Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s Day! One of my favorite Spanish proverbs: "An ounce of mother is better than a pound of clergy."  The word “mom” is synonymous with sacrificial love in its purest form as given by Jesus in his farewell speech: love one another as I have loved you. Mothers leave their legacy with us. They live in and through us.

On Mother’s Day let us Christians, acknowledge the truth that we have two mothers: our earthly mother and our heavenly mother, Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Catholic Church proclaims the great nobility of the mother of Jesus, Mary most holy, and presents her as the supreme model for all mothers. She born into humble surroundings, she was called by God to be the mother of the Son of God. She affirmed her obedience to the call of God and lived out her vocation throughout her entire life. Mary, the mother of Jesus, our Blessed Mother, is the true model of motherhood.

An Indian poet says in his one of the poems, mother never dies. He says mother gives her blood to her children when they are in the womb, and when they are born through breastfeeding those mothers share their life. Mothers live through their children. We pray on this Mothers’ Day, for all our mothers, whether they are alive or have gone to their eternal reward. Let us thank God for all mothers and offer them at the altar. Happy Mather’s Day!

Today, in the Gospel, Jesus gives us a big picture. He begins and ends this short teaching at the Last Supper with the need to have faith. There is an incident from St. John Chrysostom’s life. When he was summoned before the Roman emperor Arcadius and threatened with banishment, he replied, “You cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.”  “Then I will kill you,” exclaimed the emperor angrily. “No, you cannot,” retorted Chrysostom, “because my life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Your treasures shall be confiscated,” the emperor replied grimly. “Sir, you can’t do that because my treasures are in heaven as my heart is there.” “I will drive you from your people and you shall have no friends left,” threatened the emperor. “That you cannot do either, Sir, for I have a Friend in heaven who has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’” In today’s gospel Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life gives us the same assurance.  “In my Father's house, there are many dwelling places. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”
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In the Gospel, we see Philip and Thomas ask questions. They are searching for answers. They want God in their lives. In the first reading, the Twelve try to find more time for prayer and  proclaiming the Word of God. They need to be with God and share the Good News.
Do we seek God? Do we spend time with God? We need to make a prayer schedule, and we need to keep it. Jesus says, “In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places…I am the way and the truth and the life.” He is the true way to the Father; he is the fullness of truth and fullness of life, life eternal.