Abandon

“A Mother who will never abandon us.” (Saint Josemaria, “The Forge”, 249).

Mary and Baby Jesus (Edgar Jerins)

The other day one of my children was behaving very badly.  It was a difficult day, and I spent most of it trying to reason with an unreasonable teenager.  I have read that the adolescent brain actually shrinks before it grows and this is one reason why teenage boys do such silly things and make such risky choices – because their brain is shrinking before it grows and matures into adulthood.  Understanding the biology of the matter in no way makes it easier to appreciate the difficult of the emotions in that situation, but it certainly explains so many things!  It is one thing – for example – to reflect on the goal of keeping a quiet heart and quite another to keep my heart quiet in the heat of “battle” or a heated argument…

And as I have been thinking about my child, I have been reflecting on the burden of motherhood – or parenthood in general.  It is of course a beautiful vocation to be a parent.  I was born for this role – I was called to it all my life.  And yet, I struggle with this role.  People have said often that motherhood is the hardest job in the world.  I disagree.  There are far harder jobs.  I could be an aeronautical engineer or a brain surgeon or even a theoretical mathematician and I think that I would find those jobs terribly hard.  So, I do not agree that motherhood is the hardest job in the world.  What I do think is that the hardest thing about motherhood (and parenthood in general) is that the parent must never abandon hope…  It is that hope – that conscious decision to hold onto our faith in God’s Mercy and Forgiveness that is the greatest challenge of motherhood for me.

We are given our children – however they are – and we are tasked with helping them to get to heaven.  And to put this into perspective, it is like I am an amputee walking beside a smaller amputee and both of us are competing in a marathon.  It can be done but we are both doing it with one leg and so everything is harder and takes longer and hurts more.  My sin is the amputation that prevents me from being the perfect mother – or parent – for my children, and their sin too gets in the way of parenthood and filial duty.

And I have been thinking about that today.  You see, we are blessed in the Spiritual Mother that we have been given.  I have been given my Spiritual mother – the Blessed Virgin!

Saint Josemaria Escriva wrote in “The Forge” at 249, “You are not alone. Neither you nor I can ever find ourselves alone. And even less if we go to Jesus through Mary, for she is a Mother who will never abandon us.”

As I reflect on this today, I am quite overcome.  For when Christ said to His Mother – with His dying breath…  “Woman behold your son”  What He was really saying was, Mother, I need you to have HOPE in my children.  For without that HOPE we are all lost…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.