Padre’s Points to Ponder – 5/8/26
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This weekend, as the Church celebrates the 6th Sunday of the Easter season, the nation has set this weekend aside as a special celebration of motherhood. There’s a line from the Gospel that always jumps out to me when I think about moms and their sacred role, taken from the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the birth of her Son: “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
In that simple image, the Church is given a window into the heart of a mother.
The Blessed Virgin Mary does not always understand everything that is happening around her. She receives wonders, yes, but also confusion, uncertainty, and eventually sorrow. And what does she do? She does not push these things away, she does not resolve them immediately. She holds them. She carries them in her heart.
This is a deeply human experience, and a deeply maternal one.
So many women know what it is to carry things in the heart: joys too great for words, wounds that others cannot see, questions without easy answers. Some carry the memory of children raised with love. Some carry the grief of children lost. Some carry the ache of longing, for a child, for healing, for peace in a relationship that feels broken or distant.
Mother’s Day can bring all of this to the surface. And here, the Gospel offers not a solution, but a companion.
Mary shows us that the heart does not need to have everything figured out in order to be faithful. It only needs to remain open; open to God, to grace, even in the midst of mystery. To “ponder” in the heart is not to solve, but to trust that God is at work, even when His work is hidden. There is so much hope in that.
Because the things we carry, especially the painful things, are not meaningless when they are held in a heart turned toward God. In Mary, we see that nothing is wasted: not confusion, not waiting, not even sorrow. All of it can become a place where God quietly enters and brings His grace.
On this Mother’s Day, the Church honors all women who carry much within their hearts. Whether those hearts are filled with joy, grief, longing, or a mixture of all three, they are seen. They are known. And they are not alone.
May Mary, Mother of the Church teach us how to hold all things with faith, and to discover, even there, especially there, the gentle presence of God.
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
Peace in Christ,
Fr. Michael Silloway
Pastor