders. (My husband and I were going to do this for Valentine’s Day but spiritual attack in the form of pizza and Netflix intervened.)

    Step five: You must enter religious life or live in a convent that you support. Founding your own order is optional. Even in the New World, the first American-born saint mom, Elizabeth Ann Seton, was raised in a wealthy family, lost her husband, and founded a religious order.

    Reading all of this, I began to wonder if there was any hope for the rest us. I did discover a FastPass to mom sainthood that did not involve wealth or a convent. Unfortunately, it requires martyrdom (see “Marytrs of Kyoto” or “Spanish Civil War”). Ready to sign up?

    RELATED: Getting by with Help from a Little Flower

    Are entering the convent and/or being martyred really the only way moms can become saints? We are all called to become saints, and having the saints as spiritual examples is one of the best things about Catholicism. However, for the average mom today, it’s hard to relate to the experiences of our saint mom role models. Of course, we can always look to Our Lady and St. Anne, but it’s fair to say their circumstances were unique. I began to wonder if this phenomenon was the spiritual equivalent of not having any pictures of yourself alone after your children are born. There may be plenty of saint moms out there, but they are the ones taking the pictures; they are not in them. Until recently, it was accepted that most saint moms toiled behind the scenes with little recognition.

    Take heart, Catholic moms. As women’s roles have become better understood and more visible, a new wave of saint moms is coming. Two of the most popular mom saints today, St. Zelie Martin and St. Gianna Molla, not only have cool names, but they were working moms with kids, and are more relatable to most of us. St. Zelie and her husband, St. Louis Martin, were the first married couple to be canonized in history and are best known for being the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower. Not only did Zelie have nine children, most of whom went into religious life, but she ran her own lace business — before Etsy.

    A working pediatrician with four kids, St. Gianna Molla famously refused treatments for cancer so that she could give birth to her daughter. She ended up dying from complications following the birth. Interestingly, none of the Molla children entered religious life, but the youngest daughter followed in her mother’s footsteps and became a doctor.

    Both Zelie and Gianna were noted for their ability to live out their faith in everyday life. Zelie’s letters are filled with references to fasting, prayers with the family, and daily Mass. Just like my kitchen, the Martin family had a statue of Mary in an honored place, fondly referred to as “Our Lady of the Smile.” Gianna considered her work her religious mission and her marriage and family as her vocation. She was noted for her care of the poor and marginalized but also for her spirit of joy that served as an example to her children.

    It can be hard for us to see the holiness of our everyday actions, especially when we’re struggling to get the kids in the car for Mass, cleaning glitter slime out of the sink, or refereeing the latest cage match between siblings. It helps to see the Church’s recognition of the sanctity of motherhood is growing and maturing with each new saint mom. I can’t wait to see who is next. Could it be you?

    Originally published August 9, 2017.