BISHOP BAMBERA’S HOMILY
Mother’s Day Adoption Mass
St. Peter’s Cathedral May 9, 2010
 

          For the last few weeks during this Easter Season, we have been reflecting in our gospel readings on the words of Jesus that come to us from the Last Supper in St. John’s gospel. In today’s passage, Jesus leaves his fledgling Church his farewell gift of peace and the promise of the Holy Spirit. 

          The peace that Jesus speaks about is not the absence of trouble or hostility (what the world thinks of as peace). Rather, Jesus’ peace is the scriptural concept of shalom – meaning the pursuit of everything which makes for the highest good. The peace of Jesus finds its core in the gospel principles of humble service and justice. It is a peace that is rooted in a deep sense of love, justice, truth and mercy. It is a peace that reflects an understanding of our connectedness to one another as children of the same God that, in turn, serves as the principal motivation of our actions, behavior and values. 

          Gospel peace is not passive. It calls for an active response from us: to break through the barriers which divide us, to learn to understand one another and to pardon those who hurt us. Pope Paul VI said that to understand peace, “we must give it a soul.” And he said: “The soul of peace is love. It is love that gives life to peace, more than victory or defeat, or weariness or need. The soul of peace is love, which for us believers comes from the love of God and expresses itself in love for each other.” 

          Jesus was wise enough to know that in conveying God’s love, he couldn’t just say something abstract about it. He had to make it concrete. Love has to have content, a pattern, and a demonstration for it to mean anything, to catch on. So Jesus used his own life and death as an example of love and challenges us to embrace that same love in our lives. 

          Today, as a Church, we continue to celebrate the gift of Easter, the abiding presence of the Risen Jesus in our midst and his gift of peace and hope.  

As a nation and in this assembly, we celebrate the lived experience of the gift of Easter as we acknowledge and honor mothers:  

the mothers who have given us life;

the mothers who for reasons known to them alone, were not able to care for the lives they bore but for love of life and respect for it, entrusted the lives they bore to the care of others;

the mothers who opened their hearts and homes to children desperately in need of a loving and nurturing home;

grandmothers;

foster mothers;

and all who have nurtured and cared for life as only a mother can do. 

It is a common truth that we learn how to love from being loved, from seeing love in action. It’s as simple and profound as that. And that’s why behind all of the Mother’s Day hype and commercialism, there lies a deeper religious reality: we honor mothers because in almost all cases – there are some exceptions – a mother’s love gets to us first and is the first concrete lesson we have in love – and not a sentimental love, but a selfless, forgiving love rooted in the very love of Jesus himself. And in those mothers who have said yes to life and then have chosen to give their child the opportunity to grow and flourish in a family other than their own we see a love comparable to that found in the very heart of Jesus himself – loving for the pure sake of another, selflessly and sacrificially. 

          Some time ago I read an essay entitled “God’s First Face.” I’d like to share a bit of that essay with you. It speaks powerfully to the lives of the women we honor today and more profoundly to the manner in which God’s love is imparted to us. 

          In the beginning, the first person most likely to have shown us our first image of God was our mother. For her child, a mother is God – the source of life and goodness and from whom all good things come. 

          For example, when you got into trouble – broke a neighbor’s window or came home with a less than stellar report card, who did you tell first – mom or dad? Usually mom. Why? Because moms are famous for cutting us slack – which is another word for grace. And what is grace but God’s gift, something we don’t earn or deserve. In a mother’s love, God reveals his gift of grace. 

          When you got sick, it was usually mom who kept vigil. You could bang yourself up doing something crazy and mom was there with band aides and hugs. All that she cared about was that you were OK. In a mother’s love, God’s healing is made real for us. 

          For a mother, food is compulsion. It begins with nursing a new born and doesn’t end until she’s fixed her last pot roast for her children’s children. She is always concerned that we have enough to eat and enough of everything in life. In a mother’s love, we realize how richly God has blessed creation. 

          Regardless of how badly we’ve messed up things, how desperate our failures and disappointments, a mother’s love is constant and unconditional. You’re her child and that’s all that matters. In a mother’s love, we come to know the unconditional, limitless love of God. 

          In God’s saving plan, his love is conveyed to us in many ways: in the Sacraments of the Church, in his holy Word – and through one another, through his faithful people in whom he lives through Baptism. And Jesus proclaims: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Think of the most profound experience that you have ever had of God’s presence and love in your life … and I guarantee you that somewhere in that experience, you will find another person. “Love one another as I have loved you.” 

          Pope John Paul II offered these words: “All the great causes that are yours today will have meaning only to the extent that you guarantee the right to life and protect the human person.” 

          We give thanks today for all those who have worked to protect, support and sustain life, particularly our mothers. We most especially give thanks for the courageous women who chose to preserve the lives of their children and place them in the hearts of those equally courageous women and men who accepted them as their own. … By their example, they teach us that it is possible to love as Jesus commands – generously and selflessly. They also remind us that they – and we – become vehicles for God’s very presence in the world when we open our lives to his love.