Three things inspired this musing… Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth, Michelangelo’s love of Florence, and my visit to the Cathedral in Milaga, Spain. I visited several churches in Malaga where Mary is highlighted in silver robes as the Madre Dolorosa (Mother of Sorrows). I touched the walls of the great Cathedral and I remembered Michelangelo loved to touch the stone walls of the Cathedral (Duomo) in Florence. Walls made of hand-carved and hand-placed stone. Looking at the beautiful paintings and statues of Mary, and touching the 1200 year old stone used to build Medieval and Renaissance churches leads me to musings… and Mother’s Day is coming so I must pay tribute to my Mom! Not to say that Mary and Mother’s Day should be thought of in the same way as 1200 year old stone, but… close your eyes for a moment and think about this: A mother has to be tough doesn’t she? A woman is invaded by a life giving force. She is literally "taken" as it were to be a vessel as no man can be taken. She is made to be a slave to give life. But God has given a mother a special grace. For he gives her the strength to accept the load that will indeed load her down for 9 months and then that will remain with her, a load on her heart for all the years of her life. Her child, God’s child, is given to her to carry first in her womb, then at her breast and on her knee, and finally when the child grows the wings he needs to go "out," Mother carries him in her heart. As Mary did, and as our Mothers did and do! They carry our lives in their hearts. God chooses each mother for the work she will do just as the builder chooses the stone he will use to build a great church. First he carefully designs the foundation he will dig to be the "foot" for the temple. Then he begins to select from the stone he has selected from the quarry. One by one, carefully ensuring balance, he lays the stone. "Make it right… make it right." If he misplaces any stone he will cause the great ediface to fall. Our lives are like this — God carefully chooses our traits, our talents, our being, and he chooses our mother, the foundation. I am sure God watches with great love as we take the first tentative steps. "Take the right way," He whispers. "Your mother knows – I built her, your mother. She is strong and full of wisdom and love. Follow your mother! Follow Mary, my mother."
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