mothersday

My Mother. My Role Model.
By Father Allain Caparas

For some, it might sound rather strange for a priest to say that his mother is
his role model. After all the similarities, if there are any, are not so obvious.
Yes - they are not so obvious if we simply look at mothers in terms of "what
they do," and if motherhood is seen as an obstacle to our personal fulfillment
and ambition. Fortunately for me, my mother never saw her role in such a
way - for her, being a mother was her vocation that entailed certain duties
and responsibilities. For the most part, they are not very glamorous and most
of the time, go unnoticed and unappreciated. The many activities of being a
mother can often be mundane and repetitive and sometimes downright
repulsive. She changes diapers, picks up after our mess, and drives us
around to baseball games and dance rehearsals. She offers words of
encouragement and correction. She feeds our families nutritious meals and
makes sure we brush our teeth and do our homework. She takes us to the
doctors when we are sick, and she stays with us to protect us from the
monster in the closet. Even when we have grown up and moved out of the
house - she listens to our complaints about our children and about life in
general. Her work is never done. She is like an emergency room doctor who
has to be there at moment's notice.

As we look over the many duties and responsibilities of motherhood, it has to
become clear to us that the mundane, unnoticed, and unappreciated life of a
mother is worthy of our respect and admiration. Being a mother, it seems,
involves a great deal of self-surrender and doing small things done with great
love. But isn't that our calling as Christians? To learn to accept both the
creative and the mundane - both what we want to do and what we must do,
out of love for God? To live our ordinary lives with extraordinary love, and to
make each day count as our offering to God?

My mother is my role model, not because she's perfect - but because she
demonstrates for me, through her vocation in life, what it means to live one's
life dedicated to others and dedicated to God - what it means to do things
with great love, self-surrender, and profound humility. If I can be half of who
my mother is, I'd be a saint.

To my mother. To all our mothers - living and deceased. Thank you for
showing us what it means to love.

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