As a great-grandmother twice over this year, I have begun to see the blessings of motherhood in a surprisingly new light. I feel honored that God has given me the opportunity to witness our children’s love become the procreation of children, who have in turn witnessed the devotion of their parents for each other and are now beginning their own families.
Four generations of descendants exist, and though my husband is not bodily here to witness this incredible family expansion, I know he is smiling from ear to ear.
It reminds me of our first baby, born 11 months after our wedding. I was very, very pregnant and not really nice to be around, and my husband was a wreck! Quite literally he resembled the guy you see on television who has his wife’s bag packed and is ready to rush out the door in an instant. For him and for me, it was a miraculous event that changed our lives forever.
We went from being two self-absorbed individuals who happened to be married to a cohesive unit where he was the protector and I the nurturer. We even had a policy for the first few months of our son’s life that nobody could physically enter the house to meet him. We simply held him by the front window and people looked in! Imagine that!
In our quest to be good parents we felt that we were protecting him, and after that first baby’s gestation and birth we became so much more to each other and to our newborn son. You see, family means everything, and God granted us this great opportunity to learn that valuable lesson. That is why today I can write with firm conviction that I know of what I speak.
Motherhood is totally underrated in our culture today, but for me it is one of the most remarkable blessings God can bestow. It is challenging, it is frustrating, it is maddening, and it is tiring, but most of all it is the marvel that keeps on giving.
Now that I am reaping the rewards of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, it means even more to me because, like my mother always said, motherhood’s benefits go far beyond the moment.
With this sentiment I agree completely, especially when I think of the Blessed Mother, her love for each of us, and most importantly her enduring love for her Son. Saint John Paul II noted this, writing, “In addition to her sharing in the Eucharistic banquet, an indirect picture of Mary’s relationship with the Eucharist can be had, beginning with her interior disposition. Mary is a ‘woman of the Eucharist’ in her whole life. The Church, which looks to Mary as a model, is also called to imitate her in her relationship with this most holy mystery.”
The Holy Father taught that Mary lived a Eucharistic faith, even before the institution of the sacrament, “by the very fact that she offered her virginal womb for the Incarnation of God’s Word.” He continued, “The Eucharist, while commemorating the passion and resurrection, is also in continuity with the incarnation. At the Annunciation Mary conceived the Son of God in the physical reality of His body and blood, thus anticipating within herself what to some degree happens sacramentally in every believer who receives, under the signs of bread and wine, the Lord’s body and blood.”
Saint John Paul’s devotion to Mary inspired these words as well: “Motherhood shows a creativity on which the humanity of each human being largely depends; it also invites man to learn and to express his own fatherhood. Thus women contribute to society and to the Church their ability to nurture human beings.”
The pope understood God’s plan for married couples, and his words ring true to anyone who has been blessed with the role of motherhood. It has become clear to me over the years that motherhood is the most profound vocation, after that of marriage, to which any woman can aspire. In the role of mother, a woman devotes herself to her family, beginning with her husband and spreading out to their children.
For me, motherhood reignited my faith, my desire to love more deeply, and my hope that in doing the will of God in our little family, I was somehow becoming a better human being and a more faithful person. It is true that many see faith as a stumbling block to living “the good life,” but quite the opposite is the case.
By giving ourselves to those dependent upon us for their total care and protection, mothers experience blessings that words can hardly describe. And as those little babies become adults who love the Lord to the best of their ability, graces abound and continue to fill their mothers’ hearts with joy.
In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Saint John Paul II wrote, “‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you’ (Jer 1:5): the life of every individual, from its very beginning, is part of God’s plan. Job, from the depth of his pain, stops to contemplate the work of God who miraculously formed his body in his mother’s womb. Here he finds reason for trust, and he expresses his belief that there is a divine plan for his life.”
Motherhood is inexplicably linked to the most incredible experiences any human being can have. When we pray “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” we are saying Thank you, Lord God, for motherhood.
May we never forget that even when it is most challenging, motherhood is an opportunity for women to reflect the love that the Blessed Mother had for Christ and to promote the love of God in ways both maternal and eternal.
Facebook Comments