What should I give my mom?

Homily

Solemnity of the Assumption

Thursday 19OT B2

15 August 2024

St. Ann Church Prairie Village, KS

AMDG

What do I get my mom?

No gifts for mom really seem adequate.  I guess it depends on what she likes, what's meaningful to her, and what her love language is - quality time, acts of service, actual gifts, or physical touch.  Maybe a combination of the above.  Still, nothing seems adequate to express appreciation for the very gift of one's life.  Whether it's Mother's Day, her birthday, your birthday, or Christmas .  . . is anyone good at giving gifts to mom?

My mom Yvonne always wanted me to do my best. She believed in my best.  I still feel badly for the ways that I let her down, when I got scared and lost faith and didn't do my best, whether in school, or wrestling, or just life, and for the times I didn't stay in touch.  I especially feel badly for the times I wasn't there when my mom was going through a rough time.  I wasn't always there with the gift of my presence or time.  I regret that very much. 

What did I get right?  Well, I was good at picking green beans, much better than my sibling.  I think that mattered to my mom - that I cared enough to do a great job picking green beans. She could count on me.

She could also count on me to be on time for prayer.  As we started school at St. Ann today, I remember fondly that my family always started our school day with prayer.  At 7:55am in the morning, without fail, every day, exactly thirty minutes before school, we said the Apostle's Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be together. Then out the door we went for the 10 minute walk to school.

It was the greatest offense in my family to be late for prayer. If you don't believe me, ask my brother Norman.  But late for prayer I never was.  I always gave my best there.

Maybe that's the best gift I can still give my mother, who has passed on.

It's a question for Jesus, to be sure.  Jesus knows how to give gifts.  The gift of his presence in the Eucharist, the complete gift of himself in the sacrament of his body and blood, is the purest of graces.  There can be no greater gift that him accompanying us so humbly, so beautifully, so perfectly, no matter what we have to go through.  His presence is his present, to His mom and us, and for that we are here always at Mass, to give ultimate thanks.

Regarding His mom, the four special graces She received from Her Son correspond to the four dogmas of our faith regarding Mary, and entail four holy days of obligation.  Why must be celebrate and honor Mary?  Because through Her we learn something essential about Jesus and about ourselves, truths essential for our salvation.

So we show up for her Immaculate Conception on December 8th, her perpetual virginity expressed in the miraculous birth at Christmas, for her title as Mother of God on January 1st, and today, the Solemnity of Her Assumption.  Today we celebrate that the pattern of our being raised from the dead follows the Resurrection of Jesus, and that His Mother, His closest disciple and highest member of our Church, is the first to fully participate in this new and eternal life through her Assumption Body and Soul into heaven.

I can't give the body of my mom a private one-way first class rocket launch into Heaven, as Jesus gave His mom in Her assumption.  But I can always be on time to pray that He will raise my dear mom on the last day.  I can always show up for Mass, that I can give the grace of my own participation in this saving sacrifice that is infinitely pleasing to Our Father in heaven, may help my mom arrive safely where our Blessed Mother has gone before in Her glorious Assumption.

I can always be on time for Mass and pray for my mom.  Maybe that's the best gift I can always give her.  Still don't know what to get your mom?  Remember to pray for your mother!

+mj