The storm’s thunder and lightning frightened Danny, a five-year-old boy. He fled to the safety of his parent’s bedroom.
”Mommy, Daddy,” Danny begged, “Can I sleep in your room tonight? I’m scared of the thunder and lightning.”
His mom hugged him. “Honey, don’t be afraid. God will protect you. Now go back to your room,” she gently ordered her son.
Danny cried, “Mommy, I know that God will protect me. But right now, I need someone whom I can see. I need someone who can hold me and pray for me like you do, so I won’t be afraid.”
The domestic church
According to number 239 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, God’s parental goodness can be expressed by the image of motherhood. In the Catechism it is also stated that the family should be called a domestic church.
Good Christian mothers share God’s love and presence with their family as Danny’s mother did. They dry their tears and calm their fears. They affirm, guide, and share their faith and values with them. We thank them when we honor them on Mother’s Day.
In 1870 Julia Ward Howe proclaimed a Mother’s Day for peace to protest the devastation caused by the Civil War. A friend’s mother caught this spirit when she told her children that the best Christmas present her children could give her was to stop fighting and give her peace. Peace is one of the best gifts we can give to our mom, family, work, or church.
In How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Dale Carnegie wrote that as a small boy, times were so hard that his father considered suicide. His wife’s prayers and faith held the family together and saved her husband’s life.
The gifts from mothers
My mother gave Dad and us children another precious gift when she led us in prayer during Lent, October, and other times. Like a hen gathers her chicks, Mom gathered the family to pray the rosary. She showed us that “the family that prays together stays together.”
Another gift that my mom gave to us, her children, was to love our father. The day after we buried Dad, I was sitting in the living room grieving silently. The door opened and I expected Dad to walk in as usual. Instead Mom walked in and whispered, “Your Dad was proud of you!” Her words left a mark of joy in my heart.
Mom and Dad sacrificed to send us six children to Catholic grade and high schools. She encouraged us to try to discern the vocation to which God called us children.
Honoring our mothers
In 1904 Anna Jarvis began a campaign for the national mother’s day that we enjoy today. She introduced the custom of wearing a carnation. Wearing a red or pink carnation means that our mother lives. Wearing a white carnation means that our mother has died.
Kate Douglas Wiggin wrote, “Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, comrades and friends — but only one mother in the whole world.”
Most of us honor our mother every day. Mother’s Day gives us a chance to honor her in a special way. We can write, call, invite her to dinner, or show our appreciation in other ways.
If our mother has died, we can pray for her or visit her grave. If she is in heaven, we can ask her to hold us in prayer during our personal storms as Danny’s mother did.
Mother’s Day is a graced time to receive Communion as a family. If we cannot, we can offer our Communion at Mass for her.
Mothers are the heart of the home. At her best she mirrors Mary. She helps to make a house a home. She is God’s graced poem. Where would we be without her? Wherever she is, may she enjoy a happy Mother’s Day.
Fr. Donald Lange is pastor emeritus for the Diocese of Madison.