It’s Mothers Day, and so how wonderfully coincidental that our Gospel from John is about love. John’s Gospel is a love Gospel. A couple weeks ago we had a quotable passage from John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. Today we hear Jesus speaking to his disciples during their final meal, calling them to love as he does, asking them to be willing to lay down their lives for one another if needed. When we have good mothers, we learn what that means when for many years, good mothers show us unconditional love. The gift of good mothering is one that sustains us for the rest of our lives. When I was a pastoral leader, I always wondered how many people at our Masses did not have good mothering, how many carried wounds from the human failures of their mothers. And of course we all know that locally and globally, good mothering is often absent in situations of poverty, addiction, abuse. We pray for mothers trying to keep their children safe from violence throughout our world today. Jesus said that he has appointed us to bear fruit that will remain. Love means working to help overcome these world forces that make good mothering so difficult.
– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia