Mother's Day Thoughts: “I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.” These are but a few of the words spoken by the Good
Shepherd in today Gospel (John 10: 1-10). I could not help but think about
mothers as I read John’s words about the Good Shepherd today. Perhaps if it
were not Mother’s Day I would not make the connection between mothers and the
Good Shepherd. I am sure there are theologians and scholars out there who would
cringe at the thought of connecting the image of mothers with the image of the
Good Shepherd.
But it makes sense to me and that is all
that is necessary as I offer you a few thoughts and musings on this Fourth
Sunday of Easter, on this Mother’s Day. First let me wish all mothers out there
a Happy and Blessed Mother’s Day. My own mother is not far from my thoughts
today even though she has been gone now for well over two years. I do miss her
but I know that she is in a much better place and enjoying the gifts of God’s
joy, peace and love abundantly now. But I still miss her!
Mothers are often the Good Shepherds of
our lives, standing guard at the gate, especially early on in our life, protecting,
nurturing, feeding and loving us. They are the first shepherds of our life yet
even after we leave the sheep fold for what we think are greener pastures they
are still with us, standing guard, nurturing, protecting, feeding and loving
us. They don’t do it perfectly, mothers are human and have their flaws, but the
vast majority of the time they are Good Shepherds!
Early this week the professional
basketball player, Kevin Durant received the Most Valuable Player Award for
this year’s NBA season and unlike most other professional athletes he chose not
to honor himself or his teammates but to honor his mother. For Mr. Durant his
mother was the Good Shepherd of his life, the person who make all his
achievements possible.
Yes, that is what a Good Shepherd does,
he makes possible all our achievements, and the Good Shepherd makes possible
our life. The Good Shepherd came into the world that we might have life and
have it more abundantly. There is what mothers do to. They give us life and by
their care, their nurturing, their protection, their wisdom, their joy and
their love we get to have life and have it more abundantly.
If this were Father’s Day I would say
the same thing about fathers, but this is Mother’s Day and if you have a hard
time seeing the Good Shepherd, Jesus, in all mothers I am sorry. However, each
time I think of my mother, each time I encounter the many mothers in my life
there is only one image that I see and that image is Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
May the Good Shepherd, bless and be with
all mothers today, especially those carrying life. May Jesus, the Good Shepherd
stand at the gate of life with all mothers so that all of us may continue to
have life and have it more abundantly!
Happy Mother’s Day, Happy Good Shepherd
Sunday and don’t forget to thank your mother and make a joyful noise with your
life!
Mother’s Day Prayer:
We thank you, God, Creator of us all,
for our mothers.
We thank you that they gave us life and
nurtured us all those years. They gave us our faith, helping us to know you and
to know Jesus and his ways. They taught us how to love and how to sacrifice for
others. They taught us that it was okay to cry and that we should always tell
the truth.
Bless our mother, both living and
deceased with the graces they need and which you want to give her today. Help our
mothers to feel precious in your eyes today and to know that we love them. Give
our mothers strength and courage, compassion, peace and those who have passed
eternal life.
Bless our mothers this day and always
with your love. Amen (Adapted from a Mother’s Day Prayer found on Creighton
University Ministries web site)
A Runner’s Thoughts: Run in honor of your
mother today and as you run let your focus be on whatever presents itself to you
during each moment of your run. Remembering that God can speak to you directly
through everything you see, hear and smell!
Daily Blessing: Good afternoon
everyone and once again Happy Mother’s Day! I hope you have had a great day and
that you had the chance to honor your mother in some way. I always find it
special honor my own mother as I celebrate mass and I was most happy to do that
today.
As I mentioned yesterday this week
coming up with be a long and tedious one for us Passionist and we enter into a
time of chapter. It will run from Monday noon until Friday noon and we have a
lot of work to get done in this short period of time. Please offer a prayer for
us if you get a chance as you journey through your week!
I might not be posting very much this
week but all of you will certainly be in my prayers. I pray that you will have
a week blessed with the presence of God and that your travels, your encounters
with others and your time alone will be rich in the joy of God grace and love.
May this week be a week of blessings that will help you to encounter the joy of
life! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul
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