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Dear
Friends:
A multitude of blessing to all our parish mothers today! May the Lord
reward your invisible deeds. The following is a story a parish mother sent
me last year.
THE INVISIBLE
MOTHER: It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of
response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the
phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I’m thinking, ‘Can’t you
see I’m on the phone?’ Obviously not; no one can see if I’m on the phone,
or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the
corner, because no one can see me at all. I’m invisible… the invisible
Mom!
Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can
you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m
not even a human being. I’m a clock to ask, ‘What time is it?’ I’m a
satellite guide to answer, ‘What number is the Disney Channel?’ I’m a car
to order – ‘Right around 5:30, please.’ Some days I’m a crystal ball:
‘Where’s my other sock? Where’s my phone? What’s for dinner?’ I was
certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that
studied history, music and literature – but now, they had disappeared into
the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She’s going, she’s going, she’s
gone!
One night a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a
friend from England. She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and
she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting
there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard
not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic,
when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, ‘I
brought you this!’ It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I
wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me until I read her inscription:
“With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one
sees.”
In the days ahead I would read – no devour, the book. A story in the book
told of a rich man who came to visit a cathedral while it was being built,
and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was
puzzled and asked the man, “Why are you spending so much time carving that
bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, no one will see it. And
the workman replied, “Because God sees.”
When I really think about it, I don’t want my son to tell the friend he’s
bringing home from college for Thanksgiving: “My Mom gets up at four in
the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for
three hours and presses all the linens for the table.” That would mean
I’d built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And
then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he’d say: “You’re
gonna love it there ….”
Dear Mothers, you
are building great cathedrals. You cannot be seen if you are doing it
right. But one day, the world will marvel, not only at what you have
built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the
sacrifices of invisible mothers.
Great Job MOM!
God Bless YOU!
Father McNamara
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Coming up at St. B's
Wednesdays
May 2, 9, 16 & 23-
9:30 to 11:30am
Writing Workshop with Rita Keeley Brown
Food Gathering:
May 19-20
Please bring your non-perishable items to benefit the
Guadalupe Center food pantry.
Thursday
May 24 @ 7:30pm:
Theological Tour of St Bernardine of Siena
with Parker Sandoval.
Thursday
May 27 @ 7:30pm
in the Veranda Room, please join the Tuesday evening
Bible Study group as they welcome Rabbi Gary
Oren Associate Rabbi at Temple Aliyah
Mondays (2nd
& 4th): @ 7p.m. April 16
(instead of 23)
Music Room: Bible Study
The Book of Revelation
Tuesdays @ 7-8:30
p.m.
Parish Library: Bible Study
The Gospel of John.
April 17-Aug. 28
Parish Forms
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