Dear Folks,

Happy Mother’s Day! I assure you of my prayers and blessing. I share this quote, which I oen revisit on

this day:“The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral—a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body.”— Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

I have heard many people say that their most moving moment in The Passion of the Christ is when Mary runs up the street to embrace Our Lord after He falls beneath the weight of the Cross. The scene is interwoven with flashbacks of Mary lifting Jesus when He stumbled as a small child. And, using artistic license, the filmmaker places words from the Book of Revelation upon the bloodied lips of Our Lord as Mary embraces Him in tears:

“See, Mother, I make all things new.”

For me, I often think of the moment when Mary kisses Jesus’ feet upon the Cross and His Precious Blood touches her lips. It is such an explicitly Eucharistic moment. Shortly afterward, she cries out, “Flesh of my flesh, heart of my heart, my son, let me die with you.”

Every loving soul desires to carry the cross for their beloved—especially parents for their children. Yet Jesus responds by entrusting her to the beloved disciple. In the sorrows of Our Lady, we see some of the greatest expressions of maternal love. Little children are truly soothed by the loving embrace of their mother when they stumble. And the heart of a mother burns with the desire to suffer alongside her child.

Being a mother is not easy—and it was not easy even for Our Lady. Perhaps it is because I have been praying for your crosses that I have found myself drawn to contemplate the sorrows of Mary.

Pax,

Father John Mosimann