HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY ALL THE MAGNIFICENT MOTHERS IN MY LIFE!
To Gail, Beth, Susan and Regina,
To Anne, Christie, Julie, Suzanne and Margaret
To Andrea,
To my countless cousins,
To all the wonderful women in my life who are Mothers – you live in dozens of countries in the world, you live right here in Rome, you are in my Rome parish, you are my EWTN colleagues in Alabama and at the Vatican,
To all our Mothers – as Pope Francis said this morning – who are in heaven or on earth.
To Mary, the alpha and omega of Mothers.
To my Mom as she watches over us from Heaven! She was always the life of the party, even when it was New Year’s Eve aboard ship on a family cruise! She was at the center of the fun and, as she danced, a ship’s officer placed his hat on her head. Mom was ever the lady as well – note her evening bag!
How I wish I had you all around my dining table for a big celebration of Motherhood!
From Pope St. John Paul’s June 1995 Letter to Women:
This word of thanks to the Lord for his mysterious plan regarding the vocation and mission of women in the world is at the same time a concrete and direct word of thanks to women, to every woman, for all that they represent in the life of humanity.
Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God’s own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child’s first steps, who helps it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life.
Thank you, women who are wives! You irrevocably join your future to that of your husbands, in a relationship of mutual giving, at the service of love and life.
Thank you, women who are daughters and women who are sisters! Into the heart of the family, and then of all society, you bring the richness of your sensitivity, your intuitiveness, your generosity and fidelity.
Joan's Rome 