The Most Noble Vocation
Motherhood!
The God-given Attribute of Caring for People
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Scripture makes it clear how important motherhood is for the soul of a woman. 'Yet she shall be saved through childbearing; if she continues in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety' (1 Timothy 2:9-15)
There are three vocations or states of life that women are called to: married life, religious life, and the single life. Each of these ways of motherhood are callings from God through which women raise the children of the society. God has given to each woman the unique gifts she needs to discern their calling. They are uniquely called to use their gifts for the fruitfulness of the current and future generations. The power of women as mothers. either as biological or spiritual mothers, '...is one of the greatest goods of any society because of the transformation women can have in men and in raising children.' ('The Marian Option', Gress pg. 153).
The gifts of motherhood are manifested in many ways. St Theresa of Calcutta cared for the poor. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton started hospital systems. Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. Marjorie Dannenfelser, Charmaine Yoest, Carol Tobias, Dr. Alveda King, and Abby Johnson are just some of the many women who are champions in the pro-life movement. The Dominican Sisters' mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ through teaching, care for the poor, advocacy for justice, spiritual enrichment, and much more. Callista Gingrich serves as the US Ambassador to the Holy See, as well as having many other accomplishments. These are just a few examples of the many women who are mothers, some with biological children, some not. They are businesswomen, CEO's, managers, authors, writers, etc. But whether stay at home mom's, or those whose calling is also outside the home, what do they all have in common? In the focus of their lives their mission is for others. Their work manifests the glory of God. Their lives are GOD-centered, concerned about others, not me-centered.
'The Greek word used in the original was teknogia, which does not refer just to becoming pregnant and giving birth, but goes much further: it means the active and concrete reality of a woman in the home raising her children.'
('Ultimate Makeover, the Transforming Power of Motherhood', Gress, pg. 25).
Mothers are called to be bridges linking their family to God. Mary, in her yes to God to bear Jesus, is the female bridge through which man has been linked back to God. ('Ultimate Makeover, the Transforming Power of Motherhood', Gress, pg. 42).
'Man, who is the only creature on earth that God willed for its own sake, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self.' (Pope St. John Paul II).
No matter which state of life God has called a woman to, her God-given gifts of receptivity, sensitivity, compassion, beauty, and generosity are given to her by Him for the betterment of others. These gifts manifest themselves through self-giving, life-giving, generous, nurturing love. Every woman 'mothers'. It is ingrained in us from God. Whether through raising your own children, or through teaching, or caring for the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, or caring for the sick and injured in the hospital, or by spiritually instructing and feeding the soul, every woman has the need to care for someone. It can even be seen manifesting itself earlier in a woman's life when, as a pre-teen or teenager, she begins to take on baby-sitting jobs.
'Do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Hebrews 13:16)
'Let each of you look not to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.'
(Philippians 2:4).
'What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.' (James 2:14-17).
Mothers are the cornerstone of culture. Motherhood offers a profound example of the kind of sanctity needed today. The Blessed Mother is our model to follow. When we look at the broken and wounded state of our society today it's easy to see how desperately we need the example and help of our Blessed Mother.
'...Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8).
Now, as with all societies before us, we are in a fierce spiritual battle. The devil's mission is to take as many souls away from God as he can. And how does he do this? By turning us, God's children, away from Him. Through women's liberation and toxic femininity it's easy to see how Satan is attacking us. He is going after the greatest good; the self-giving and self-sacrificing beauty of motherhood and femininity as created by God, in order to destroy our relationships with each other. The devil's weapons are meant to destroy the family and it's relational ties by, first of all making the Blessed Virgin Mary (our greatest weapon against him) irrelevant in our minds and hearts. and secondly by replacing her with the vices of selfishness, promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution, abortion, and homosexuality.
A quick look at our society today makes it easy to see how successful the devil has been. The family is the building block of society. If the family falls, then the society, also, will weaken and fall. As the family goes, so goes society. We have to fight back. We cannot let the devil continue to steal souls from Christ. We need our Mother back! And she is ready and is with us to fight this great battle. Let her back into your heart! And watch the beautiful transformation begin!
Blogger and Lutheran Army chaplain Graham Glover wrote:
And it is my belief that those Christians who ignore and even reject the importance of the Blessed Mother do so to their theological detriment. Their ignorance is the cause of more theological problems than they realize. Their rejection is met with radicalism they have no means to combat.
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And without Mary being honored and revered on a regular basis by Christians, how can we possibly expect to know the fullness of God's truth? If we reject even the smallest of God's revelation (and the Blessed Mother is no small element!), we are setting ourselves and our churches up for complete and utter theological failure. We are begging for radical feminism, as well as other distortions of the faith, to become the norm.
'...a tree is known by its fruit.' (Mt 12;33) There is clear evidence in the lives of the faithful that Marian devotion doesn't thwart a relationship with Christ; on the contrary, it facilitates it..... She doesn't want a drop of Christ's sacrifice to be in vain.....devotion to Mary doesn't mean passivity; rather, 'her spiritual motherhood promotes a child-like docility and expectation with regard to her ability and authority to form us into other Christs.' ('The Marian Option', Gress pgs. 110-111).
Father Paul Scalia has pointed out, 'devotion to her brings purity to the soul and therefore clarity to the mind.' ('The Marian Option', Gress pgs. 183).
Christians are called to not live naturally but supernaturally, to live with God's grace. ('The Marian Option', Gress pg. 178).
'Archbishop Fulton Sheen speaks of the unique role women have within civilization, and Mary is no different: 'A mother is outside time. She dies, but she is still a mother. She is the image of the eternal in time, the shadow of the infinite on the finite. Centuries and civilizations dissolve, but the mother is the giver of life. Man works on his generation; a mother on the next. A man uses life; a mother renews it.'
Not only does a mother renew life by giving life to the next generation; she plants the seeds that flourish into culture. Archbishop Sheen adds, 'Culture derives from woman---for had she not taught her children to talk, the great spiritual values of the world would not have been passed from generation to generation. After nourishing the substance of the body to which she gave birth, she then nourishes the child with the substance of her mind. As guardian of the values of the spirit, as protectress of the mortality of the young, she preserves culture, which deals with purposes and ends, while man upholds civilization, which deals only with means. ('The Marian Option', Gress pgs. 183-184).
'Mary shows herself to be a true mother, even working through culture in ways similar to earthly mothers.....Mary transforms us, she does not make us into a carbon copy of any saint of old; she makes us even more the person we know ourselves to be, but better.' ('The Marian Option', Gress pg. 184).
