A Good Mother

Everyone who has had the fortune of having a good mother should be grateful to them for having accepted God’s plan to bring us into existence. Every good woman says in imitation of Our Blessed Mother, “Be it done to me according to thy word.” By accepting God’s “word,” as spoken to Eve—“Go forth and multiply,” along with embracing the sacrifice and suffering that goes with it, she brings another immortal soul into the world.

Moreover, we should be grateful to them for having brought us so quickly to the Baptismal font, where we became another child of God. The potential then exists to maybe one day be a priest—an “Alter Christus,” another Christ, certainly a saint, perhaps another virgin Spouse of Christ ready for the triumphal procession of Christ the King, the Lamb of God, or another mother who will gladly perpetuate the cycle in order to fill up the places in Heaven left vacant by the fallen angels. We should not take motherhood for granted when today, child prevention and limitation in any of its selfish and ugly forms is so widely accepted and is itself taken for granted.

We should have gratitude for: teaching us our prayers at an early age, teaching us to love God, introducing us to Mary and encouraging us to love our heavenly mother even more than we love them. A good mother keeps us from all harmful influences from our earliest age. She makes sure that we are not led astray. I remember in 4th grade coming home one day and telling my mother something that was bothering me. I said, Sr. Mary Godfrey told us that Protestants can get to Heaven as long as they are sincere. This is the first time that I can recall this issue but my mother set me straight with a simple, “You know that’s not true.”
Because the mother is with us more in the early years, it is she who is the first to cultivate a religious vocation—or at least to prepare the ground for one. Many a mother, when told by a difficult child that he is going to run away, has replied, “OK, I’ll help you pack your bags.” Well this mother, when I told her that I wanted to leave home for good, to follow my vocation, made no such threat but rolled up her sleeves and actually helped pack my bags. She never uttered a word to discourage my vocation and even held back the tears till after my departure.

I encourage you to think of your own good mothers and be grateful for the love they gave you, for the good example they set, for reprimands they gave as well as for their encouragement.
My father would say, “When you are old, all you will have is memories.” And this is true according to the prophet Joel, “your young men shall see visions, (when you are young you see visions of the future) and your old men shall dream dreams.” “Therefore,” my father would continue, “Make sure that while you’re young you make your memories good ones.” Essential to those memories will be how we treated our mothers while they were with us. It remains for us also, to give others nothing but good and happy memories, perhaps doing deeds that one day may bring tears from those who miss us.
But while we are remembering, the most profitable memory for the departed, the best way to show our love and our gratitude to them, is to remember them during the Mass. It was Saint Monica whose last request to her son, Saint Augustine was, “One thing I ask of you before I die. Remember my name at the altar.” Today is Julie Dalton’s special day of remembrance at the altar. On behalf of her family, I thank you for coming here to pray for her. May her soul and all the souls of the Faithful departed rest in peace, Amen.