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May 2, 2012
 Miroslav/photoxpress.com
Mother's Day: 2012
by Friar Jim Van Vurst, O.F.M.
I have heard it said that the pay phones around the U.S. are never busier than on Mother’s Day. And in way, it seems like that’s what God wanted when he gave Moses the Fourth Commandment: Honor your father and mother. And rightly so.
I Googled “mother” and “motherhood” and found 2,500,000 hits. And, of course, there are tens of thousands more books related to other aspects being a mom. Surely one of the wonders of motherhood is that bond that develops during pregnancy and after birth. I read an article a while back. A doctor mentioned that, when a mother gives birth, there really isn’t a complete or total separation. Cells from the newborn infant remain in the mother’s body for some time. What effect they have on the new mother, I don’t know. But there is a closeness that only a mother can know.
Moms Are Healers
Do you remember this advertisement on TV some years ago: there was a bench along a corridor, and there sat three children and their dad. They all looked sick and needy. A short way down the corridor, a door was open and the wife and mother was leaning out with a thermometer in her hand. On the door the notice read: “Doctor Mom.” As she smiled sympathetically and looked at her little brood, she said, “Next.”
I think we would all testify to the healing skills of our moms. It was like magic, only better: it was real. Mom’s kiss on a scraped knee or a bruised heart had true healing powers. We know a mother’s saliva has great power too. When we were small, she would take out her little handkerchief, wrap it around her index finger, wet it with her tongue and clean our whole face in no time. We just had to stand patiently and let her clean away. Finally—and this would be amazing—it is has been said that, in some cases, a mother’s saliva is so powerful it can remove the rust off a ten-year-old car fender.
How Blessed We Are
Some of you may have had this experience when, as a child, you suffered from a cold. My mom would put me to bed at night in my flannel pajamas. She would take her favorite salve and lather my chest and neck and nose with Vicks VapoRub. She would place a flannel cloth, heated in the oven, and put it on top of my Vicks-covered chest, button my pajama top up tight, kiss me good night, and whisper, “Sleep tight, my love.” I was floating in VapoRub fumes all night long, and somehow it worked. In fact, even now, when I smell Vicks, I’m transported to the feelings of a little four-year-old boy.
Think about your own moms. What miracles did you experience from her hands? How blessed we are! Bless them, Lord.
Dear Millie: You are not the first one to ask this question. Other Catholics raise the same objection. I try to offer good answers to your question in this book and in my other three (Paraclete Press) books for adults (on the same topic). I can only say that many Catholics today believe that there is good evidence in the Bible, in our Christian tradition, and in the life of St. Francis of Assisi that there will be animals in heaven. I hope you at least see this as the beginning of an answer. Peace and blessings! Friar Jack
Dear Dee
and
Ruth: Your comments provide us with examples of people, presumably Catholic or Christian, who believe they will see their beloved pets in heaven. I have received many emails like yours over the years, indicating the great love many people have for their pets and whom they long to see in heaven. In time, may God lessen the grief that many feel for their lost pets! And for all the readers around the world of Friar Jack’s E-spirations, may God grant you peace and all good things! Friar Jack
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