MOTHERING SUNDAY

 A MESSAGE FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY IN LENT

In the old countries of Anglo-Saxon Europe, this day is known as Mothering Sunday, the original Mothers’ Day.  When we read the Epistle today, we learn of the two mothers by whom Abraham fathered children.  One mother, Sara, gave birth to the child of promise, Isaac.  The second mother was a slave girl, Agar, and she gave birth to Ishmael who was to become the patriarch of the Arab people.  Agar was a slave and her children today have inherited her state of bondage, being slaves of the false religion of Islam.  But we, today, are as Isaac was, St. Paul tells us, the children of promise.  The children of Ishmael, the Moslems, would forever be at enmity with the children of Isaac.  If we call to mind the name of Isaac’s son, Israel, we will understand why Ishmael and Israel continue even to this day to be enemies, Moslems vs. Jews.

In our own age of Redemption, when the Catholic Church has replaced the Jewish faith as the chosen people, we are warned by our Lord that we must forgive our enemies.  To help us in this difficult task, he gave us a new Mother, neither the wife nor the concubine of Abraham, but the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.  Two days ago, we celebrated the feast of the Annunciation of our Lady, the day when she agreed to be the Mother of God at which moment our Lord became incarnate by the Holy Ghost in her womb.  Later, as she stood beneath the dying body of her Son, she became our mother also, and today takes care of her children as no earthly mother can.

Today we entrust two new children to her care, the first as she receives the Sacrament of Baptism and is received into the Church, and the second as she receives the Body and Blood of our Lord for the first time in Holy Communion.  Like all children, they have the potential to become great saints or great sinners, but if they are committed to following in the immaculate and perfect ways of their blessed Mother in heaven, their salvation is assured.  This Mothering Sunday is the ideal time for the rest of us to re-commit ourselves to this same path, a path which, no matter how laden it may be with trials and sorrows, is nevertheless the only sure path that will lead us to salvation.