HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! What a radiant and holy custom it is that, here in the United States, we set aside a day in honor of our mothers. And rightly so.

Consider what she endures for the sake of her child. Long before we first behold the light of the sun, we are carried beneath her heart, hidden within her very being for those mysterious nine months in which life itself is woven together in secret. And then comes the hour of birth — that fearful and glorious threshold where she willingly passes through suffering, and even the shadow of death, so that another life may enter the world.

Nor does her giving cease when the travail is ended. Having poured out her strength, she continues to sustain the child from the substance of her own body, feeding the helpless little one with nourishment only she can give. It is a love so profound and sacrificial that one is almost compelled to hear, echoing faintly through it, the words: “This is my body, given for you.” 

The cover of this Sunday’s bulletin recalls the radiant joy of last Sunday’s First Holy Communion. The young girls, clothed in garments of brilliant white, and the boys, with ties neatly fastened and collars straightened, came not merely to a ceremony, but to a profound divine encounter. For what greater marvel can be given to mankind than this: that God should feed His children with His very life? Not symbol alone, nor distant memory, but His Body offered for the life of the world. Yes — His flesh; His Body.

First Holy Communion ought therefore to be celebrated with trembling gladness and with majesty befitting heaven itself. The child approaching the altar steps nearer to the heart of the universe than kings upon their thrones or conquerors in their triumphs. Here is Love made tangible. Here is Eternity stooping low to nourish the weary children of earth.

And so we celebrate this sacred feast much as we celebrate Mother’s Day because both bear witness to self-giving love. Every Mass is another encounter with that divine charity which spends itself entirely for the beloved. Christ desires nothing less than union with each soul. At every reception of Holy Communion, He whispers again the words that shattered history and remade the world: “This is my body, given for you.”

That is why we Catholics genuflect. The bending of the knee is not mere habit, nor empty ritual, but a holy reminder to distracted minds and wandering hearts: Love Himself is here. In the Holy Eucharist we stand in the presence of the living God, who still gives Himself away for the life of His people: “This is my body, given for you.”