Mothering Matters

Scripture: “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” John 19:26-27

Hello Precious One!

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day! Motherhood has been super attacked by feminism and the world. Children are seen as burdens that stop you from “fulfillment,” when nothing could be further from the truth. Betty Friedan was instrumental in convincing wives and mothers that they were chained to stoves, but her former husband said "We had a full-time maid during our entire [19-year] marriage. That's who took care of the [three] kids, cooked – everything. I would say as a housewife, on a scale of 0 to 10, she was a 2." Even so, founding feminist, Stalinist Marxist communist party member Betty Goldstein Friedan, tried to reconnect with her children before she died. Her son said it was difficult, but they were trying; soon after, she died.

To be a good mother takes a lot of time, love, commitment, care, vigilance, perseverance and faith in God! It is impossible to be a good mother without God’s grace. The Saint for this week, St. Gianna Beretta Molla understood this fact and you may read more about her in the Saints recipe section, because her story is very inspiring.

Good mothers take care of a lot! This is one of the reasons good mothering has been so attacked and diminished; causing women to feel, the “little things,” do not really matter. The problem is – the “little things” do matter – as in mortar in the foundation is made of small stones! When prayers and faith are taught, there are homemade cookies in the cookie jar, socks put together, clean bathrooms and clean laundry in a drawer, dinner made and served at the family table - it transmits love. This form of transmitting love takes a massive amount of work and time. If you pay someone to complete these “simple and unimportant” tasks, it costs a fortune, yet this work is devalued by the world. That should be our first clue it matters!

Life is a continual reboot! Does it mean if the socks aren’t together or the cookie jar is empty you are a bad mother? Well the response to that is – not if you keep trying. We cannot quit trying in any area of our life, whether it is faith, mothering, weight-loss, praying or you name it. We have to keep trying. Life and families have an ebb and a flow. One day you just cannot believe how happy everyone is and how great things are going. The next moment (sometimes in the same day) it seems like everything is terrible! (I have a life lesson with my cake recipe this week!) Mothering is about putting it back together, smoothing things over and not giving up!

Nobody is perfect – except the Blessed Mother and the Son of God she bore. The great, grand and Godly news is - you are not in this alone. You have a Heavenly Mother who is on your side and she has an all-powerful Son who is God! It is VERY SIGNIFICANT that one of the very last things Jesus did before His death on the Cross, was to give Mary to the Church and each of us, as represented by St. John (John 19:26-27). Go to Mary and ask her for grace and she will rush to send her angels to bring it to you. Go to Mary on this Mother’s Day and teach your family to turn to her as well. She is waiting to help each of you!

Yours In Christ The Risen Lord!

Suzanne