Blessed Mother

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There was a woman who, at nearly 40 years old, after having had six children and one miscarriage, learned she was about to have another child. Though she loved being a mother, the weight of this reality did not fill her with joy.

Honestly, she was worried. She wondered where she would get the energy to do it all again — cloth diapers and midnight feedings and juggling six other children with a newborn. She thought she was finished having babies, and now, six years after her last, here came number seven. As beautiful as the culture of life is, it makes some mighty demands and, for the moment, she was feeling the full weight of them.

But this woman had a strong faith, and she took her weary heart to God in prayer. She got down on her knees and started to tell him about her fears and worries, and he, in his tender, generous mercy replied by filling her with a distinct impression: It was as if he leaned down and whispered to her heart, “My daughter, I need this child, and I need you to be his momma.” She rose from that prayer filled with new energy and determination. She would welcome this new life with joy and gratitude and together with her husband, they would raise this child as they had been raising all of their children — to know they had purpose and a call, that they were needed by God himself.

Though I’m biased, I think she must have done an unusually fine job. As you may have guessed that woman is my mother, Mary, and her eighth pregnancy resulted in my little brother, a priest, who celebrates his 10th anniversary of ordination this month. He was recently appointed rector at St. John Vianney Seminary, and he has helped countless souls through his vocation. My mother, now nearly 88, is no longer able to kneel, but she still spends her days in prayer — and no doubt they do more than their fair share to keep the world turning.

It seems especially fitting that so many priestly ordinations take place in the month of May — in this month when we celebrate mothers and motherhood, and especially the Blessed Mother — that in this month, so many fine men are launched into spiritual fatherhood. Every time any woman says yes to life, she can take strength in knowing that the Blessed Mother made the same courageous choice and in less-than-perfect circumstances. She might have been worried, too. She may have had days when she wondered about how she would accomplish all that was asked of her. But she knew her son was needed, and that she was meant to be his momma.

Though we sometimes speak of pregnancies as “accidents,” we should be wary of our nomenclature. As Pope Benedict XVI has said, “We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.” In this season when we celebrate motherhood, I am especially grateful to my mother, for never letting me forget that God had a place for me, that I was needed, and for saying yes to being my momma.

Father, shower down your richest blessings on mothers everywhere, fill them with the joy of knowing the fullness of their participation in your imagination. So too bless the men receiving priestly ordination this spring. Remind them that they are each a unique, unrepeatable thought of God, and oh how they are needed.

Kelly is the award-winning author of nine books, including the just released “Love Like A Saint: Cultivating Virtue with Holy Women.” Visit her website at lizk.org.