Encouragement for Mothers

This week I hosted our young mothers' rosary group and we were blessed with two very special visitors. Two beautiful, joy-filled nuns from Miami, clad in their full habits, joined us because they are in town participating in the Holy Spirit Conference being held this weekend. What a blessing to be in the presence of these holy women who have dedicated their entire lives to Christ, and yet somehow I think they left my home feeling more blessed than us young mothers. After finishing our prayers, one of the nuns exclaimed how holy and precious it was for her to pray while watching our countless children playing and making all sorts of distracting sounds around us. She said, "This is proof that the Church is alive and growing, and this is the most beautiful, holy way for you mothers to be living your vocation---praying and taking care of your children at the same time!" I wish I could recall all of her sweet and profound words, but she truly gave all of us harried young mothers the words of encouragement that our souls so desperately needed: that the often tedious demands of motherhood are leading us to holiness when we live our vocation with purpose and joy!

Unlike these sweet nuns who are able to pray and praise God all day with few distractions, we mothers are able to pray and praise God by offering up our distractions as a joyful sacrifice. Nuns are able to serve God directly, but we mothers are able to serve God indirectly by serving our children and our spouse. I certainly have days when I long for the peace and tranquility of a convent where I could spend hours contemplating God's love for me and my love for Him. But it was nice to be reminded today that God has chosen my vocation of motherhood to be my path towards loving God and understanding His love for me. Being a mother is my path towards being a saint--if I but walk it as faithfully as I am able, seek forgiveness when I fall, and carry the crosses that come my way with joy. After all, as St. John Vianny said, "Our crosses are merely rungs on the ladder to heaven."

For more motherly encouragement, here is a great quote that I just came across this week:

There can be no doubt that the primary function and sublime mission of woman is motherhood, and, in accordance with the lofty goal which the Creator Himself has set in the order He has chosen, this dominates the life of woman intensively. Her very physical structure, her spiritual qualities, the richness of her sentiments, combine to make woman a mother, to such an extent that motherhood represents the ordinary way for woman to reach her true perfection and, at the same time, to achieve her double destiny--that on earth and that in heaven.

Pope Pius XII (1956)