Advent Reflections – December 3, 2015

Published on December 3, 2015December 1, 2015 by KateLeave a comment

Characteristics of a Mother

Each of us has a unique experience of motherhood. All of our mothers were different. Some of us are mothers. Some will never become mothers. Regardless of our experiences and situations, we all have some basic notion of motherhood. Our human history has attributed certain characteristics to what I would call an “ideal mother.” Based on my own reckoning, and in no particular order, here are a few such characteristics that I believe sum up the basics of an “ideal mother”:

Open to life
Able to love without needing, requiring or expecting love in return
Willing to sacrifice or suffer on behalf of others, especially her children
Capable of forgiveness
Desires to live in harmony with others

Mary fulfills all of these characteristics. Indeed, she even exceeds the expectations of history by perfectly living each of these qualities to their fullest.

When we imitate Mary, we are striving to ingrain these qualities into the very fiber of our being. By living these characteristics, we not only will draw closer to Mary, we are walking in her footsteps which always lead us directly to her Son.

Which of the 5 qualities listed resonates the most with you at this particular stage of your life? Which, at first glance, do you think would be the hardest to adopt?

Advent Reflections – December 2, 2015

Published on December 2, 2015November 14, 2015 by KateLeave a comment

The Notion of Motherhood: Part 2

Yesterday we approached God as Mother. Today, we are going to encounter the motherhood of Mary.

A number of years ago, my mother-in-law gave me a series of writings by Chiara Lubich (founder of the Focolare Movement) that have had a profound impact on how I understand Mary. In one letter, written in 1987 for the Year of Mary, Chiara states:

Let’s imitate her [Mary] in what is essential. She is a mother, Jesus’ mother and spiritually our mother. From the cross, Jesus gave her to us as such in the person of John. We have to be like her other self, as a mother. In practice we have to state this intention: during the Marian Year I will behave toward every neighbour I meet, or for whom I shall be working, as though I were their mother.

Chiara goes onto list a number of qualities that we tend to associate with motherhood, which Mary exemplified perfectly during her life. A mother is always welcoming, gracious, hopeful, forgiving, etc. When we start to adopt the heart of a mother, Mary’s heart, we are transforming our vision to see those we meet in a new light. Chiara challenged her readers, and us today:

To live like Mary, as if we were mothers to everyone.

Who is someone in my life that I should try to see more as a mother would, to treat as their own mother would?

Advent Reflections – December 1, 2015

Published on December 1, 2015November 30, 2015 by KateLeave a comment

The Notion of Motherhood: Part 1

Mary’s role in Christ’s life, and in ours, is obvious. She is first and foremost a mother. If we are to imitate Mary, is must be from the perspective of her motherhood. Before we look at Mary as Mother, we should look at God as Mother.

No everyone, of course, is called or even capable of being a physical mother with physical children. However, we are all specifically and lovingly created in the image of God. Traditionally, we call God Father, as in the Bible and the prayer that Jesus himself gave us. However, to isolate God under the banner of one human notion of living would be inappropriate, since God is beyond our comprehension, understand and definition.

To balance out our visions and imaginations of God as Father, we should spend some time considering our perceptions of God, and specifically Jesus, as Mother. St. Julian of Norwich (ca. 1342 – ca. 1416) was an anchoress who received visions from Jesus. These visions or showings, were given to her over the course of a number of days in 1373. Julian speaks of “Jesus our Mother”, which, when you stop to think about it, makes a lot of sense. In Eucharist, we are fed from Christ’s own Body, just as babies we are fed at the breast of our own mother. Jesus our Mother gives over all of Himself, He suffers and even dies, so that we might have life. Now, our own mothers may not have died for us, though perhaps some have. They all did, most certainly, suffer so that we could be brought into the world – that we could have life.

Julian says

As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother, and he revealed that in everything, and especially in these sweet words where he says: I am he; that is to say: I am he, the power and goodness of fatherhood; I am he, the wisdom and grace of motherhood

If we are called to imitate Jesus, to be transformed into other Christs, then, according to Julian, we are to become mothers. Each and everyone of us has within us the capacity for spiritual motherhood.

What does your ideal mother look like? What qualities would she have? Can you see similar qualities in Jesus?