Reflection for Mothering Sunday, 2021.
Back in the mid-90s when I was at University (the same University and College Fr Peter attended, though not at the same time as me!) I had a fridge magnet that said ‘Call your mother, she worries’ . I cannot admit to honouring that call assiduously, but it is a reminder that the responsibility of parenthood extends beyond childhood. Our parents never stop being our parents, even when we are adults, which is why it can be such a profound shift when our parents die, and we in effect become orphans. Mary the mother of Jesus is told from the beginning that her son is to be special, the ‘Son of the most high God’ as the angel puts it in the Annunciation. Agéd Simeon the priest who blesses the infant Jesus confirms that call: he will be someone who changes the world around him. But that will come at a great cost to you Mary, and to him. For you it will mean your very heart being pierced with grief; for him it will mean submitting to death on the cross. At around the s...