Mother's Day is approaching, falling on May 14 this year. We want to celebrate by reflecting on what it means to be mothers today: the joys and challenges it entails for women, who are increasingly engaged and taking leading roles on many fronts. We also want to ask ourselves how being a mother can be expressed in the many ways it takes shape today.
Gift
The first word that comes to mind when reflecting on motherhood is “gift”: the gift of a child who arrives and the gift of the woman who welcomes them, knowing from the news of their arrival that life will change and never be the same again.
Faced with this gift that surpasses us, we feel a dizzying joy, but - why deny it? - we also feel fear and a sense of inadequacy: will I be capable of being a mother? This is the question that, deep down, every mother asks herself, because you are not born a mother; you become one, day after day and night after night, while accompanying your child as they face the journey of life.
Challenge
Being mothers in 2023 also means accepting a challenge, because the pace of today's world forces you to chase time, which is never enough and is divided among home, family, and work: women know how to multitask, and mothers know this well. After all, as is increasingly emphasized, it is necessary to work toward ensuring that motherhood and work do not impose a choice between the two, but that a balance is achieved.
So you go to work thinking, perhaps, that your child woke up today with a strange expression that you will need to try to decipher, and you return home trying not to think about a work matter that will have to be resolved the next day… And you give your time, your smile, your weariness… And perhaps you have to apologize for being irritable or for saying something in a way you would not have wanted to… but then a hug is enough to rediscover the true and profound meaning of a life devoted to others.
Achievement
There are mothers who experience motherhood as an achievement, perhaps because they waited a long time for a child who never came, or because they decided to adopt or foster a child, giving them life through their hearts and committing to following their steps, day after day, with love and tenderness.
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The Mother of all mothers teaches us to welcome others
There are many ways to be mothers; the key word that encompasses them all is welcome: the willingness to let a greater plan, one that surpasses us, turn our lives upside down; the willingness to embrace a wonderful adventure that leads us to recognize our own eyes in the eyes of a child and to put their happiness before our own.
Mary teaches us all this, as Father Tonino Bello says so beautifully: «Mary felt the physical weight of another being taking up residence in her maternal womb. She therefore adapted her rhythms to those of her guest. She changed her habits to fulfill a task that certainly did not make her life easier. She devoted her days to carrying a child who would not spare her worries and difficulties. She welcomed the Word of God into her heart and body. That fundamental hospitality speaks volumes about Mary’s way of being; the Gospel does not speak of the thousand other people she welcomed, but it is not difficult for us to imagine them. No one was ever turned away by her. And everyone found shelter beneath her shadow. From her neighbors to her former companions from Nazareth. From Joseph’s relatives to her son’s childhood friends. From the poor of the neighborhood to passing pilgrims. From Peter, in tears after his betrayal, to Judas, who perhaps could not find her at home that night…».
Best wishes, then, to all mothers, including those who continue to protect their children from heaven, because you are not born a mother, but once you become one, you remain one forever.
