The Motherhood of God

G

od Is A God Of Relationships: At the very heart of our faith is relationship. God Himself is relationship—Father, Son, and Spirit—and all creation flows from that communion of love. This is what it means when we say we are made in the image and likeness of God: we are created to relate, to give life to one another.

Relationships are the key to life itself. They are the hidden thread in everything—our food, our shelter, even our survival. Nothing flourishes in isolation; everything depends on being connected.

I’ve seen this truth in something as simple as one of my quiet hobbies: making yogurt. The key to yogurt is relationship. The “mother” yogurt has to be joined with milk for life to grow. Some families even keep an heirloom culture alive for generations, passing it down like a bond from one household to another. Once that bond is broken, the chain ends—and so does the life of the yogurt. That is the law written into creation itself: to live is to be in relationship.

We also experienced this last Friday, here in our Novitiate and Retreat House, when we marked the Season of Creation with a First Friday nature walk. Guided by Ateneo Wild—Abby, Trinket, and Adrian—we stepped into corners of our backyard we had never noticed. With binoculars, we spotted at least sixteen species of birds in less than 500 meters. At one point, someone whispered in awe: “Thank you for showing us these treasures.”

And yet, how often do we miss what is right inside our homes? We live surrounded by treasures and gifts found in relationships, but so often we fail to see them. It took Abby, Trinket, and Adrian to open our eyes, to help us connect the dots, to recognize that we were already immersed in beauty and communion. In that moment, I was reminded: God’s greatest desire is always to draw us back into relationship—restoring our sight so we may see how He has lavished us with gifts since the very beginning. After that short walk, I told myself: Indeed, God loved us first by creating all these treasures. And yet, too often, they just pass us by without stirring awe and wonder. That’s what disconnection costs us.

Relationships Are By Nature Life-giving: Relationships, by their very nature, are meant to give life and to share life. Let me return to my yogurt-making.

I don’t keep an heirloom mother yogurt. I usually start over with a new cup from the store. But one day I realized: any yogurt can become a mother—not because of its history or pedigree, but because it is chosen to be given away. Stirred into warm milk, it disappears. It loses its form, and yet in that very self-surrender, it transforms the whole, bringing forth life in abundance.

That, for me, is the true essence of motherhood. And if God’s very nature is to give Himself away, then God too is first a mother.

Last Friday we also celebrated St Teresa of Calcutta. Before the Church proclaimed her a saint, the world already recognized her as a mother—not because of status, but because she was chosen by God to be given away: feeding the hungry, embracing the abandoned, and disappearing so that Christ’s love could shine through.

We know from her letters that she endured decades of spiritual darkness, feeling as though she could not hear God’s voice. And yet, she did not allow that hidden suffering to stop her from embracing the poorest of the poor. Pope St John Paul II once asked: “Where did Mother Teresa find the strength to persevere?” He answered: “In prayer, in silent contemplation of Jesus’ Sacred Heart.” Her strength to give life flowed from relationship—her hidden communion with Christ.

The Role Only Mothers Could Fulfill: And here’s something to think about: even God needed a mother. At the cross, Jesus drew Mary close to Him, because He knew this was a role only a mother could fulfill.

Mary was a simple Jewish girl, hidden and unknown, but she was chosen and was consecrated to be the Mother of God. Like the mother yogurt that vanishes into the milk, Mary gave herself away so that life might come forth. And she did this in freedom and love. No wonder mothers are among the most free and most loving just by embracing who they are.

To all of us here: if God calls you to be a “mother yogurt” in the lives of others, look at the path Mary took. She is the one of a kind mother because she gave life to no less than God Himself—she gave Him breath, flesh, and blood. In her surrender, she allowed the Word to take flesh in her, and through her openness, life came forth for the whole world. Mary shows us that the deepest fruitfulness doesn’t come from status or power, but from self-giving love—from entering into relationship with God and letting that love overflow into all of creation. Amen. Fr JM Manzano SJ

The Virgin

by William Wordsworth

Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost

With the least shade of thought to sin allied.

Woman! above all women glorified,

Our tainted nature's solitary boast;

Purer than foam on central ocean tost;

Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn

With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon

Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast;

Thy image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,

Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend,

As to a visible Power, in which did blend

All that was mixed and reconciled in thee

Of mother's love with maiden purity,

Of high with low, celestial with terrene!