Behold Your Mother

Sixteen years ago I celebrated my first Mother’s Day, being just a few months pregnant with “Uncle Ben” (this was our funny little nickname for the baby I carried).

When I first learned I was pregnant, the website said the baby at this early stage was the size of a piece of rice. This inspired the nickname Uncle Ben. I know, this definitely says something about our sense of humor as a couple. Haha!

Our sweet little Lucy made me a Mama first. Then Ben (ironically – haha!) three years later, then Virginia Rose two years after that.

Virginia is not our youngest child, however. We have had two sweet souls visit from heaven for a short time, whom we never got to meet, before returning back to our Heavenly Father’s arms. These losses were difficult.

As I reflect on mothering, just having celebrated Mother’s Day, I know that it is our amazing ability to LOVE that shines bright as our collective superpower.

This love also brings its share of loss and pain. This generous amount of love makes us susceptible to a lot of hurt. It all goes hand in hand.

I witnessed this deep hurt as a child, watching my Mom quietly sneak off to the basement to cry and scream, so that my sister and I wouldn’t see her. Even in her anguish, she consciously took steps to protect us.

After years of reflection and prayer, I can now appreciate that my own Mama heart was shaped by these sounds of sadness I heard through the vents of my home. Mama hurt cuts deep.

Christ told us that this hurt would be a part of our lives as his followers. He promised it, actually.

“These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

Take courage. ❤️‍🩹

And as he hung on the cross, blameless, suffering, and dying for us (with his own Mother at his feet) he gave her to us so generously.

“Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your Mother!” – John 19:26-27

I am John. You are John. Mother Mary is our Mother to behold.

Mother Mary knows the suffering of this world better than any other human.

Some of our recent challenges have introduced me to Our Lady of Sorrows and the devotion to her. She has been a dear Mother to me quite intimately these last two years, especially.

In the last few days of my Dad’s life, as he journeyed beautifully to his death in Hospice Care, I got the opportunity to learn about his own devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. Having lived a lifetime with chronic pain, he would faithfully pray his seven Hail Mary’s each day in devotion, in anticipation of her promises and love.

Please take a minute to read the promises she has for each of us. She is so very generous!

One of Mary’s seven promises is…
“I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.”

In his final days, my Dad shared with us with pure joy, that he was seeing Our Lady in his dreams. She was welcoming him, reassuring him and leading him along his journey, just like she promised she would.

A mother’s promise of love is sacred. Mary’s love and her promises are a gift to all of us.

Grab her hand and walk with her.

💙 Behold your mother. 💙

(Selfie photo of me and my daughter Virginia Rose during a walk around our neighborhood.)