Yesterday was Mother’s Day here in Italy.
Pope Francis visited the Marian Basilica of Saint Mary
Major’s for the rosary, and afterwards he gave a beautiful reflection on Mary
and Mothers and how they help us to do three things: grow, face life and be
free. It’s worth the read! Here’s the central part:
“A mother helps her children
to grow and wants them to grow well; for this she educates them not to fall
into laziness – which derives from a certain well-being – not to settle into a
comfortable life that contents itself only with having things. The mother cares
for the children so that they grow more, they grow strong, able to take
responsibility, to commit themselves in life, to pursue grand ideals. In the
Gospel St. Luke tells us that, in the family of Nazareth, Jesus “grew and
became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” (Luke
2:40). Our Lady does the same thing in us, she helps us to grow as human beings
and in the faith, to be strong and not to give in to the temptation to be human
and Christian in a superficial way, but to live with responsibility, to aim
ever higher.
A mother also thinks of her children’s
health when she educates them to face the problem of life. She does not educate
them, she does not care for their health by allowing them to avoid problems, as
life were a highway without obstacles. The mother helps her children to look
upon life’s problems with realism and to not get lost in them, but to face them
with courage, not to be weak, and to know how to overcome them with a sane
balance that a mother “senses” between areas of safety and those of risk. And a
mother knows how to do this! She does not always let her child take the easy,
safe way because in this way the child cannot grow, but neither does she leave
the child on the road of risk since it is dangerous. A mother knows how to
balance things. A life without challenges does not exist, and a boy or girl who
does not know how to deal with them is a boy or girl without a spine! Let us
recall the parable of the good Samaritan. Jesus does not recommend the conduct of
the priest or the Levite, who avoid helping the man who ran into robbers. He
points to the Samaritan, who saw the man’s situation and deals with it in a
concrete way and takes risks. Mary experienced many difficult moments in her
life, from the birth of Jesus when there was “no room for them in the inn”
(Luke 2:7), to Calvary (cf. 19:25). And like a good mother she is close to us
so that we never lose courage in facing the adversity of life, in facing our
weakness, our sins: she gives us strength, she indicates the path of her Son.
From the cross Jesus says to Mary, referring to John: “Woman behold your son!”
(Cf. John 19:26-27). That disciple represents all of us: the Lord entrusts us
to the Mother’s hands, full of love and tenderness, so that we feel her support
in dealing with and overcoming the problems along our human and Christian
journey. Do not be afraid of difficulties, face them with the help of the
mother.
A final aspect: a good mother does not only
accompany her children as they grow, not avoiding the problems, the challenges
of life; a good mother also helps us to make definitive decisions freely. This
is not easy but a mother knows how to do it. But what is freedom? It is
certainly not doing whatever you want, letting yourself be dominated by your
passions, passing from one experience to the next without discernment,
following the fashions of the time; freedom does not mean, so to speak,
throwing everything you do not like out the window. No, that is not freedom!
Freedom is given to us so that we know how to make good choices in life! Mary,
like a good mother, teaches us to be, like her, capable of making definitive
decisions, definitive decisions in this moment in which their reigns, so to
say, the philosophy of the provisional. It is so difficult to commit oneself
definitively in life. And she helps us to make definitive decisions with that
complete freedom with which she answered “yes” to God’s plan for her life (cf.
Luke 1:38).
Dear brothers and sisters, how hard it is
in our time to make definitive decisions. The provisional seduces us. We are
the victims of a tendency that drives us toward the temporary… as if we wished
to remain adolescents. It is rather fashionable now to remain an adolescent,
and to stay this way all one’s life! Let us not be afraid of definitive
commitments, of commitments that involve and interest our whole life! In this
way life will be fruitful! And this is freedom: to have the courage to make
these decisions with greatness.”
A Happy Italian Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there!
God bless you,
Brother Kevin
