Tag: Motherhood

Advent Reflections – December 20, 2015

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Living in Harmony: The Reality of Motherhood

The first moment of motherhood is a moment of incredible harmony. Here is a woman, a single person, who now carries within her a second person, totally separate from herself. Yet, they are intimately united, each affecting the other. The mother’s choices, diet, rest, etc. directly impact the baby. The baby’s growth and the hormones associated with pregnancy directly impact the mother. The unity and harmony between mother and child is an image of how God desires to be in unity and harmony with humanity.

Jesus prayed

…that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us. John 17: 21

God wishes to share everything with us, as He did with our first parents in the Garden of Eden. Sin and temptation have stand in the way of perfect unity with God, but even imperfect unity would be better than disunity.

Just as God desires us to live in unity and harmony with him, He desires us to find similar harmony with each of our brothers and sisters. We were created to be one family, one people. Through the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, the walls of hostility, anger, hatred, racism, envy, and pride come crashing down.

For he [Jesus] is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two [two referring to the division between the Jews and Gentiles], thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it. Ephesians 2:14-16

Is there a person in your life that you could live in greater harmony with?

Advent Reflections – December 16, 2015

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Capable of Great Forgiveness: The Reality of Motherhood

Any parent knows that one of the biggest lessons a child must learn is how to ask for and receive forgiveness. The forgiveness a mother can offer, especially to her children, is almost magical in its ability to wipe away the tears and problems of minutes before. There is something remarkable about the calming, soothing sound of “I forgive you. I love you.” Rather than seeking to judge, a mother is quick to forgive her children.

I believe the power in the lesson of forgiveness truly shows itself when the tables are turned. Moms aren’t perfect and there are days that they are the ones that need to seek forgiveness. It’s certainly not an easy pill to swallow. Asking for forgiveness means recognizing that you messed up, you were in the wrong. It means validating the other person, their feelings, and their basic human dignity and worth. We don’t apologize to a plant. We may say “sorry” to a pet but there is not an acknowledgement or exchange, they don’t forgive us back. The basic act of forgiveness requires two people, the forgiver and the one forgiven.

Forgiveness is one of the signs of God’s Kingdom present among us. In his announcement of the Year of Mercy (which began last week on Dec. 8), Pope Francis said:

How much I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God…May the balm of mercy reach everyone, both believers and those far away, as a sign that the kingdom of God is already present in our midst.

How do you practice forgiveness? As the Year of Mercy begins, in what ways can you become a better practitioner of forgiveness?

Advent Reflections – December 12, 2015

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Before starting this reflection, I would be remiss not to recognize today’s beautiful feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. May La Virgen Morena watch over us and keep us safe.

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Willing to Make Sacrifices for Others: The Reality of Motherhood

Motherhood in its physical sense is a powerful force of nature. When a woman discovers she is carrying life within her, she is filled with two competing emotions: joy and fear. She is joyful, in awe of the creation that is growing within her. And she is fearful, because she knows that the fulfillment of this growth is a painful birth.

Fortunately for the human race, the fear of childbirth is one of the first sacrifices a mother makes for her child. She sacrifices that fear in order to give her child life. Motherhood is full of such sacrifices, though not all of them on such a grand scale.

A mother sacrifices the music she would like to listen to in favor of her child’s request. She going to lunch with a friend to stay home with a sick teenager. She flies across the country to help her daughter deal with the realities of deployment, sacrificing time and events with her spouse and other children. She denies wanting the last piece of pie.

The sacrificial spirit of motherhood is a spirit of giving. Each sacrifice that a mother makes becomes a gift for the person she loves. Gifts of time, of attention, of life, even of pie.

Who do I make sacrifices for? What is one thing I can sacrifice so that someone else will benefit?