The end time of a mother’s love
19th May 2014 · 0 Comments
By Fr. Jerome LeDoux
Contributing Columnist
Every mother experiences the most intense of all love relationships through her epic journey with the child in her womb. The 660 days of an African mother elephant leads nature’s awesome parade followed by the 580 days of a black rhino, the 360 days of sperm whales, and, with several species sandwiched between, the 266 days of a human.
The inseparable bonding wrought by such intimate coexistence leaves an indelible mark on any mother and child of most species, driving a mother to sacrifice everything – even her very life – for the survival and well-being of her child. The saying, “Never get between a mother bear and her cub,” applies in triplicate to every human mother.
Awakening sporadically through the night at a child’s slightest cough or whimper, at times hardly sleeping at all, cooling the brow of a feverish child, responding promptly to nosebleed, a glass of water or any other need, helping to fight nightmare monsters, are all part of a young mother’s daily diary of the people and things dearest to her heart.
By its very nature, the journey of a mother is always epic, starting from the very beginning of her progeny’s childhood in today’s world already threatened by some of the big kids who expose even the little ones to drugs, obscenity, profanity and blasphemy. She is always there to teach her own, to hold the bad kids at bay and reach their parents.
There is no pause in a mother’s struggle to challenge and stalemate those who would dare entice her innocent child to laziness or mischief at school, to bickering and fighting among peers, to substance abuse or any kind of moral and legal wrong.
Transcending the ongoing battle to stymie and defeat the negative people and influences threatening her child, a mother strives with might and main to instruct her child how to eat the foods most conducive to a sound mind in a sound body, to pursue physical health by engaging in body-strengthening exercises and proper rest.
Above all, a mother zealously oversees the mental development of her child, helping with homework and huddling with teachers and counselors. Plugging into the spiritual, she segues the three Rs of reading, writing and ‘rithmetic into the fourth R of religion, knowing that her child will take her cue in faith, church and daily living.
This part of the journey through the obstacle course of school and learning, then through the formidable minefield of stalwart belief in God and the untiring pursuit of
God’s will in our lives is the most demanding and difficult of all. Faith, religious words and actions and all that is morally and doctrinally good will be resisted and attacked savagely – at times even to bloodshed – by ideological extremists opposed to God.
Giving no ground to such ferocity and hatred, a mother’s love surmounts all this, ever proving 1 John 4:18 all over again, “There is no fear in love, but perfect loves drives out fear.” This is the love that most of us came to know as small children, clinging vines adhering to the words, the arms and person of the dearest lady in our lives.
Not unlike the queen bee in a bustling hive, mother is the traditional centerpiece of all family gatherings and reunions, cementing everyone’s yearnings for acceptance, recognition, respect, sharing and mutual love. Just as there is no happier sound than a busy beehive, so the sight and active presence of mother gladdens her family.
Such gatherings, with photos galore and, nowadays, videos are the priceless stuff of which family lore and indelible memories are made. With prayer and worship at the gatherings and reunions, family members are steered away from division to Godly unity.
No matter how long mother lives, it is never even nearly enough. Even when the ravages of time prove the old adage, “What Mother Nature gives, Father Time takes away,” mother is still precious, no matter how weak and helpless she may become. It is still painful to let her return to God, unless illness and pain are ruining her quality of life.
For most humans, according to the ordinary plan of nature, we must watch our mother age and gradually deteriorate until she is called by God to come home. However, overwhelmed by sickness and suffering, some diseased children must take leave of their mother to return to God. It is a totally wrenching experience bearable only by faith.
When a mother has to say “Till we meet again in heaven” to a daughter or son who is about to precede her to our Father’s kingdom, she experiences a pain beyond that of childbirth or anything else. Although prematurely and not according to the expected sequence of nature, she has successfully discharged her main charge as a parent, which is to nurture and guide her child safely through life here to the eternal life that awaits us all.
Rather than working firsthand and personally everywhere around the world, God chose to create mothers to put a human face and heart on the grace and love that are ours.
This article originally published in the May 19, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
