The Third Friday in Advent -- Romano Guardini

A Reflection on Romano Guardini’s The Holy Mother (pp. 205-13)

One of the great strengths of the Roman Catholic faith, as Romano Guardini reminds us, is its reverence for one particular mother, Mary, the God-bearer, the woman who brought Jesus Christ into the world.

One reason Christians venerate Mary is because we know deep in our hearts that the relationship between a mother and a child is the closest thing most humans experience to the love that God has for us. Consider for a moment what our mothers have done for us:  they suffered hours of painful labor to bring us into the world, they nursed us, bathed us, changed our diapers, put up with our tantrums, kissed our bruised knees, consoled us through the emotional ups and downs of our adolescence, wiped tears from our eyes when we were hurt. But more than that, mothers are always there, ready with their love when we most need it.

You remember, I’m sure, the story of the Runaway Bunny, the classic children’s book by Margaret Wise Brown; the story in which a little baby bunny keeps trying to run away from his mother. “If you run away,” says the mother, “I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.” “I will become a bird,” the little bunny says, “and fly away from you.” “If you become a bird and fly away from me,” says his mother, “I will be a tree that you come home to.” Finally the little bunny says, “Shucks, I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny.” “Have a carrot,” says the mother bunny. Such is the mysterious simplicity of a mother’s unconditional love.

To say that a good mother loves unconditionally, however, is not to say that she loves uncritically. “You can be anything you want to be, even president of the United States,” says the Good Mother. “Now stand up straight, don't slouch and clean up your room. I'm not your maid,” she reminds us. The Good Mother knows that to make us the good people God created us to be, it’s often necessary to push, cajole, chide, and, yes, sometimes even discipline.

It’s been said of Jesus that He loves us just the way we are, but that He loves us too much to leave us the way He found us; to which all Good Mothers would say “Amen,” as they ask if we really are going to school dressed like that! I wonder if Mary ever had occasion to utter such words to her son as he made his way to school?        

Romano Guardini (1885-1965) was a Roman Catholic priets, writer, and academic.

Comments

  1. graceDecember 23, 2017 at 1:11 PM

    Discipline of adults scares me. Loving discipline of children is essential.....

    ReplyDelete

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