To the mom in the front pew....

To the mom in the front pew:

Usually, I’m you.  I’m that mom in the front pew, trying to wrestle little ones and teach them how to participate in the Sunday Mass.

Today, however, I was sitting alone in the row behind you.   My husband (God love him) had taken our 6 kids to visit his parents, leaving me home alone for a long weekend (!!).   Today was the first time since Lent that I’d gotten to sit alone during mass and really focus on the readings and actually listen to the homily.

But usually…..I’m you.   

I’m sitting there, desperately trying to keep an inquisitive two-year-old quiet, or at least using her whisper voice, and trying to keep the eight year old with special needs from bolting out of the pew.   I’m usually on my own, due to Mike’s job, and I just don’t quite have enough arms to keep them all “in my lap”, as the typical blogs with helpful hints advise. I bring the quiet books (like you), the blank books with instructions to “draw what they see” (like you), and sometimes even the lovies (like you).     We don’t bring snacks, but that’s only because food is a trigger for the eight year old.   If it works for you, so be it.

I know how disheartening it can be to have your child’s noises echo around the sanctuary.   Those of us who go to old, stone churches with lots of tile *really* know what it’s like.  I know the flush of heat on your face as the toddler drops something and the loud “CLANK” echoes around the room.   I know the walk of shame as you take the crying baby all the way from the front pew (because that’s the helpful hint: sit where your child can see) to the back of the church or the bathroom.   

But, today, as I watched you lovingly guide your children through the mass with nothing to distract me, I saw something else.

I saw the beginnings of a saint.

As I sat there listening to the readings, I heard your voice, whispering to your children.   Explaining what a word meant, and pointing out what was happening as we moved through the liturgy.

I heard the beginnings of a saint.

***“Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.”  James 1:22****

Dear mom in the front pew, I see you.  

I see a mom, trying hard to raise a saint.

Friends, we are at a crisis point in our Church.   You know it.  I know it.   Evil has invaded our beloved Church at some of the highest levels.  

Dear mom in the pew, I beg you:   Do not let this evil dissuade you.   I know it can be so easy to justify dismissing the Truth of the Church based on the sins of Her public figures.   Oh my goodness, do I know.   

Do not let this evil distract you from the Truth.   Fight it with the best weapons we have - we moms have the chance to lead our children to become saints.   We have the responsibility to become saints ourselves.   This is our fight as the Church Militant.  This is our fight, and our chance to fight for holiness and Truth.

*** “The most deadly poison of our times is indifference.  And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits.  Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers.”  St Maximillian Kolbe ***

Dear mom in the pew, I will be sitting there, cheering you on.   Praying for your success.   Please pray for my own success.   Every week, I will be there to share a smile, maybe pick up a discarded toy, and encourage you in your vocation.   You are raising the next generation for our Church, and it is our generation that will rebuild His Church.   Our kids will be the next great generation of saints.  Do not give up, do not let Satan in through the crack that he’s made.   The foundation is still strong, we……you and I, and the holy priests (yes, there are holy priests - do not abandon them in this time of crisis!)……we will rebuild.

One of my favorite saints once said “The nation doesn’t simply need what we have.  It needs what we are.” (St Edith Stein).  My dear moms in the pew - any pew - our Church needs *us* now for who we are.   Our vocation to motherhood will be a source of strength for those fighting the battle for His Church.   Our sacrifice and love for our families will be the ammunition for those fighting for the victims, fighting for reparations, and fighting for renewal.

So, please do not give up.  Come to mass.  Show your children your love for the Eucharist.   Keep coming, with the crying babies and antsy toddlers and loud preschoolers.   Sit in that pew, and show them a love for Christ and how you will not abandon His Church now, but you will fight for Her.  Share with them the stories of the saints, the Beauty of creation, the glory of Truth.

We are raising saints, moms-in-the-pews.   

***”The Saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church’s history”. St JPII****

Saints who will renew our beloved Church. 

 

Let’s get to work.   I’ll see you on Sunday.