My Mother
It was my mother who taught me the most important things in life. Almost every evening, during my teenage years, after the dinner dishes were done, she and I used to sit in two chairs by the garden, watching the sun set behind the ridge, talking about everything. There were the immediate concerns, like grades, and friends, and girls. She talked to me about family relationships, about work and money, about marriage and the facts of life, about respect for authority. (I wanted to be a forest ranger and have a large family.) Dad taught me how to work and manage money, but with Mom it was those long talks by the garden. I was not a straight-A student in Mom’s University of Life, but I did pass, somewhere between a C- and a B+.
Jesus and Mary
Mom taught me the two most important things in life: Jesus and Mary, which means the Mass and the Rosary. I remember watching her return from Holy Communion on Sundays. She would kneel and bury her face in her hands. In this way, and many others, she taught me the value of the Mass. Its value, I learned, is infinite.
The Mass is our very life. There is no real life outside of it. Even Protestants, Jews, Muslims, atheists—all depend on the graces flowing from this Mass. The Mass is resurrection. In the first reading, Peter cries out: “This man [Jesus] you killed, but God raised him up … of this we are all witnesses.” Peter is a witness, not just because he saw Jesus alive after Easter Sunday, but because he is a witness to the Mass.
A Witness to the Mass
So too in our Gospel: the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. Jesus brings them the Mass. The Mass has two main parts: Word and Sacrament. In Emmaus, first Jesus gives the Scriptures, and second he breaks bread. The hearts of the disciples are burning within them as he does so. But notice that he disappears when the bread is broken, but they are not sad at his departure. Why? Because He has not really left them. They know he is with them still, “in the breaking of the bread.”
It’s what my mother taught me in our talks by the garden. Love the Mass. Never miss a Sunday Mass. Go to daily Mass if you can. And to prepare for Mass, pray the rosary. Be with Our Lady, and she will keep you close to Jesus.
Every year or so I go back to the garden in Pennsylvania. The old metal chairs have long since rusted into oblivion. The garden is overgrown. But what my mother gave to me during those talks remains: a love for the Mass, and a love for the rosary.
Make Mom Happy
On this Mother’s Day, make my mother happy. Go to Mass without fail, and pray the rosary. On this Mother’s Day, make our Blessed Mother happy. Never miss even one Mass of her Son, Our Savior Jesus Christ. Pray the rosary faithfully, and you will be faithful to the Mass.
It was my mother who taught me the most important things in life. Almost every evening, during my teenage years, after the dinner dishes were done, she and I used to sit in two chairs by the garden, watching the sun set behind the ridge, talking about everything. There were the immediate concerns, like grades, and friends, and girls. She talked to me about family relationships, about work and money, about marriage and the facts of life, about respect for authority. (I wanted to be a forest ranger and have a large family.) Dad taught me how to work and manage money, but with Mom it was those long talks by the garden. I was not a straight-A student in Mom’s University of Life, but I did pass, somewhere between a C- and a B+.
Jesus and Mary
Mom taught me the two most important things in life: Jesus and Mary, which means the Mass and the Rosary. I remember watching her return from Holy Communion on Sundays. She would kneel and bury her face in her hands. In this way, and many others, she taught me the value of the Mass. Its value, I learned, is infinite.
The Mass is our very life. There is no real life outside of it. Even Protestants, Jews, Muslims, atheists—all depend on the graces flowing from this Mass. The Mass is resurrection. In the first reading, Peter cries out: “This man [Jesus] you killed, but God raised him up … of this we are all witnesses.” Peter is a witness, not just because he saw Jesus alive after Easter Sunday, but because he is a witness to the Mass.
A Witness to the Mass
So too in our Gospel: the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. Jesus brings them the Mass. The Mass has two main parts: Word and Sacrament. In Emmaus, first Jesus gives the Scriptures, and second he breaks bread. The hearts of the disciples are burning within them as he does so. But notice that he disappears when the bread is broken, but they are not sad at his departure. Why? Because He has not really left them. They know he is with them still, “in the breaking of the bread.”
It’s what my mother taught me in our talks by the garden. Love the Mass. Never miss a Sunday Mass. Go to daily Mass if you can. And to prepare for Mass, pray the rosary. Be with Our Lady, and she will keep you close to Jesus.
Every year or so I go back to the garden in Pennsylvania. The old metal chairs have long since rusted into oblivion. The garden is overgrown. But what my mother gave to me during those talks remains: a love for the Mass, and a love for the rosary.
Make Mom Happy
On this Mother’s Day, make my mother happy. Go to Mass without fail, and pray the rosary. On this Mother’s Day, make our Blessed Mother happy. Never miss even one Mass of her Son, Our Savior Jesus Christ. Pray the rosary faithfully, and you will be faithful to the Mass.
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