When I was asked to write about spiritual motherhood, many thoughts came to my mind.
First, obviously, is that motherhood is a gift, whether it is being a biological mother or a spiritual one. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross wrote that “spiritual maternity is the core of a woman’s soul.”
In some sense, it goes deeper than giving birth to a physical body. Caring for immortal souls, helping them to grow in love for God, brings up this special aspect of eternity. And it is available to every woman, young, old, single, married, widowed or in consecrated religious life.
Motherhood is always a gift, not only to those who experience the love and care of a mother, but also to the woman herself. What a dignity! A woman participates in an amazing work of creating new life, cooperating with God in what only He can do. It could be a life of a new baby or divine life brought to a soul through grace.
I think every mother would like her child to live a long, happy, healthy life. How much more should a mother care for her child’s soul and eternal salvation? The well-known example of such a mother is St. Monica. She kept praying for her son for years because she could not bear the fact that he was away from the Church.
Often, when we hear about spiritual motherhood, we think about those women who are not called to be mothers in a physical way – single women who devote their lives to the service of others; consecrated virgins; religious sisters and nuns.
In a particular way, they are mothers to many children at schools, students on university campuses, elderly in nursing homes and those dying in hospices. They are mothers of hundreds and thousands through their care, love, service and prayers.
A spiritual mother, as any mother, nurtures and cares. She nurtures through teaching the faith, through an example of a life of virtue and prayer. She cares by interceding on behalf of her spiritual children, supporting them as they discern God’s will in their own lives. She also grieves bad decisions of her children, makes sacrifices for their faults and sins.
The perfect model of those who take on the role of spiritual mothers is Our Lady. With the acceptance of the words from the cross, “Behold, your son,” she adopted us as her children, and her desire is to bring to full maturity the image of Christ, her only Son, in the souls of all her children.
One of the traditions of our community (the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Dominic) is to end each day with a hymn, “Hail, Star of Ocean.” One of the verses states, “Show thyself a Mother” (“Monstra te esse Matrem”).
It is not a demand of a proof that Our Lady is indeed our mother. Rather, it is a cry of trust, a cry for help: Protect me, like a mother, from all evil. Comfort me, and be my refuge. Let me know your love more tender than that of my own mother.
In a way, a religious sister, who is called to imitate Our Lady, should take the words of this verse as addressed to her, too: “Show thyself a mother.” Be a mother to all children of God, care for them, nurture them with the good food of faith, guide them as they travel through life, comfort them when they fall, encourage, correct, support.
Be a mother to the pre-K child who fell on the playground and to the one who needs a reprimand. Be a mother to a high school student who struggles with the faith and challenges the teaching of the Church. Be a mother to a young woman discerning religious life and to moms of the parish worrying about their families. Be a mother to a nursing home resident who is ready to step into eternity and to co-workers in any place you find yourself.
Like Our Lady, show thyself a mother.
Sister Leonarda Zielinska, OP, is the director of religious education at Columbus St. Patrick Church and a member of the Dominican Sisters, Immaculate Conception Province.