I’ve been called a lot of things in my life some nice, some not so nice and mostly true, but more recently I was taken aback by two comments on one morning by two lovely religious sisters independent of each other.
Last week was the first week of the school holidays which means that I had all four of my children home with me. During the week I usually walk to a couple of daily Masses and on Tuesday mornings my three youngest children and I walk to the chapel in a nursing home in our parish. But last week I took all of my children with me. We made a deal before leaving home that if they could sit quietly at Mass and join in any prayers they knew we could stop at the playground on the way home as a reward.
As an incentive this actually worked, which was lovely because frankly, the prospect of four kids mucking up in Mass without my husband’s assistance was not an appealing one.
So anyway, we made it through Mass. Sure, there were a few little hiccups, but no major misbehaviour and I must say as a mum I was pretty happy with how they had behaved. After we finished praying the ‘Hail Holy Queen’ after Mass the nun who had sat behind us during Mass said, ‘You’re a very busy Mum I expect, you have your hands full. What a blessing.’ Then she spoke with my children and complimented them on their behaviour.
I think I should pause here to explain that my children are not always this well behaved in Mass and as I reflect on it, they haven’t been since then…
After Mass I always encourage our children to say a prayer to Jesus before we depart. Then I loaded the two youngest into our double stroller and prepared to leave. On our way out of the chapel we encountered the familiar face of a retired Presentation Sister who has taken a liking to my cheeky two year old who, now with the baby, is my usual Mass companion and a live wire.
With tears in her eyes she called me over to where she sat on her walking frame and said: ‘You are a blessing for the Church.’ That was all she said, but it was all she could say in that moment.
It was a beautiful moment I still see vividly.
As I walked back home, via the playground of course, I reflected on what these nuns had said to me, but particularly the latter. I, personally, am hardly a blessing for the Church. I am just one person, one sinner trying to get to Heaven and doing a bang up job.
But the more I thought about it, I realised that what I represented was where the truth of Sister’s statement resonated.
Young Catholic women who discern the vocation of marriage and who are open to life really are a blessing to the Church and to the world. It is those overwhelmed mothers who beat themselves up about living their vocation to its fullest and raising good, holy and faith-filled children who are sowing the seeds of the Church of tomorrow.
We are daily witnessing to the miracle of life even though we are labelled as being anti-choice and ignorant of contraception.
We witness to the beauty of the Sacrament of Marriage and living in abstinence, saving our virginity as a gift for us spouse.
We witness to fidelity, self-sacrificing love and the importance of mothers in the home.
We witness to true feminism and femininity.
We are the ones passing on the truth to another generation and guiding them to have a personal relationship with Jesus and His mother as well as a love for His Church.
Whether we feel like it or not, we are a blessing to the Church, to our families and our children. With God’s grace and help we are nurturing tomorrow’s leaders who, God willing, will walk proudly as a result of the firm foundation of faith we have instilled in them, and live lives that witness to Christ’s love for the world.
You, who are reading this now, YOU are a blessing for the Church and the world.
Originally posted 2014-05-01 03:03:03.