4th Sunday of Easter 11 May 2025 Mother Mary
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, World Vocations day, and Mothers Day.
And the first Sunday of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV
Unifying all these points we could say the Love of God is at work, variously looking after us on one hand, and inspiring us to go out to look after others on the other.
Jesus gives us Himself as the Good Shepherd, rounding up His flock, which consists of those who already belong to Him, and those who do not identify but should. He loves them all and seeks to draw them into His heart.
And working alongside the Good Shepherd, we have the Mother of us all influencing us in all the right ways. As mothers do, and Mary especially.
Our mothers helped us to come into this life, and then how to live it. They fed us and taught us many things about life; they gave us what they could. When we reached adulthood they supported us there as well.
We thank them for what they have done or are still doing.
Our heavenly Mother is also there at every step. She will nourish us with truth, and charity and wisdom and a host of other good qualities.
She has so much goodness herself, that she can share it with others, and that is what she does.
She communicates with us in various ways, not usually with audible speech but with ideas, principles, suggestions – various ways that thoughts come to us, and we process them as best we can.
If we say the devil tempts us we can say that God or Mary give us the opposite of a temptation – an urge to something good, to believe more clearly what we should, to respond generously to whatever is expected - such as to respond to the various calls God makes upon us, especially that of priestly or religious vocations.
We pray that the inspiration will be accepted and acted upon. With vocations there may be more than one stage – first, conversion to the faith, then a more particular call such as priesthood. As with St Augustine, who needed to come to belief and then later was a great bishop.
Mary has a gentle presence and way of communicating with us. She is firm, however, and without overruling our free will, draws us to better things.
She wants only to help people connect with her Son. Woman, this is your son. And so she has been helping ever since. Being mother.
It is good to have her around. In recent years many Catholics have been reluctant to give much attention to Mary.
There is a fear that attention given to her will somehow subtract from attention given to God.
Love is expansive, meaning that we can love more than one person without detracting from anyone else. So for example if you have one child or three or seven it is possible to love all of them.
So we can talk to Mary without in any way lessening our love for Jesus. In fact, her prayer will help us to love Jesus more.
She will help us to know Him better and be more comfortable with His will.
She is mother to many who do not know her, or believe her. She will pray for them anyway, and many will come to conversion through her.
We can always pray directly to God but if we call upon Mary she will add her prayer, and things will go faster and better.
So we pray to her today for all those things going on. Mothers Day, Vocations, The Pope.
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