Dedication to Mothers

Details: 11 May 2012

The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral, a dwelling place for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body.

"The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new souls to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature. God joins forces with Mothers in performing this act of creation. What on God’s earth is more glorious than this…to be a mother!"

These powerful words by Cardinal Josef Mindszenty comprise one of my favorite dedications to mothers. This inspiring reminder of the extraordinary gift of motherhood is particularly important in a culture that treats women’s fertility as a burden and stay-at-home moms as unenlightened.

Another inspirational voice on the subject of motherhood is Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995), Blessed Teresa enlightened the world with this insight about motherhood:

"God has created each one of us, every human being, for greater things-- to love and to be loved. But why did God make some of us men and others women? Because a woman’s love is one image of the love of God, and a man’s love is another image of God’s love. Both are created to love, but each in a different way. Woman and man complete each other, and together show forth God’s love more fully than either can do it alone.

"That special power of loving that belongs to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother. Motherhood is the gift of God to women. How grateful we must be to God for this wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men alike!

"Yet we can destroy this gift of motherhood, especially by the evil of abortion, but also be thinking that other things like jobs or positions are more important than loving, than giving oneself to others. No job, no plans, no possessions, no idea of ‘freedom’ can take the place of love. So anything that destroys God’s gift of motherhood destroys His most precious gift to women-- the ability to love as a woman."

Of course, no discussion of motherhood is complete without referencing our Blessed Mother. In the conclusion of his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Blessed John Paul II says, "The one who accepted ‘Life’ in the name of all and for the sake of all was Mary, the Virgin Mother…Mary’s consent at the annunciation and her motherhood stand at the very beginning of the mystery of life which Christ came to bestow on humanity."

Therefore, the Church’s mission, John Paul II says "was made possible by the motherhood of Mary, who conceived and bore the one who is ‘God from God’, ‘true God from true God.’" This critical role of motherhood, he says, is punctuated in the Book of Revelation: "And the dragon stood before the woman…that he might devour her child when she brought it forth (Rv. 12:4)."

"[T]he powers of evil," John Paul II says, "before affecting the disciples of Jesus, [are] directed against his mother…who has to flee with Joseph and the child into Egypt (cf. Mt 2:13-15). Mary thus helps the church realize that life is always at the center of a great struggle between good and evil…The dragon wishes to devour ‘the child brought forth’…a figure of Christ....[and] every child, especially every helpless baby whose life is threatened…"

I extend my profound gratitude to my mother and to all mothers for the unique love and selflessness that you show to your children and through them to the whole world. Never has our world needed your example more than now. As our Blessed Mother’s love and selflessness showed us, every human mother’s "yes" to life can help transform our culture of death to a culture of life and love.

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.