Mother's Day: Mother's Love by Friar Jim Van Vurst, O.F.M.

			May 04, 2011

 

Mother's Day: Mother's Love by Friar Jim Van Vurst, O.F.M.

Mother's Day in the U.S.

It's difficult to believe that we haven't always had Mother's Day celebrations in the United States. Through the hard work of Anna Jarvis, momentum gathered for a special day for mothers. In fact West Virginia was the first state to celebrate such a day in 1912. Finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill that made the second Sunday in May the day for honoring mothers. Telephone company records show that, on Mothers' Day, there are always a record number of phone calls across the country. one amazing statistic from the Pew Research Center found that, in a survey of over 3,000 adults, 42 percent see or talk with a parent every day, and it's usually mom.

 

Mothers Feed and Nurture

It's a day to talk about moms because, well, moms are unique and very special. If you think about it, one word might summarize how you could describe "mother love." That word would be "nurturer." Consider this: From the moment of conception, a mother feeds the fetus and developing baby within her. After the birth, mothers nurse their infants, and they keep feeding them and other children for two decades or more. Yes, many mothers wash and clean, but providing food is what they do with the most love they have. In round numbers, cooking for 20 years (including Mother's Day, of course) means that moms prepare literally thousands of meals. And it is a common truth that, if you blindfold a woman's husband and children, they can pick out her potato salad, deviled eggs and baked beans from a table of 20 other moms' cooking. Mom's is the best.

I have always felt that if a mother could do one last thing on earth for her family, she would not preach a sermon to them; nor would she give them directions as to how to live their lives. I have a feeling that her last act, if she was capable, would be to say, "Listen, dear ones, just sit down at the table because I want to cook you the best meal you ever had." Nurture and feed: It's what moms do best.

 

A Mother's Healing Power

The other thing mothers possess is healing power. A mother's kiss has healed more skinned knees and stubbed toes than you can count. Broken hearts are harder to heal, but the best chance you have is for Mom to hold you. She feels the hurt, too, and wants to take a little bit of it on herself.

I have very distinct memories when, as a young boy of six or seven in the 1940s, I had a bad head cold, chest cold and cough. My mom would put me to bed for the night and then begin her powerful medical care. She would take a big of jar Vick's VapoRub and lather my chest, throat and around my nose with it. And then she would take a flannel cloth that she had heated in the oven and put it on my chest. Next, she would button my flannel pajamas right up to my neck and pull the covers up to my chin.

She would then kiss me and say, "Good night, Jimmy. Sleep tight." I would be left in my bedroom that was vaporized with Vicks and its magnificent odor. Even with a really bad cold, I felt so content and at peace. Talk about healing! I remember those occasions 70 years later as though they happened yesterday. Even today, when I smell Vick's, I'm again filled with those feelings of a seven-year-old boy. There's one thing I could never figure out, however: Mothers never seem to catch their kids' colds. Maybe they are immune.

The death of our moms is surely one of the saddest days of our lives. I've often said that, in life, we have a thousand images of our loved ones. At their death, we have 10,000 images of them. Long-forgotten incidents and events come to mind. They usually are not earth-shaking situations we remember; rather, it is just the little things that made our relationships with them so dear. Sometimes we feel a few regrets when we realize how much we loved them. We see so much more that we could have done. But moms would feel the same about themselves toward us.

Most wonderful, of course, is that our faith has a way of answering questions and helping us understand that their deaths and those of all our loved ones are not signs of an ending, but rather a new beginning for them. The separation is only physical, though that initially is very painful. Spiritually, we are never separated from them. That's because the God we believe in and who revealed to us the truth about life, death and life eternal never separates people who love one another. God is love. Why would he separate loving people? Actually, they are closer than ever. We can't see them, but they can see us. They can hear us and they still watch over us; that's what mothers do! And our faith reminds us that there is a reunion waiting for us when we have completed our journey on earth. What a reunion that will be!

Personally, I know my mom and dad are always with me. Each morning at prayer, I say these words: "Dear Mom and Dad: Thank you for the gift of life you gave to Marianne (my sister) and me. Thank you for sharing your faith with us and supporting us in our vocations as priest and sister. Dear Lord, they deserve your special care. They gave us to you in our vocations, and so we now give them to you. Amen."

A blessed Mother's Day to all of you wonderful moms—the best examples of God's love here on earth.

 

 

Friar Jack's Inbox

Readers respond to Friar Jack's April E-spiration, "Musing: Will I See My Cat in Heaven?"

Dear Friar Jack: I enjoy your E-spirations and often share them with others. My pet's name is Princess Leia (from Star Wars). I got her in 2006 at the local Humane Society where I live. She is very special to me in that, whenever I am feeling sad or sick, she'll curl around my legs or jump up on the arm of my recliner chair and seemingly want to carry on a conversation. Sometimes she'll lie across the top of my recliner and, while I'm watching TV or checking messages, I'll feel her two front paws kneading my right shoulder as if to give me a rubdown. I thank God for allowing me to have her, as we seem to look out for each other. Rick

Dear Friar Jack: I have always believed that pets—whether cats, dogs or iguanas—are a form that angels take through which God can talk to us, as God did in Genesis and other places in Scripture. In more recent years, as evidence grows of their benefit to sick people, old people and dying people, I am more convinced than ever that this is something quite real—the presence of God talking to us in ways that are beyond the words of Scripture or preaching. Joris

Dear Friar Jack: I have rescued many cats through the years. About a month ago, my next-door neighbor called after midnight and said she was on my back deck. "Come to the door," she urged me. Groggily, I went to the door, and she had a small ball of fur in her hands. It was a very small cat that kept getting into her backyard. So I took it in. Because she had been wandering about, I named her Gypsy. She has become "comedy entertainment" for me—and is a sweet affectionate little purrson. She brings a new spirit to my little family of cats. Karen

Dear Friar Jack: Yes, I'm sure that I will see my cat in heaven. A lady told me about her cat, saying that after her cat died, she dreamed about the cat and how she came through the window, dressed in white. She hugged her—and her sister—and she could feel a great warmth. Thank you! Alexandra

 

Dear Rick, Joris, Karen and Alexandra: My wholehearted thanks for your wonderful responses to my invitation that you tell us about your cats—and your thoughts on the question of whether these animals will someday be praising God in heaven with all other creatures. It is an idea whose time has come, and many spiritual writers and thinkers are adopting that point of view. May God continue to bless you and the creatures you love! Friar Jack

Send your feedback to friarjack@americancatholic.org.