“Good Shepherd Sunday & Mother’s Day”

2022년 5월 8일

“Good Shepherd Sunday & Mother’s Day”

< Fourth Sunday of Easter >

 The fourth Sunday of Easter is called Good Shepherd Sunday because the readings describe how Jesus loves, feeds and most of all protects us like a shepherd cares for the sheep. But Jesus does more than that. He actually lays down his life for us, his sheep. Jesus loves us more than life itself. Providentially today, being also the second Sunday in May, is also Mothers’ Day. On this day we honor the woman who gave us life, and who loved, nourished, taught, and protected us. We see God in both images.

Last week my sister posted an interesting article on Facebook describing an amazing medical fact: when a woman is pregnant, she does more than just provide a safe place for the baby to grow. An exchange of cells between baby and mother takes place through the placenta. (For you medically minded people, this is called fetal-maternal microchimerism. Google it!) Doctors describe it as special new cells that form in the mother which she receives from her baby. If the mother suffers an illness, such as heart disease, these cells rush to the effected organ and the stems cells from the baby actually help repair the mother’s body. I have heard from several mothers who attest that their allergies and other chronic illnesses actually got better during their pregnancy. Now we have the medical explanation for this. Thus the bond between mother and child is much deeper than just emotional or psychological. In a real sense the mother lives on through the child even as the child lives on in the mother. Take a moment to reflect on what this says about not only our relationship to our mothers, but also what this means for the bond between the Virgin Mary and Jesus. We aren’t just the sheep of Jesus’ flock. In a real way Jesus lives on in us even as we do in him. A true communion!

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