It was Mother’s Day when I boarded the plane. I found my assigned aisle seat and quickly settled in. Within a few minutes we heard a women’s voice, “Welcome aboard. This is your Captain speaking.” I thought to myself, “How special to have a woman as our Captain on Mother’s Day.”
Across the aisle from me, a young boy around six or seven years old excitedly said in a loud voice, “That’s my mom. I know her voice whenever she speaks.” The man next to him said to me, “This is our son’s first commercial flight with his mom as the captain. I am Albert’s father, and I have flown many times with my wife as the captain. She is an awesome pilot. The older woman next to them simply stated, “That’s my daughter and I am very proud of her.”
The plane taxied down the runway, poised for takeoff. The engines began to roar as the plane gained speed quickly. Within seconds we were airborne. The little boy couldn’t help but applaud and cheer, “Way to go, ma, way to go!” Many passengers joined in the applause and shouted with joy, “Way to go, ma, way to go!”
This weekend, we are applauding mothers. Mothers deserve never-ending support and applause.
Consider the mother who just came home from work and began preparing dinner for her husband and four children. She rushed as she had to leave soon for a PTA meeting that evening. Since she was running late, her husband and children offered to clean up the kitchen, which was rare. They loaded and turned on the dishwasher, washed all the pots and pans, put the leftover food away, and wiped all the countertops. They even swept and mopped the kitchen floor.
Two hours later, their mom came home, greeted everyone in the living room and went right to the kitchen to check things. Then she joined the family as they all watched TV. Her husband said, “The kitchen?”
“What about the kitchen?” she replied.
The oldest daughter, who was 15, said, “We cleaned up the kitchen and did all the dishes.”
The mother replied, “Yes, I noticed. Thankless job, isn’t it?”
Sometimes, being a mother is a thankless job. And mothers don’t get thanked all the time. So, thanks to all mothers for your hard work and unconditional love. “Way to go, ma! Way to go. Happy and Blessed Mother’s Day.”
A mother’s protective love takes many different forms today.
Before the days of seat belts, I remember one of my ma’s constant signs of her love was when I was in the front seat on the passenger side. When she had to brake suddenly, her right arm would protectively fly across my chest. Our mothers in those days were the original seat belts.
Pat Williams, a sports author and sports enthusiast, in his book “A Lifetime of Success” gives a great example of a mother’s love. The Braves were playing a night game against the Dodgers in 1974. Up at plate: the immortal Hank Aaron! On the line was Babe Ruth’s record of 714 career home runs. Aaron had tied the record, and that night he could break it.
Understand that was over 45 years ago. A black baseball player was about to topple the great Babe Ruth and many people didn’t like that. Aaron had, in fact, received some 100,000 hate letters, some with death threats.
The author tells how he was on the edge of his seat when Al Downing hurled the pitch and Aaron swung and connected, shattering the Babe’s record. The ballpark went wild. Aaron rounded the bases, crossed home plate and the dugout emptied as the Braves rushed to congratulate him.
Suddenly out of nowhere a short, 65-year-old Black woman latched on to Aaron. “Ma, what are you doing here?” asked Aaron. She responded, “With all those death threats, I figured that if they are going to get you, they will have to get me first.”
“Way to go, ma! Way to go! Happy and blessed Mother’s Day.”
One Mother’s Day, when my sister was eight, my brother was seven and I was six, we argued about whom our mother loved the most. So, we asked her, “Ma, who do you love the most?”
Our Dad immediately put the newspaper down to hear her respond.
“I love all of you, but not equally. I love the one who is weak the most, until you are strong. I most love the one who is hurt, until you are healed. I most love the one who is lost, until you are found. I most love the one who is in danger, until protected.”
A couple of things our ma taught us:
For myself, I have to say that it is both my mother and my father who passed to us kids two particular virtues that I am grateful for to this day. They instilled in us good work/study habits and a strong faith.
Faith such as in the words of Jesus in today’s gospel: I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.
The image of the Good Shepherd, as found in John’s Gospel, is that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, gives eternal life, and those who hear his voice will not perish.
In the days of Jesus, the towns and villages had common sheep corrals. The shepherds would bring their sheep at night to these corrals for safekeeping from two-legged thieves and four-legged predator animals. The shepherds would take turns standing night watch over the flock. In the morning, each shepherd would call his or her sheep by name. The sheep would recognize the voice and go to their shepherd because the voice they knew and recognized meant food, protection and safety.
Hearing the voice of Jesus, our Compassionate Shepherd, is not easy for us. In today’s world, we have a proliferation of voices calling for our attention and allegiance.
Between televisions, laptops, tablets and smart phones, we are on screens more than ever. Billions of dollars of voices and images are targeted at us annually. We are bombarded with advertisements telling us our hair is the wrong color, we are eating the wrong food, we are driving the wrong car, we are taking the wrong medicine, or we are wearing the wrong clothes.
If you don’t think that these advertisements have a subconscious effect on you, look and see what you buy. This consumerist propaganda and our consequent obsession for more, bigger and better things surely frequently drown out the voice of Christ.
Listening to the voice of Christ in a consumer-orientated society is difficult but not impossible. It means taking time every day to pray. Too busy to pray? I don’t think so. Too lazy to pray? Maybe. We are conflicted daily with which voices to listen to.
On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best, how would you rate yourself in terms of listening to the voice of God? I know I have developed some bad habits that limit my listening to God. Let us all take the time each day to center ourselves in prayer to listen to God.
And please pray for your mother today, whether living or deceased.
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