The Ascension of Our Lord and Mother's Day

(This sermon was given at a Missa Novus Ordo, the calendar of which has moved Ascension Thursday this year to a Sunday. This situation would not occur in the Collegium, which will use the 1962 missal and the older calendar. Nevertheless, because the sermon is largely focused on Mother’s Day, it is shared here for you.)

At the beginning of the Easter Vigil when everything is in darkness, we light the Paschal Candle. We sing, “Lumen Christi,” praising the light of Christ by Whose passion, death and Resurrection the world that was darkened by sin is flooded with the light of grace.

However, the Paschal Candle has another, very specific symbolism. It is lit on the night that we watch for the Resurrection of Christ. It’s light reminds us of the physical presence of Christ on the earth from the time of His Resurrection until His Ascension. Today as we celebrate that Ascension, - Christ’s physical departure from the earth – the light is extinguished. (Of course, He remains substantially present – body, blood, soul and divinity – in the Holy Eucharist, but under different appearances.) After the last Mass this weekend, the candle will be taken from the sanctuary and reposed in the baptistery.

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Scripture reminds us that Christ remained on the earth after His Resurrection for 40 days. 40 is a significant number, used by God for times of cleansing and preparation. God pelted the earth with 40 days of rain in the Great Flood to purge it from sin. God led the Israelites through the dessert for 40 years to prepare them for the promised land. Christ fasted in the desert for 40 days to prepare for His public life, and we fast for the 40 days of Lent to prepare for Easter. Now He has spent 40 days after His Resurrection preparing His Apostles to continue His work on earth after His Ascension. However, 40 days would have been on Thursday. It seems that this year Christ extended His stay by an extra 3 days, no doubt so that He would not miss Mother’s Day. And He dare not miss it.

It is said that behind every great man there is a great woman. It seems somewhat diminutive to refer to Christ as simply great, but his mother, Mary, was certainly the greatest woman ever to walk the face of the earth. She was chosen by God “before the foundation of the world,” to be the ark of the new covenant; to be the first tabernacle; to be the mother of His Son, Jesus Christ, the God made man.

Just what does it mean to be a mother?

We can gain a little insight from the farm yard. One morning Mrs. Chicken comes scurrying up to Mrs. Pig. “Mrs. Pig, Mrs. Pig,” she clucks, “Great news! The pastor is coming to stay for the night, and tomorrow morning the farmer is going to prepare his favorite breakfast: bacon and eggs!” Mrs. Pig is slow to share Mrs. Chicken’s enthusiasm, and Mrs. Chicken, who has a brain the size of a pea, asks her what is wrong? Mrs. Pig, replies, “Mrs. Chicken, my friend, it is, indeed, an honor to have the pastor visit us, and even a privilege to serve him his favorite breakfast. Such a meal, however, requires but a contribution from you. On the other hand, from me it will require a total commitment.”

Motherhood is, indeed, a total commitment.

Saint Paul tells us – in a not-so-popular verse today – “wives be subject to your husbands.” (Col 3:18) When a woman gives herself to her husband and a new life is created. It becomes a complete submission of herself – not just to her husband, but even more so to God’s will for her motherhood.

Mary, a 15-year-old Jewish girl, is approached by the angel Gabriel, who asks her to consent to be the mother of God. She answers him, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to thy word.” The Latin for the second part of this phrase begins “Fiat mihi.” - Let it be done to me. This moment of Mary’s submission to God’s will, this moment of her total commitment – we call her “Fiat,” after the Latin “Fiat mihi.”

Indeed, this was a total commitment. It nearly cost her her life. Had Joseph not been instructed by an angel in a dream that Mary had conceived though the power of Most High, that he was to take her as his wife, and that he was to raise the child as his own, she may well have been stoned for adultery.

A woman who submits herself to her husband to bear a child endures physical discomfort and changes to her body – some of which never leave her. She endures a birthing process that is not just uncomfortable – it can be dangerous. So, just to bear a child requires significant sacrifice. But a mother’s commitment does not end there.

A mother teaches her child to pray and to live in the way of faith. When Christ taught the Apostle to pray, He told them to say, “Father… Thy will be done” In Latin this is “Fiat voluntas tua,” – Let it be done according to Thy will. He learned that from His mother.

A mother teaches her child to live the same selfless life that she lives. When Christ was suffering His agony in the Garden of Gesthemane, so fearful for the pain and suffering that was yet to come that He sweat drops of blood, He had his own “fiat” moment. He prayed to His Father in heaven. “Father, not My will, but Thine be done.” Let it be done unto Me according to Thy will. He learned that from His mother.

A mother’s commitment to her children endures to the end – either hers or sometimes, tragically, theirs. When Christ was hanging on the Cross, bloody, beaten and suffering through His last breaths, after all the Apostles – except John – had abandoned Him, after Peter had denied Him, after Judas had betrayed Him, it was His mother, Mary, who remained.

And so, after Christ’s Resurrection, when He appeared to His Apostles – who had abandoned Him – He promised them, “Behold I am with you all days, even to consummation of the world.” He learned that from His Mother.

There is no doubt that to be a mother is a total commitment: complete, all-consuming, and enduring. But to what end? What is the reward for motherhood?

Before I tell you of the reward, I want to put a woman’s call to motherhood in a proper context, and, if you’ll permit me, I am going to do it a somewhat politically incorrect way. Please bear with me.

Every Sunday when we come to Mass, the priest and his assistants are men. We don’t have women priests. Why? And what on earth does this have to do with motherhood?

You might be familiar with Pope John Paull II’s teaching on this matter. His approach was largely historical. Christ was a man; He chose male Apostles, and we continue to do the same. I would like to put the matter into a more anthropological and biblical context… and it has everything to do with motherhood.

Scripture tells us, “God created man. Male and female He created them.” And God created them as different beings – down to their DNA. In spite of advanced surgery and hormone injections, it is simply biologically impossible for a man to become a women and vice versa. Their very DNA is different, and it cannot be changed.

God not only made man and woman different, He gave them different roles in His divine plan for creation. To man he gave the role of making sacrifice. We see this from the very first book of the Bible: Cain and Abel rendering sacrifice to God. We see Abraham called to give God sacrifice – even to the point of sacrificing – killing – his own Son. (God never asked a woman to kill her child – never.) We see Melchizedek offering an unbloody sacrifice that is the precursor to the Mass. We see Christ called to make the ultimate sacrifice – His own life.

To woman he gave the role of making life – of forming an intimate collaboration with Him in bringing life into the world. Many of the great moments in our Salvation history start with a momentous birth – and often a birth to a woman who isn’t supposed to be able to have children. Sarah, Abraham’s aged and supposedly barren wife, gives birth to Isaac who becomes the father of twelve sons, each one a leader of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Elizabeth, Zachariah’s wife, also thought to be barren, gives birth to John the Baptist, who paves the way for Jesus Christ. And Mary, a young virgin, - she has had no relations with a man – by the power of the Most High gives birth to the Messiah. Each of these births is miraculous in itself, but all of the them also remind us that EVERY birth is a miracle – and every mother is an intimate partner of the Miracle Maker.

This is why contraception so often leads to marital problems. It robs of woman of her God-given role, and she becomes objectified. This is why abortion is such a horror. It is not only the taking of an innocent life, but it also completely perverts the creative image of God in which woman was created. Is it any wonder that women who abort become so depressed? They have not only taken the lives of their children, they have also gutted the very meaning of their own lives.

Returning to the male role of making sacrifice, Christ is the One Who makes the ultimate sacrifice. The priest, who stands in the person of Christ, renews that sacrifice. He is a man called by God to make sacrifice.

A woman certainly lives a sacrificial life. Indeed, many women sacrifice their own lives for the faith: St. Perpetua, St. Cecilia, the mother of the sons Machabee. But a woman cannot take on the role of a priest, the role of MAKING sacrifice, because God has reserved for her the most special role of MAKING LIFE.

And what is her is reward for making life – for motherhood?

If we go back to St. Paul, who said “Wives, be subject to your husbands,” we see a few phrases later, “Husbands, love your wives.” (Col 3:19) That is, treat the mother of your children as God would treat them.

And how does God treat His own mother, Mary?

At the end of her life, God raised Mary into heaven body and soul and gave her a glorified body. No other human enjoys this privilege, save Christ Himself. All of us hope to enjoy this gift at the end of time, and the Ascension is a reminder of this glory to which we are called by God, but until then only she and Christ Himself have this glory.

God has given to Mary the Queenship of heaven. She reigns along side her Son, Jesus Christ as King of the Universe. Of course, Jesus Christ is infinitely more powerful than Mary – He is God, but Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces; she is the most powerful intercessor in the heavens and on the earth.

God has given to this woman, this mother, honors given to no other human, save God Himself.

The reward for motherhood, then, is the highest place of honor in all of humanity. Perhaps we do not do as good a job at honoring mothers in this way, in giving them the honor that they deserve. Perhaps if we did, mothers would never feel pressured to let themselves be objectified; perhaps if we did, they would never consider taking the lives of their own children; perhaps if we did, they would not feel so pressured to assume male roles to gain the respect they deserve. So the devil continues to live and work among us. That is not new, and right now he seems to have the upper hand with regard to how he has twisted our priorities as far as life and motherhood go.

But today LET HIM BE BANISHED.

Today, let us cry out the words of the ancient versicle, “Grace has poured forth from you. Therefore, God has blessed you unto eternity.”

Today let us give thanks to God for all mothers, for those who become intimate partners with the Miracle Maker and who make the total commitment to bring new life into the world and nurture those lives that one day they, too, may live forever with God in paradise.

Husbands, love your wives. Love the mother of your children. Treat them as God would treat His own mother.

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#Ascension #MothersDay