The Blessed Mother Mary and my own Motherhood

I am excerpting a few parts from my book, The Domestic Church: Room by Room: A Mother's Study Guide for reflection today and for this upcoming week. These excerpts are from Chapter One: The Foyer: Our Blessed Mother Mary and Motherhood

This Chapter speaks of the fact that we as mothers may not feel so inclined to relate or even compare our own motherhood to the Blessed Mother's motherhood, although we know that we should try to emulate her virtues. After all, Mary was the Mother of God! She was sinless! She was given the tremendous gift of carrying the Redeemer of the world in her womb! We may feel that she is far removed from our lives. Nevertheless, do we dare ask ourselves: "How can a simple mother like me aspire to imitate such an amazing Mother? And in imitating Mother Mary, will I glorify and please God?

A few short excerpts follow which may give us food for thought as we journey through this week of Lent...

A mother can learn from Mary by asking for God's grace to entrust herself completely to him with the "full submission of intellect and will."



For mothers, it means service first in her family and then reaching out to the world. At times, good intentions and a mother's loving heart may cause her to stretch herself too much to administer to the needs of others outside her home. It's wonderful and holy to want to help, yet mothers must remember that their love begins first and foremost at home. Being sure that her family is properly cared for before she embarks in other areas of ministry will ensure that she is not inadvertently neglecting her family in the process of helping others.



Silence can ironically be found in the busyness of a mother's day as a mother learns to retreat to her heart even as she is involved in the care of her family. Within the "silence" of a mother's heart, Our Lord can speak.



It is when she realizes that Our Lord actually wants to use her attentiveness to her family's needs that she will understand the value and prayerfulness in performing little things with great love. The mother becomes an everyday example to her family as she raises her children in holiness and goes about with a prayerful heart, striving to emulate the Blessed Mother's virtues.

Perhaps we can spend at least a few moments to ponder and pray about our own vocation of motherhood and how Our Lord may be calling to our hearts.

(Excerpts above from The Domestic Church: Room by Room: A Mother's Study Guide Circle Press, 2008, available at http://www.donnacooperoboyle.com)