Happy Mother’s Day!

Since March of 2018 I have had the privilege of serving as the director general of the

Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers. The Confraternity of Christian Mothers began in

Lille, France, in 1850 and has served to build up the family by animating, inspiring and

educating generations of women. Our Lady under the title of The Sorrowful Mother has

been the patroness of the Confraternity of Christian Mothers since its inception almost

175 years ago. You can learn more about this wonderful and growing movement of

Catholic women at our new website: www.christianmothers.org and the beautiful new

edition of our devotional book Mother Love.

Many popes have bestowed special graces upon the members of the Confraternity of

Christian Mothers over the years in the form of both partial and plenary indulgences.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 1471 we read: “The doctrine and

practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament

of Penance. An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due

to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly

disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church

which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury

of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints… An indulgence is partial or plenary

according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin… The

faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.”

An indulgence is a great source of grace. According to the catechism of the Catholic

Church, grace is understood as God's favor the countless blessings that God lavishes

upon all of creation.

“Grace is the free and undeserved help that God gives to us to respond to His call to

become children of God, adoptive sons, and partakers of the divine nature and eternal

life. Grace is a participation in the life of God, which is poured unearned into human

beings, whom it heals of sin and sanctifies.” (CCC 1996 to 1997)

In the Gospel of Saint Luke, an angel is sent by God to visit a young woman named

Mary. The angel greets Mary with these words: “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is

with you.” (Luke 1:28). The angel then says: “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor

with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name

him Jesus.” (Luke 1:30-31) This angelic greeting along with other gospel passages

gave the Church Her most popular prayer after Our Lord's prayer:

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and

blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”

How does Mary respond to being told by an angel that she is literally filled with God’s

grace? Mary responds by embracing it with her whole heart. She says: “I am the servant

of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) with these words

Mary becomes a mother she embraces a mother's heart, she embraces her vocation as

a mother, she embraces her vocation as the Mother of God.

After the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph raise their son n what we lovingly call the Holy

Family. In this sacred domicile Jesus learns to pray the psalms, he studies the

scriptures, he learns a trade and how to work hard. Years later at the foot of his Cross,

Mary and John weep. Jesus calls Mary to a new kind of motherhood, Jesus says to

Mary: “behold your son” and then he then says to John: “Behold your mother.” Mary

thus becomes a mother again, already filled with grace, Mary embraces her vocation as

mother of the Church, she embraces her vocation as mother of all humanity; The

Sorrowful Mother.

From her mothers heart, Mary helps us to grow in the theological virtues, the gifts given

to us at baptism; faith, hope and charity. She helps us to grow in love for God and for

each other from her mothers heart. Mary helps us to face the ups and downs of this

fallen world wit the grace of our baptism and with the humility courage and compassion

from her mothers heart. Mary helps us to be free from the darkness of sin and helps us

to love her Son above all else.

Saint Francis of Assisi had a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother. Saint Francis saw a

clear connection between the Birth of the Christ Child, the Passion of the Poor Christ

and the Motherhood of Mary. In the Letter to All the Faithful Saint Francis writes: “We

are all mothers of Our Lord Jesus Christ when we lovingly carry him in our hearts and in

our bodies, and with a pure and sincere conscience we give birth to him through the

working of grace and us which should shine forth as a an example to others.”

Saint Francis was deeply devoted to Our Blessed Mother and taught us to pray and

have the same devotion to Her. Saint Francis taught us even more to follow the good

and holy example of the one whom the great English poet William Wordsworth called;

“Our tainted nature’s singular boast,” the one who became Our Lord’s first disciple and

now and forever Our mother too, Happy Mother’s Day!

~ Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFM Cap