Mother and Child
Buried In Guatemala
When I asked my wife today what she would like to do for Mother’s Day one of the things was cleaning the garage. That was okay with me since most of the mess in the garage is garden-related and I have been putting it off for some time. The throw away waste in the garage fell into two groups, the leaves, dirt and stuff that could be composted and the other stuff, plastic, metal and such that went into the garbage can. Some spring cleaning seems right for mother’s day.
Today I wrote an email to peace groups that, although it might be ignored, also seemed right for mother’s day. It was about listening to our youth when they speak out, like recently at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee about the increasing cost of education and last week at Marquette University about discrimination based on sexual identity. We, people active in peace and justice issues, are usually so concerned about our own issues that often we fail to hear the voices of youth, even when their concerns, the high cost of education and discrimination at a university, relate directly to our issues, the cost of war-making and the discrimination at the military bases on campus. I indulged in a little motherly preaching about listening to what youth are teaching us.
Mothers seem to be able to connect things like saying ‘please’ and being a considerate person, or wearing clean underwear and being in an accident. I was reminded of this quality today in Church when our pastor gave a talk about how some Catholics can disconnect religion from politics. This I see all the time, the disconnect of what we preach and what we do.
In the United States one of the early calls to celebrate Mother’s Day was the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” by Julia Ward Howe. It was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. Mother’s day is one to celebrate peace and love.
We say a mother’s love for her children is unconditional and a love that compels her to always work for the good of her children. This reminds me of a quote I read about making peace by nonviolent action. In the book “Freedom Made Flesh, The Mission of Christ and his Church” by Ignacio Ellacuria S.J., he says: “Nonviolent action is born of two very powerful forces: the absolute and total rejection of injustice committed against human beings, and a love that impels one towards the construction of a new society.”
Nonviolent Action and a mother’s love, both absolute and unconditional, both compelling to work for a better person or society, sound alike. The world needs more mothers.
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