Mothering Sunday 3rd April 2011

It’s Laetare Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, rejoice Jerusalem I read for the opening antiphon. Mothering Sunday.

We’re allowed a little respite from Lent – today is also called Refreshment Sunday - and we even have flowers. The daffodils will appear at the end for you to take away.

We rejoice today in Mother Church, our Jerusalem on the hill but also the heavenly Jerusalem above. As God is our Father the Church is our Mother.

The world has reduced this day to a celebration of our earthly mothers, which is no bad thing, especially when, as for many of us, our faith is owed to good mothering as well as fathering.

There is another mother I need to speak to and her image is on the altar.

In Scripture Mary is there, as in the Gospel at the foot of the Cross, She’s there for Jesus and for us without getting in the way.

Do you know what I mean? We should be there for people, especially at times of need, but without getting in the way.

This is the art of Mary – and it should be ours as well.

‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’ she says in the Gospel we read on Lady Day a week ago: ‘Let what you have said be done to me’.

We’ll do nothing to bring Christ into the world unless we’re there for God and for people. We’ll do nothing, either, to bring Christ into the world if we serve God and other people dutifully whilst deep down serving them on our terms rather than theirs

That’s not the religion of the child in a manger but the religion of the dog in a manger!

We’re called like Our Lady to let Christ and his kingdom prevail. This means being like midwives who come sympathetically alongside people and situations that cry out for attention and help what God wants to come to pass. We stand by, we facilitate, we pray, knowing our place as unprofitable servants – and, praise God, we see Jesus build his kingdom.

We best serve God and others with a loving discernment that starts from a determination to listen to God with Mary. The more real Jesus becomes to us and in us, not least through our Lenten devotion, the more our actions will grow loving as he is loving. It’s not how much we do or say or even listen that matters so much a how much love we put into it so to speak, which is why our listening to God is so important.

How can we best give more of ourselves? By listening to God and then secondly to ourselveswith Mary. Mary encourages us towards a positive self-regard. The Almighty has done great things for me.

Take stock of all that Jesus is doing in your life and rejoice!

Take stock also of the ingrained selfishness, the ‘dog in the manger’ bit so you can give it to God in confession.

Take stock of how you and I at times put the work of the Lord before the Lord of the work. It’s when we get too busy in the Lord’s work that our own selfishness can become sadly all the more evident.

Listen to God, listen to yourself, sift and purify your agenda, then listen to those God puts your way who need your ears! As we listen to others on this feast of family with our outer ears let’s keep two inner ears listening to God and to our own reaction to what we hear lest it get in the way.

Like Mary let’s be there for people without getting in their way. Being surrendered ourselves, as at this Eucharist, to whatever God wants of us to be made a Christ-bearer under the watchful care of the Mother of believers.

Jesus who was first carried by Mary at Bethlehem, who is carried to us in Bread and Wine this morning, waits to be carried by you and I to a waiting world!