Motherhood is often seen as an obstacle in modern culture, a “problem” that needs to be fixed. This mindset has led to an increase in women seeking abortions during the past 50 years, ending the unborn human life in their womb.
St. John Paul II lamented this situation during the canonization of St. Gianna Molla.
Motherhood can be a source of joy, but it can also become a source of suffering, and sometimes of great disappointments. In this case, love becomes a test, often heroic, which costs so much to a mother’s heart … these heroic women do not always find support in the world around them. On the contrary, the cultural models frequently promoted and broadcast by the media do not encourage motherhood. In the name of progress and modernity the values of fidelity, chastity, sacrifice, to which a host of Christian wives and mothers have borne and continue to bear outstanding witness, are presented as obsolete.
St. John Paul II explained how many of these mothers feel alone in their decision to choose life, but can find solace in Jesus Christ.
Thus it happens that a woman who is determined to be consistent with her principles often feels deeply alone … Her guiding principle is Christ, who revealed what love is bestowed on us by the Father. A woman who believes in Christ finds powerful support in precisely such love that endures everything.
He then went on to thank all mothers for choosing life, praising their beautiful sacrifice.
We thank you, heroic mothers, for your invincible love! We thank you for your intrepid trust in God and in his love. We thank you for the sacrifice of your life … In the Paschal Mystery, Christ restores to you the gift you gave him. Indeed, he has the power to give you back the life you gave him as an offering.
Being a mother in a culture that devalues motherhood isn’t easy, but those innumerable sacrifices, united to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, can bear fruit in so many ways.
And today we celebrate...