A mother’s love, rooted in God
May 10, 2026 – Sixth Sunday of Easter
Gospel – John 14: 15-21
We are coming to the final days of the Easter Season. Next Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, and the Sunday after is Pentecost. We end the season with Pentecost. And today, we also celebrate Mother’s Day.
I would like to invite you to reflect on the role our mothers played in our lives from the perspective of this Sunday’s Gospel.
Obedience to one’s mission
The Gospels from the past days and the days ahead focus on Jesus leaving behind lessons, reminders, and assurances as he turns over his mission to us in preparation for his return to the Father in the Ascension and his sending of the Spirit in Pentecost. Meanwhile, this Sunday’s Gospel carries three themes related to mission: obedience, the gift of the Spirit, and the promise of Jesus’ abiding presence.
All this has meaning and impact because of how Jesus lived these graces in his own life.
Jesus’ own fidelity to his mission showed the depth of his obedience, the role of the Spirit in his ministry, and his experience of the constancy of his Father’s presence. These are graces his mother channeled into and nurtured into his life by her own example.
The Blessed Mother’s obedience was what set into motion the final stage of our salvation. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1: 38).
And this was her obedience to her mission, to be the mother of the Savior. Her “yes” made the mystery of the Incarnation possible, and thus, we were blessed with the Emmanuel, God dwelling among us.
A mother’s influence
The role of the Holy Spirit in the Blessed Mother’s mission was clear from the beginning. It was a pivotal moment. “How can this be since I do not know man?” (Luke 1: 34). Then she was promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” (Luke 1: 35)
And the most powerful, yet the most subtle grace of all, is experiencing God’s presence.
We saw how the Blessed Mother constantly sought this presence. Each time she did not fully understand what was going on in her Son’s living out of his mission, she sought solitude in her heart and discerned the movement of the Spirit.
“She kept all these things in her heart” each time this happened. She—like our own mothers—influenced her Son in living out his own mission.
Of loving obedience and seeking solitude
The grace of loving obedience that saw the Lord through at the toughest time of his mission—the Agony in the Garden—was the turning point in his mission to bring about our salvation. And the seeds of this loving obedience came from his mother. Her example inspired her Son.
In the same way that the Blessed Mother often went into the solitude of her heart, Jesus, too, sought solitude in prayer. Both moments turned to discernment to sense and know that the Spirit of the Father is moving and leading them in their respective missions.
And for the Lord, he asked the Spirit not just what the Father wanted him to do, but also how he wanted him to do it.
The final grace, the trust in the abiding presence of God. I wish to propose the words from the Blessed Mother’s Magnificat as the expression of this trust, both for her and for the Lord.
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, My Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour
For He has looked with favor on His lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is His Name.
He has mercy on those who fear Him in every generation.
He has shown the strength of His arm; He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of His servant Israel for He has remembered His promise of mercy, the promise He made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.” (Luke 1: 46-55)”
We honor our Blessed Mother for giving us her Son and placing us with her Son in the mission to heal a broken world, a wounded humanity. With and in her, we honor too our mothers who gave shape to our own dreams and aspirations, and led us by the example of their own lives. Happy Mother’s Day!
