Remembering Mothers on Mother's Day

I received an email from Justin Stroh informing me of a wonderful and beautiful way to remember our moms on Mother's day. Please check out Honoring All Mothers Weekend to learn more and to submit your own mother's name...or aunties', sisters'...

The Most Important Person On Earth

The most important person on earth is a mother. She can not claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent that any cathedral-- a dwelling 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 saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creatures. God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation."

"What on God's good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?"

--Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Mothers

Thanks to my dear friend Laura for sending this:

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;
they don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what
the vacuum just sucked up.

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
and get their answer when a little
voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth
is not measured by height or years or grade....
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother...

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.

14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows,
and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

A Mother's Quiz

Thanks to Elena for sharing this. She used it as an Examination of Conscience which is very fitting during this season of Lent.

A Mother’s Quiz

MY CHILDREN

Do my children say their morning and night prayers?

Are my children trained to be polite at all times?

Do I teach my children to be good losers at play?

Do I fail to recognize faults in my children because they are mine?

Are my children learning to be calm when things go wrong because I myself am a patient mother?

Are my children learning to be charitable and tolerant of the faults of others because I am charitable and tolerant?

Have I fulfilled my obligations of instructing my children regarding holy purity, or have I allowed them to shift for themselves, getting their ideas from other boys and girls, bad movies and pictures, ungodly literature?

MY HOME

Is Christ the center of my life and of all that is done in my home?

Is there a picture of Christ or His Mother in my living room and not just in the bedrooms?

Is there a holy water font in each bedroom of my home?

Do the members of my family pray grace before and after meals?

Do my children know the Angelus because we recite it before grace in our home at noon and in the evening?

Would Christ approve of the magazines and comic books I allow into my home?

Is my phone used to receive and spread noble thoughts?

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you have a very blessed and very happy mother's Day.

Vatican Seeking Spiritual Moms for Priests

Oh! This is just up my alley!!!

And Dioceses Willing to Offer Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 11, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican Congregation for the Clergy is looking for people willing to offer Eucharistic adoration for the priesthood and "consecrated feminine souls" ready to become spiritual mothers of priests.

A new Web site from that Vatican dicastery offers explanations and resources both for the campaign to begin Eucharistic adoration and for those who would like to be spiritual mothers of priests, following the example of the Virgin Mary.

ARTICLE FROM ZENIT

Prayer of a Mother

Thanks to Sue

O Most Merciful Jesus, I consecrate my children to You. No one can understand better my cares and worries and no one is more effective in helping me than You.

Give me many graces to raise my children since I know well that no effort will be fruitful without Your assistance. Direct my actions and illuminate the instruction I give my children.

Keep them from sin; teach them to advance in goodness; keep them from bad companions; help them in their studies; make them amiable and merciful with the poor; those who suffer and all the unfortunate.

Keep them in sanctifying grace and give them good health, so that they may grow up for the honor and glory of God, the betterment of society, the consolation and support of their parents and for their own temporal and eternal joyfulness.

And when You, my judge, call me, grant that Your Most Sorrowful Mother take care of my children. From now on, I promise to serve You faithfully, to adore Your inexhaustible mercy, to spread this devotion and to place in it my unlimited trust. So be it.

Jesus I trust in You!

Feast of St. Monica

Painting of St. Augustine at School While St. Monica Consults a Bishop is by Jan van Scorel from Pinacotheca Philosophica

There is a sodality for mothers who suffered like St. Monica, for their wayward children who have fallen away for the Church. It is called The Saint Monica Sodality. I found the following searching for more information:

Chaplet of St. Monica for Despondent Mothers

Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus That Children May Have the Grace of a Catholic Education

The following is from Seton Home Study

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, parenthood is, I realize, a sacred trust. Let me not be neglectful of my duty. I know that proper religious education is all important and that without it, all other learning is of little worth. I appreciate, too, that it is a serious and grave obligation for Catholic parents to strive generously and perseveringly to obtain a good Catholic education for their children. Let me generously and bravely strive to obtain for them the religious education which You desire. May I remember that I shall have to give an account to You for every soul entrusted to me. Remembering this, may I generously fulfill that most important duty of any parent, to provide the proper spiritual instruction for their children. Heart of Jesus, Fountain of all knowledge, have mercy on us.

[Mother's Manual, Queen's Work, 1957]

Happy Mother's Day

Thank you Barb for sharing this.

Before I was a Mom

I slept as late as I wanted and never worried
about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a Mom
I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom I had never been puked on.
Pooped on. Spit on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom

I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

And I am sure when I am a Grandma

that all those "Mom" feelings will more than double!

Saintly Quote

Thank you for sharing Becca!

"The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother."

~ St. Therese, the Little Flower

Lenten Improvement - Are You Envious?

The following is taken from Improve:Now is the Acceptable Time! distributed by the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers.

Note: Fr. Lester has kindly permitted me to use these excerpts daily. Please click HERE to learn more about the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers and to consider joining them as a member.

"If you like to see other people happy, you are one in a million according to
one journalist. Everybody is seeking happiness, but rarely is anyone
enthusiastic about another being happy. It is so very easy to let envy chisel
the edge off the happiness of others...

Another mother's son has higher grades on his final report than your son. Your only comment is 'The teacher is playing favorites.' You are not glad that the boy and mother are happy.

Mrs. Chasey is elected president of the Christian Mothers, a very great
privilege and responsibility. On the way home from Church one mother is
overheard saying: 'That's the only way Father could get her to come to all the
meetings.'

Husband and wife pass the beautiful soft lawn of their neighbor. The wife turns to her husband and says: 'Their grass wouldn't be that way if he had to cut it himself...'

Walt and Mary become Mr. and Mrs. and make a very lovely couple. The lady next door finds a loophole. It began as a whisper from the lips of a mother whose daughter is still a Miss. 'Mary was not after Walt near as much as she was after Walt's wallet.'

She is the cheerful witty type, easy to get along with a pleasant smile for everybody. But someone has another angle. 'That's just a front. I heard that she and her
husband ought to soundproof their home because their arguments disturb the
neighbors.'

A young mother walks down the street with her twin daughters fitted out in new summer dresses. A curtain sways in the late afternoon breeze and deadens the words. ' I wonder what she would do if she had my five instead of just those two?'

Envy makes people small. Envy undermines happiness. To crowd out envy the human heart must be filled with love. 'Charity does not
envy.'

May no one in the world be less happy or less good because of
anything said or done by a Christian Mother."

Feast Day of St. Frances of Rome

Picture courtesy of All Posters Madonna and Child with St. Frances of Rome by Orazio Gentileschi

Frances was born into a wealthy family. As a young girl she wanted to devote herself to God and become a nun. However, her family had other plans and married her off to the son of another wealthy family. She vowed to serve the Lord faithfully in her marriage. An example of this is that in order to please her husband, she worn jewels, silks and velvet dresses. Yet, underneath, she wore a hair shirt. She and her sister in law did whatever they could to help the less fortunate. They wanted to serve the poor. But the wealthy family they had both married into did not like this at all.

Frances was convinced that duties to the family for a wife, took precedence over that of service to God and prayer.

"It is laudable in a married woman to be devout but she must never forget that she has a household to care for, and sometimes she must leave God at the altar to find him in her housekeeping".

No wonder she is the patron of wives and mothers.

Source: The Saint Book by Mary Reed Newland

Lenten Improvements - Are You Humble?

The following is taken from Improve:Now is the Acceptable Time! distributed by the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers.

Note: Fr. Lester has kindly permitted me to use these excerpts daily. Please click HERE to learn more about the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers and to consider joining them as a member.

"To be humble you need not be a football that everyone may kick around, nor need you be a carpet that people can walk all over, nor a door mat on which people wipe their feet. Some falsely think the humble man is like a ping-pong ball that can be batted back and forth, now on one side, now on the other side -- a 'yes man'. Others wrongly picture a humble man as being soft, pliable, spineless like a powder puff or a marshmallow. To others a
humble person is one who has an inferiority complex; he is as helpless as a corpse and as unsteady as a swinging door.

Hearts are Trump:

Humility is even sometimes associated with frailty and poor health. In the minds of most people a humble man is pictured as being about forty-two years old, stooped, weighing one hundred and seventeen pounds and wearing ill-fitting clothes. Not so at all! He may be humble but not because of his physical frailty. You cannot weigh humility on a scale nor measure it with a yardstick. Our Lord said, 'Learn of Me because I am meek (not weak) and humble of heart."

More on being humble tomorrow.

Please visit Catholic Fire's post on humility.

A Mother's Love

Shared by my friend Marcella. Thank you Marcella!

A little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper, and handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his Mom dried her hands on an apron, she read it, and this is what it said:
For cutting the grass: $5.00
For cleaning up my room this week: $1.00
For going to the store for you: $.50
Baby-sitting my kid brother while you went shopping: $.25
Taking out the garbage: $1.00
For getting a good report card: $5.00
For cleaning up and raking the yard: $2.00
Total owed: $14.75
Well, his mother looked at him standing there, and the boy could see the memories flashing through her mind. She picked up the pen, turned over the paper he'd written on, and this is what she wrote:
For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me: No Charge
For all the nights that I've sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you: No Charge
For all the trying times, and all the tears that you've caused through the years: No Charge
For all the nights that were filled with dread, and for the worries I knew were ahead: No Charge
For the toys, food, clothes, and even wiping your nose: No Charge
Son, when you add it up, the cost of my love is: No Charge.
When the boy finished reading what his mother had written, there were big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight at his mother and said, "Mom, I sure do love you." And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: "PAID IN FULL". ~~Author Unknown

Prints of Elbows on My Bed

Though shared through a member of a mutual group, this poem is widely distributed on the internet. Thank you Sue!

I was but a youth and thoughtless,
As all youths are apt to be;
Though I had a Christian mother
Who had taught me carefully.
There came a time when pleasure
Of the world came to allure,
And I no more sought the guidance
Of her love so good and pure.
Her tender admonitions fell
But lightly on my ear,
And for the gentle warnings
I felt an inward sneer.
But Mother would not yield her boy
To Satan's sinful sway,
And though I spurned her counsel
She knew a better way.
She made my room an altar,
A place of secret prayer,
And there she took her burden
And left it in His care.
And morning, noon and evening
By that humble bedside low,
She sought the aid of Him who
Understands a mother's woe.
And I went my way unheeding,
Careless of the life I led,
Until one day I noticed
Prints of elbows on my bed.
Then I saw that she had been there
Praying for her wayward boy,
Who for love of worldly pleasure
Would her peace of mind destroy.
Long the conflict raged within me,
Sin against my Mother's prayers,
Sin must yield - for Mother never
While she daily met Him there.
And her constant love and patience
Were like coals upon my head,
Together with the imprints
Of her elbows on my bed.
And so at last the fight was won,
And I to Christ was led,
And Mother's prayers were answered
By her elbows on my bed.-- Author Unknown