I love to ponder the tenderness of the relationship of mother and son.
It’s a relationship I know well, because I live it daily with my own five sons. It's a love that is tender and powerful, transformative and holy; and it connects us deeply to our Lord because it’s a relationship God chose for Himself.
We know He could have only ever been an adult, or not a human at all, but those were not the courses He chose to bring about our salvation. He entered so fully into our humanity, with such humility, that He became a baby. Fully submitting himself to the care of a mother—to sustain, to nurture, to raise, to nourish. A holy, human woman became the arms that held the Creator, the lap that cradled the Savior, the food that nourished the Bread of Life.
How clearly this communicates to us the value of the human family and its infinite worth in our experience as people. We know that we can be sanctified by our human relationships—by how well we live our vocation, how well we serve and become another Christ for the people God has entrusted to us to love. God Himself models for us this heroic charge. He did not live the majority of his life as a prophet or king, but as a child, submitting Himself dutifully and lovingly to His mother and foster father in the little town of Nazareth.
He desires for us to LIVE this life—in all its humanity and regularity, even in the monotony of every day. This is where He will reach us and show us how to be holy.
The queenship of Mary is such a clear revelation of how Our Lady mothered Christ—as both God and man, human and divine—fused in the mysterious act of love called the Incarnation. It only makes sense that Our Lord, loving both His mother and all of humankind with a perfect, heavenly love, would give her to us all, and give all of us to her, forever.
What love, what tenderness, what understanding, for the God of all creation to give us a mother.
Hail, our Mother, hail, heavenly Queen, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. Help us to be worthy sons and daughters. Regina Caeli, pray for us!
Blythe Fike is the wife of Kirby and mother of 8 smallish kids. She loves the quiet life in small town SoCal. You can find out more about her here.
LENT 2023 IS HERE
JOIN THE BIS APP
COME BACK TO FIRST LOVE
