By Bishop Kevin J.Farrell
Publisher of The Texas Catholic
Abraham Lincoln wrote: “All that I am or ever hope to be I owe to my angel mother.” His mother died when Lincoln was nine, but in those short years her love and teaching had shaped the life of the great president.
All too often we don’t appreciate until later in life how our mother’s love and wisdom shaped us into who we are. Navigating life as adults often awakens in us the many instances in our own childhood when a mother’s unconditional love carried us through the difficulties, real and imagined, encountered on the road to adulthood. Growing up is a very busy time and we take for granted our mother’s loving care,
At birth we are, as it were, a blank slate upon which our mother shapes a life. There are other influences but our mother is the primary sculptor of who and what we will be. It is she who teaches us about God, about love and forgiveness, about patience and perseverance, about kindness and respect and about study and discovery. The witness of her life is our greatest teacher.
This Mother’s Day I encourage you to tell your mother how grateful you are for her lifetime of unconditional love that made you the person you are.
If, like Lincoln, your mother has gone to God…tell her anyway. She will hear.
Bishop Kevin J. Farrell is the seventh bishop of Dallas. Read his blog at bishopkevinfarrell.org.
