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Dr. Susan Mountin
Director, The Manresa Project
Web Posted: May 2, 2005
When I became a mother the first time, a good friend and colleague at Marquette gave me a decoupage (remember decoupage?) plaque with quote from Hodding Carter that read: “There are two lasting things we can give our children: one of them is roots, the other is wings.” When two of our three sons spread their wings this past fall and flew off to work in Alaska and Colorado, respectively, I spent some serious time reflecting on the role of mother. While I have always hoped my sons would be fiercely independent and free, mostly, I have nurtured them to be kind, caring, compassionate, loving and faithfilled, and as good at laundry, cleaning, and cooking as they are at basketball and math. Roots and wings.
The one thing we all have in common is having a mother. May is the month in which Roman Catholics give special honor to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary and I have become good friends over the years and have had great conversations while I have been in labor awaiting the birth of a child, walked a crying infant in the middle of the night, watched at the window for the teen who was out past curfew, and now stay up late to get a phone call from the Anchorage time zone. Roots and wings.
In our conversations I imagine Mary telling me what it was like to mother Jesus. Waiting for his birth, trying to catch up to him in the temple when he was 12, seeing him leave his carpentry work and gather his band of disciples, waiting for him to come home late after preaching a sermon on the mount, seeing him suffer and give his life for his convictions, and finally waiting in the upper room for his glorious resurrected self. The road of Mary’s motherhood was filled with great joy and great sorrow. She’ll freely tell you all about it if you give her the chance. Roots and wings.
Mary was a mother, like none other, but in other ways like all of us who mother and father whether through biology or the special parental relationship that comes with working in an educational environment. This May, as we honor Mary (and our own mothers) and remember they way she modeled a strong but freeing love, let us reflect on the way in which we are called to give roots and wings to our friends, our family members, our students, our teachers and even our parents.
Happy Mothers’ Day to all who mother in any way.
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