On Mother’s Day & The Holy Spirit’s Gifts

Mother’s Day… for the last several years it’s felt like a “down day” not because I don’t love and appreciate my own mother (which I do), but because even after so many years of being open to life, God hasn’t blessed me with the gift of motherhood. No female vocation is so revered as motherhood, especially in the Catholic Church. I can’t help but feel like I’m a little less of a woman as a barren one.

This year, my husband and I attended mass on the vigil of Mother’s Day and the homily didn’t overly focus on moms. Instead, it was about preparing to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit during the time from Ascension Sunday to Pentecost. The priest listed off all the gifts of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost: wisdom, understanding, counsel, courage, knowledge, patience, piety, and fear of God and asked us to reflect on and pray for one of those gifts that we could use more of in these days leading up to the great feast of Pentecost. 

Then it hit me and perhaps it was the Holy Spirit: I have a lot of these gifts! Maybe even an outpouring and abundance of these gifts except for maybe patience – the one I struggle with most.

Maybe you’re not a mother like me, but maybe you also have been given an abundance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and you’re using those in so many ways – work, ministries, volunteering, caregiving, and so on. You're bearing fruit for the Kingdom in different ways other than children which are equally important. Those too are great gifts worth celebrating and praising God for, and praying for more of! I would even argue that these are the true gifts of our faith that bear fruit in the many areas of our lives. Moms and non-moms can be given these gifts. They do not discriminate and that's a beautiful thing.

Mary is a wonderful model of this. She had one child. Just one. But look at all the gifts of the Holy Spirit she was given! We look with wonder at Mary not just because she was the Mother of Jesus and because she an incredible model of a woman overshadowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and chosen for a special purpose in the salvation of the world.

So this year, maybe don’t get so down on yourself if you don’t have the gift of motherhood. Instead, look at those gifts of the Holy Spirit and marvel at how many God has blessed you with.