Blessed Mother’s Day!

For many years, when we asked what she

wanted for Mother’s Day, our mom always

asked for flowers to plant around our house

– petunias, pansies, daisies. It made for easy

shopping! But in later years, I came to

understand more deeply what those flowers

said about her.

In choosing flowers, she chose a gift that was not something

meant only for herself. She found joy in her flowers, but she

wanted to present a gift of beauty and life that could be

enjoyed by all of us and by whomever passed by the house.

Lots of people had flowers; but these were her flowers,

something alive and delightful, something she invested time

and effort into growing for no other purpose than to attract

the eye and lighten the heart. For, as I quoted that 16th

century monk here recently: “God has left us from Paradise

three things: the stars, the flowers, and the eyes of a child.”

I find in my mom’s flowers a beautiful tribute to the meaning

of motherhood: accepting a gift of life in love, welcoming a

child who is nurtured and cared for, formed and cherished,

so that this life can enrich others.

We can plant and water and weed and tend the flowers,

but we cannot make them grow faster or change colors or

survive an early frost. Caring for another deeply can

readily bring some pain and disappointment along with the

delights.

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, shows us this joyful welcome of

her Child, the daily love of a mother for her Son, the

surrender of her loved One to suffering and death, her

heart pierced with a sword. What profound courage to say:

“Let it be done to according to your word” – and mean it in

joy, light, sorrow, and the persevering hope of glory.

Words fail to give adequate tribute to you; but thank you,

every mother, for your witness to God’s love in the world.

May Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of God,

pray for you today and every day. On Mother’s Day, we

remember that so highly does God value mothers that his

only Son was born just as we are … something like the

beauty and fragrance of the flowers around our house, the

Gift of God given through a mother’s love.

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is always “Good Shepherd

Sunday,” a day to pray especially for priestly vocations.

In his annual Letter to Priests on Holy Thursday in the

Jubilee Year 2000, St. John Paul wrote from the very

Upper Room in Jerusalem where the Last Supper took

place. He wrote:

In this holy room I naturally find myself imagining you in

all the various parts of the world, with your myriad faces,

some younger, some more advanced in years, in all the

different emotional states which you are experiencing:

for many, thank God, joy and enthusiasm, for others

perhaps suffering or weariness or discouragement. In all

of you I honor the image of Christ which you received at

your consecration, the “character” which marks each of

you indelibly. It is a sign of the special love which every

priest has come to know and upon which he can always

rely.

Today, think of priests you have known who have inspired

you, ministered to you and those you love, and somehow

reflected the Face of Christ’s compassion and mercy.

Recall those who have most given you hope, and pray for

more of them for the Church today and tomorrow. And if

you see someone who has qualities of humanity, service,

faith, and goodness, ask them if Jesus may be calling

them. This simple question has been the seed of countless

vocations, including mine.