Matt GaspersEvery year on the second Sunday of May, numerous countries throughout the world celebrate Mother’s Day, a beautiful occasion on which to express love toward our own mothers and gratitude for the gift of motherhood, in general. “Honor thy father, and forget not the groanings of thy mother” (Ecclus. 7:29).
This “honor which children are commanded to pay to their parents,” says the Roman Catechism, “should be the spontaneous offering of sincere and dutiful love. This is nothing more than their due, since for love of us, they shrink from no labor, no exertion, no danger. Their highest pleasure it is to feel that they are loved by their children, the dearest objects of their affection” (Part III: The Decalogue, Fourth Commandment, Manner of Honoring Parents).
There is perhaps no greater pain a mother can suffer than to feel unloved and disregarded by her own children, yet this is precisely the sort of pain expressed by our Blessed Mother to Sister Lucia of Fatima on December 10, 1925: “Look, My daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude.” For this reason, the Child Jesus prefaced His Mother’s words by imploring Lucia: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother…”
This Mother’s Day, which happens to fall on May 13 (anniversary of Our Lady’s first apparition at Fatima), let us all remember to “have compassion” on the Immaculate Heart of Mary our Mother, especially by practicing the Five First Saturdays devotion of reparation. In the words of Our Lady, “I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me.”
Subscribe or renew your subscription to Catholic Family News today and receive a free CD recording of my talk, “The Five First Saturdays: Console Your Mother, Save and Sanctify Your Soul,” to help you better understand and fulfill this crucial devotion.
Happy Mother’s Day and I hope to hear from you soon!
Murray Rundus
