Dear Friends,
Happy Mother’s Day, extended
into the week, to all you women and men who mother the Earth’s people!
True – only women can give physical birth, but men join
women in offering spiritual birth and nurturing, the milk of compassion and
mercy.
Did you know that Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury and
Doctor of the Church, wrote in the late 11th century about Jesus
being our mother? This is how he frames it:
And you, Jesus, are you not also a mother?
Are you not the mother who, like a hen,
gathers her chicks under her
wings?
Truly, Lord, you are a mother;
for both they who are in labor
and the who are brought forth
are accepted by you.
Christ, my mother,
You gather your chicks under your wings.
This dead chicken of yours puts himself under those wings;
for by your gentleness the badly frightened ones are comforted,
by your sweet smell the despairing are revived.
Now let’s have some fun!
With some family members and friends, try to recall the “momilies” that
came from your mothers when you were young. The word “momily” was coined in
1985. Michelle Slung’s book of
remembered Momilies included
these gems:
If a thing is worth doing, it’s
worth doing well!
I’m only doing this for your own
good!
It’s only your mother who will
tell you the truth!
This is not a hotel!
It’s not what you wear, it’s who
you are!
If you’re quiet, you must be up
to no good!
Hope that’s
enough to whet your memory.
Whatever
this day/week means to you or doesn’t, all
year long, we can make moments to
honor the special ones who have created us: our God, our Christ, our mother
earth, our birth mother, all the mothers of our lives.
~Sister Joan Sobala
