It is hard for me to accept that my mother has been gone for five years. I think at some point, maybe not when we are teenagers, we believe that our mothers will always be with us. As we get older, we appreciate their wisdom, we accept that their suggestions are really meant to be helpful, and we enjoy their company. We have no clue how much we will miss them until they are gone, and it is only then that we discover how very important they were in our lives.

            Our mothers provide us a save harbor when our lives are in turmoil. They are a sure foundation when all around us seems to be falling apart. They are truth tellers who even when we do not like what they say, say it anyway because they are always concerned for our well-being. In whatever language they use, our mothers are our greatest fan, our most loyal cheerleader, and make the best sandwiches ever. Try as we might we can never make a sandwich as good as our mom made us.

            As we gather to celebrate Mother’s Day, let us do so with grateful hearts. Gratitude is our attitude as we recall all the sacrifices our mothers made for us. We are grateful that our mothers always put us first, that they made sure everyone had enough to eat before they even sat at the table. We give thanks for the times when we should have been in trouble, but our moms decided to use the situation as a teaching moment. We give thanks that our moms never stop working and praying for each of us to be the saints we were created to be.

            Because being a mom does not come with an instructional manual and because humanity is flawed, from time to time our mothers may indeed make mistakes. As we give thanks for our mothers let mercy and forgiveness be abundant and let the good times be the memories we keep.

            For our moms who are still with us, for those who are new to motherhood, and for our mom’s who have gone before us, we say thank you to God for the gift of these women. We ask the Holy Spirit to continue to watch over them and to guide them to happiness and holiness. And finally, we ask Mary, the mother of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to keep a watchful eye on our mothers as they too seek to live forever at the right hand of Jesus.

A very happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers! May you share richly in every blessing God has to offer!

As the chaplain at UMaine for fourteen years, one of the things that most impressed me about our students was that they never left Mass early. Instead, they stayed until the last word of the last song was sung. This amazed me as I knew that most of them had put off all their homework until Sunday afternoon and evening.

Every weekend I watch as the back of the church empties before the final song has even begun. While there are a few legitimate reasons for leaving Mass early, I suspect that most who are scurrying out the back door are leaving early simply for convenience sake. I could make the observation that the first person to leave Mass early was Judas, but this would only be making light of a serious situation. Walking out of Mass is rude both to Jesus and to the priest. It is rude to Jesus who has given us this opportunity to be with Him, to receive Him. It is as if we arrive at a dinner party ask for the food to take out and then hurry on to whatever is next. Leaving Mass before it is done is also rude to the priest who has so few chances to greet the people of the parish.

I am convinced that this is just a bad habit that some of us have developed, and I am also convinced we all know better. With this is mind I am going to ask you all to please remain in your pew until the priest reaches the back of the church…after all its only a few minutes more in the presence of Jesus.