Mother

In the first reading (Acts 1:12-14) for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (when the Ascension has been celebrated on the previous Thursday), the Apostles are in the upper room with some women and some of the Lord’s “brothers” (verse 15 says there were about 120 people there). All eleven of the Apostles are listed, but of the others only one is named: Mary the mother of Jesus.

This testifies to the special esteem accorded the Blessed Mother literally at the very beginning of the Christian faith.

It is especially appropriate to remember this on a day that is celebrated in some places as "Mothers’ Day."

It is a good and natural thing to respect those who gave us life and who cared for us when we were small. It is also a fulfillment of the Commandment to honor our fathers and our mothers. So too those who followed Jesus respected and called his mother blessed for giving him birth and nurture (Lk. 11:27).

Yet our Lord is quick to make a clarification in the very next verse:

Yea rather,
blessed are they that hear the word of God,
and keep it.

This is no slight of the Blessed Mother, for at the very beginning she was recognized as blessed for her faith

Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.
(Lk.1:45)

Whether we celebrate today as Mothers’ Day, as the Ascension, or simply as the last regular Sunday of Easter, it is good for us to appreciate whatever good we have received from our mothers and from those who have been "motherly" to us in our lives (not just physically but spiritually as well).

It is also good for us to resolve to be ever more like Mary the Mother of Jesus: life-giving, nurturing, but most importantly, faithful.