Mothers: The Model of Love

Mothers: The Model of Love 

May 14, 2023    6th Sunday Easter - A

by Dcn. Bob Bonomi    

Happy Mother’s Day (weekend) to all of the Mothers, Grandmothers, Great-Grandmothers, Great-Great-Grandmothers, Soon-To-Be Mothers, Single Mothers, Mother Figures who care for the children of others, and Mother Surrogates – to me, that includes single men who are both Father and Mother to their children.  (Don’t worry, guys.  We get our day next month.)

And let’s not forget to include our Heavenly Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.  We often hear that Jesus gave his mother TO us when he said to John as he stood at the foot of the cross, “Here is your mother”, but Jesus also made his mother responsible FOR us, when he told Mary, “Woman, behold, your son.”  

That is why, I think, that we hear about dozens of Marian apparitions which have occurred throughout the centuries. For example, there’s Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531; Our Lady of La Salette to Maximin and Melanie, two young children in France in 1846; Our Lady of Lourdes to Bernadette in France in 1858; and Our Lady of Beauraing, also known as Our Lady of the Golden Heart to five children in Belgium in 1932.

These visitations show us a mother’s love and care for her children.  She comes, not because she was invited by us to come, but because, as our mother, she is watching over us and she comes to us, uninvited, out of love; to instruct us, to guide us – to warn us – as only a mother can.  Time and again, Mary has come to us during periods of great need.

This weekend we celebrate one of best-known of those apparitions: the anniversary of the first appearance of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal in 1917 to three children: Lúcia Santos, and Jacinta and Francisco Marto.  I was watching the 2020 version of “Fatima” on Netflix last week and it moved me to tears, thinking about how people thought the children were liars and how they (the children) were persecuted for what they professed and it got me to wondering: why does it seem that Mary appears mostly to children?

Why children?  While I’m sure it has something to do with their innocence, lack of cynicism, and their openness to experiencing something new, children usually trust in their parents or other authoritarian figures when faced with something they don’t understand.  Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel:  “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  (Mt 18:3-4)  I think even Jesus recognized that grown adults would more likely think they knew it all and would have great trouble humbling themselves in the face of spiritual guidance.

How many times have our earthly mothers warned us of the consequences of bad choices in our own lives?  Why should we not expect our Blessed Mother to come to us as well?  In his homily for the canonization of Jacinta and Francisco, Pope Francis said, “Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures.  Such a life – frequently proposed and imposed – risks leading to hell.”  Our Lady’s admonition to pray, to repent of our sins, to follow the teachings of her Son and His commandments, is just as important today as it was each time she appeared.

Which, in a way, brings us to today’s Gospel.  If you remember from last Sunday Jesus was preparing His disciples for His upcoming Passion and death and had the dialogue with Thomas and Philip about how He and His Father – God – were one.  He also told His disciples that He was going to His Father and they would do the same great works He had done, and even greater ones, since He was going to His Father.  Today we pick up with Jesus talking about the coming of a new Advocate, the Holy Spirit, which will come and remain with them.

But last week’s Gospel ended with verse 12: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."  This week’s Gospel picks up 3 verses later with Jesus saying, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  and then speaks to the coming of another Advocate, the Spirit of Truth or the Holy Spirit which we will celebrate in a couple of weeks on Pentecost Sunday.

However, in between these verses we miss these two lines:  “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

The two missing lines contain a phrase that is repeated: “in my name”.  What does that mean?  It has to do with HOW we ask for something.  We aren’t merely asking Jesus for a favor.  We are asking as if we ARE Jesus.  To ask in one’s name is to say, “I am requesting this as if Jesus was asking it.”

Combined with the gospel passage from last week, we should get a more complete picture of what Jesus is trying to tell us.

•    Jesus and God the Father are one
•    Jesus gives us the authority to serve in His behalf
•    If we ask for something, it must be as Jesus would want it
•    The bond which links us together with Jesus is Love.

I heard a great explanation earlier this last week, and it has to do with understanding the difference between “God is the god of love” and “God is Love.”  In the first instance, love is merely an external aspect that God oversees; in the latter, love is the very essence of God. In his first letter, St. John states, “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”

Therefore, the very first line of today’s Gospel challenges us:  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  We might be tempted to think, “I can love Jesus without keeping his commandments.”  Or, we might think that love is merely an emotion that we “feel”.  But in its depth, we cannot love Jesus without God, and it is God within US which allows us to love both Him and one another, and which empowers us to do the greater works of Jesus.  If we allow the Holy Spirit IN us to COMMAND us, then we in turn will be compelled to keep the commandments of Jesus.  And the command of Jesus is simple: Love God and Love each other.  Simple to say but hard to do.  And the best example we have of fulfilling that command is to look to our mothers, especially our Blessed Mother, for how to love.

And whether your mother be good or bad, thank her for giving you life this weekend and pray for her.  Through her, you’ve been given an opportunity to love others.

Happy Mother’s Day weekend.  Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary – pray for us.