Pause for thought: Mothering Sunday

God of compassion,
whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary,
shared the life of a home in Nazareth,
and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself: strengthen us in our daily living
that in joy and in sorrow
we may know the power of your presence to bind together and to heal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

As a young prospective ordinand, more than 40 years ago now, I remember going to Church in Lawrenny in Pembrokeshire and doing a service with children. Afterwards everyone in the congregation was really excited that this lad, still wet behind the ears, was being seen in a new light; they were full of words of praise and encouragement. My mother was also at the service and could see, I think, that I was quite dazed by all the adulation. I can picture us now walking down the church path and she put her arm through mine and said ‘don’t worry, I know who you are’. We both laughed, but I have always remembered it as a grounding moment in my life. For many of us we will feel that those with whom we share a household and particularly perhaps our mothers know us in a very instinctive way. I am fortunate that my mother was there for all the big events in my life. Throughout my life we were lucky enough to have those kind of frank exchanges where she could see and name the essence of me.

Mary the mother of Our Lord was also able to see the essence of him, so much so that a sword would pierce her own heart. From before his birth she pondered what his life would be and as she followed him faithfully to the cross there must have been so much that she knew of her Son that she also knew others were blind to. At the cross she contained within her that contradiction of her Son, Emmanuel, the promised one, who healed and showed such love, who stood up to hypocrisy and paid the price, who went against the grain and who stretched out his arms for us on that cross. All these things were held within a Mothers love for her Son.

The same is true of Mother church she embodies the whole of life, she is there for those big life events, she is able to hear our sorrow and our joy she is able to comfort and counsel. Mother Church is there for us and we must remember that the Church is made up of people, the household of God; we embody the church ourselves. As disciples we are called to become more Christlike and display the essence of Jesus. The Lenten period is an ideal opportunity for us to reassess this in ourselves and press our reset button. This is the calling (vocation) of the Church, this is our calling, to be there for the world. She (the church) sees the essence of us and the essence of humanity and we, as the Church, are called to display the essence of Christ as we reach out to a broken world.

Image of Statue of the Virgin Mary, St Germans, Roath

Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassionately on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands.
Yours are the feet.
Yours are the eyes.
You are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassionately on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Amen.

Revd Canon Richard Lowndes

Main Image Our Lady of Sorrows, Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield