Mother Mary, what a woman!

You probably spent the week wondering how on earth Catholicism taught me how wonderful it is to be a woman! So let me clear up that matter and a few other things. As some of my readers are not Catholic, allow me to explain Mary’s place in the world of a Catholic. From there, you will see how Mary taught me the beauty of being a woman! Finally, it was motherhood that was the icing on the cake!

Catholics do not worship Mary I love her as a mother. Catholics love her as our mother because Jesus gave her to us as our mother. Mary said, “Yes!” to the Lord and in so doing brought us life! Thank you, Mommy Mary! So Jesus gave her to us too!

Jn 19:25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
Jn 19:26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,”
Jn 19:27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The disciple is not named because Jesus was talking to all of us. We are to take her into our home, every one of us. Love her and care for her as we would our mothers. If we are rubbish at loving our mothers we need to do better because they are our earthly practice for Mary. Catholicism holds a huge regard for women and they are equal but not the same. Christ called men to be apostles and women to bring life either as mothers or singles in service to others. Equal not the same, there is a huge difference.

Mary always points to Jesus Many argue that she detracts from her Son because Catholics are looking at her. This is not the case. In all of her images and interactions with us she is calling us to follow her Son, into a deeper relationship with Him. From my own personal experience, the more I love her and ask her to pray for me in this journey to her Son the closer and closer I get to Him and the more I realize He loves me for me and that includes being a woman. I needn’t worry about loving her more than I should because I know that I could never love her more than Jesus does. When my son Joshua is snuggling me and telling me how much he loves me, I cannot help but think of these tender moments between our baby Lord and His mother. No, I cannot possibly love her more than He. What a beautiful thought, our God and Creator loved His mother(a woman) so tenderly as her babe!

The Catechism says: “This very special devotion differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.”971 That means, she points to Father, Son and Holy Spirit as we have a relationship with her. That was her mission in her earthly life and it is in her eternal one.

Mary sacrificed herself Mary gave everything up to be the Lord’s mother. Her reputation, her safety and her home were lost to her with that single yes. The Holy Spirit had to convince Joseph to be her earthly guardian. The Holy Spirit, unlike Adam, was the spouse who protected His wife. Joseph responded faithfully, and thank you so much St. Joseph for saying yes. What a brave man! Remember they had to run away to Egypt leaving everything behind. Mary gave birth in a barn! They both lost their reputation and Mary could have been stoned! She gave everything up at the yes not to mention giving up her body to the growing baby inside her. Then she had to give up sleep to be a mother once the baby was born! Then she watched Him die on the cross for us sinners! The sacrifice never ended. She didn’t worry about her identity as a woman because she was wife and mom. She didn’t pine after the loss of a career and degree because she was a career mommy and her degree was in life! No, society has done a bang up job teaching women how to be self centered and selfish. Thank you, Mother Mary for trying to teach us the proper way to love our families. Eve brought us death, Mother Mary brought us life through her Son!(Catechism of the Catholic Church 494)

God didn’t just need a walking womb Many people say that Mary just happened to say yes. It was nothing special and God could have used any womb. Catholics do not believe that for a second. As humans, God has a special plan for us from the moment we are conceived and from that moment He prepares us for that mission. Hence, Mary’s Immaculate Conception (Catechism of the Catholic Church 491) and as a result our very clear stance on birth control and abortion. Here is the scriptural reference for this attitude.

Ps 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Ps 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

So, just like Mommy Mary, we were made for a purpose. I was wonderfully made, my womanhood and all!

Ok, so now that you know all this you can probably already tell how Catholicism helped me to see just how wonderful it is to be a woman! However, it wasn’t until I gave birth to our first son, Joshua, that I completely embraced the beauty and strength of womanhood in all its forms. I was finally given an understanding of the verse that had before offended me so much,

1Ti 2:15 But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

Holding my son in my arms the first time inspired me to be a better wife so that I could be a wonderful mother. I realized that I had to love Joshua’s father properly if Joshua was to fully know how much I loved him. I had to love Jesus more and more so that I could point my son in the right direction, the direction of our Lord. I had to love myself and how God created me and laid out this wonderful life completely if I was to teach my son that no matter what happens in life, no matter how the world tells you that you are useless, in fact, you are God’s perfect creation. As such He has a beautiful plan in your life. The first step in that plan was Joshua had to be male, a wonderful male. Just like I had to be female, a wonderful female!!

PS: I had a princess wedding and completely love being a Homemaker! My six year old self got her dream life, thank You, Jesus!

For an online Catechism of the Catholic Church click here.

The picture of Mother Mary and baby Jesus was taken from the Wiki entry on Madonna Art.

Mother Theresa does it again . . .

Recently, I was attending a Bible study at my church and one of our lessons was about talents. I was unprepared for my reaction to this topic. I was angry! I was also unprepared for God’s response to my prayers.

As it has been awhile since I have written, let me give you a little back story. As a result of our move to be together as a family I lost my dog and my country house. I ended up pet-less and in an apartment in the city. I left my friends and Joshua’s friends, I left my church and my mommies group. Since that day, November 14, 2010, I have learned several things.

1) My suffering is a gift I can give to Jesus. I can offer it to the Lord on behalf of others in prayer! This fantastic teaching is Catholic and I love God for it. I feel so much less helpless with my suffering and the suffering of fellow Christians when I know that it can be used for good.

2) Suffering is necessary. Acts 14:19-28 states clearly, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

3) I was hurting without fur in my dog-less state. It was so lonely and I was broken. Broken after 4 years apart from my husband and now having to live together. Broken after losing Tigger and now being dog-less again. Broken and unable to get pregnant and sick most of the time. Through the Holy Spirit, I met a dear woman in my bible study who taught me that I could offer up those fur-less moments. As I started getting angry towards my husband(the reason we are in the pet-free zone, an idea I came up with, as he is not a dog person) I started praying for Mark every single time I wanted fur. That amounted to a lot of prayer in one day for the head and bread winner of our family. I then started praying for those I knew wanted a baby every time my cycle came and went and my tears flowed at the lack of pregnancy and so on. God used the fur-less moments to further my understanding of point 1.

4) Jesus calls us to give Him everything. It doesn’t matter what our talents are so I don’t need to expend loads of energy figuring them out. I am supposed to use my whole being to bring Him glory and that brings me full circle to how Mother Theresa once again played prayerful intercessor in my marriage and family life.

I have a team of saints who I ask for prayer. St. Monica, Blessed Mother Theresa, Mother Mary and St. Daniel(my patron saint). After I ask them for prayer I run to the feet of Jesus Himself. I commence telling Him everything and then after exhausting myself I say, but Your will be done. On the day of the Bible study I kept asking for help because I didn’t know what my talents were and I was so angry about it. I had been very good at computers but not anymore. I had thought I was really good at training dogs but not anymore. I had thought I was a good mother but the older Joshua got the more complicated it seemed to be becoming so I didn’t think I was good at that anymore either. I kept coming to Jesus and Mother Mary to help me be a mom but no longer had any confidence in myself for that either. As far as I could tell, I was good at nothing. Or maybe I was that chap with one talent and I had buried it except I lost where I had put it! I sat silent through the bible study, so much so that others noticed. I asked them for prayer because I was so upset about it.

After the bible study I went to the gym to go for a run. All good prayer for me happens on a run. So I cried out to my team and to Jesus, praying for help with this talent thing. I didn’t know who I was anymore or what I had to give Jesus anymore.

Suddenly, in a girl voice I heard,
“You are His spouse and mother.” And suddenly the verse about doing anything to the least of these people means doing it for my Jesus! And finally, I was informed that all I am should belong to Jesus so delineating my talents is unimportant to the Lord.

I stepped off of the treadmill a different woman again. I thank God for all the work He is doing in me and pray for His continued work; there is so much more of me that needs to be more like Jesus.