With children back at school, Chiara Finaldi affirms and encourages mums struggling with a quiet house after a busy Christmas.
I feel like I have been a first-time mother six times, with eighteen years of experience in the field. Every pregnancy, every birth and every child is incredibly different-as am I.
I constantly find myself in uncharted waters.This is the beauty of motherhood. There is so much to learn. “Boring” is not a relevant word to my life, or that of any mother.
Glamour, also, does not apply. Sleepless nights, never-ending sicknesses…and nappies. My husband and I worked out that we have changed 22,000 nappies between us!
As children grow, so do the problems.
No Time For Perfume
Recently, paying for shopping, the cashier asked if I was interested in a special offer for perfume. Smiling, I said to her: “Perfume? I never have time to put on perfume when I go out. With six children, I am lucky if I get a shower.”
We laughed about the perks of being a mother. I mentioned I was Catholic and briefly told her I wished to have more children.
“I don’t know how you do it”, she exclaimed.
“You have them one at a time. With them comes more love, more strength, more patience, more grace”, I responded.
If I had not witnessed mothers and fathers happily giving themselves up for their family, perhaps I would not have believed it was possible either, like the lovely cashier.
When we meet real happiness in others, it is impossible to remain untouched.
More Than "Just A Mum"
As a young wife and mother, I dreaded this question: ‘So what do you do’? I always answered: ‘I’m JUST a mum’, as if I had subconsciously bought into the mentality that being a mother was something small and unimportant.
This is today’s greatest temptation which, even after six children and a wonderful husband, I repeatedly face.
Mothers are too often lonely islands, full of life within but sadly isolated. We need to know that we are not alone and to see other mothers who are completely and joyfully dedicated to serving their family without resentment.
This gives us strength when we lack strength, courage when we lack courage and love when we think no love is left for us.
The Light Of Faith
This is how our Catholic Mothers Facebook Group came about. Here Christ is the centre of our womanhood and Our Lady the ultimate example of motherhood; God is clearly the father or perhaps discovered as loving father for the first time and the Holy Spirit is available for mothers who need support.
The questions may be the same as any Facebook group for mums, but the answers are very different. In the light of faith, the daily joys and sufferings of marriage and parenting take on another dimension.
As the International Catholic Mothers’ community grew-currently well over 1000 members-the desire to meet together was great. It was clear, through several events, that God was preparing for this to happen.
A Unique Calling
The first ‘Catholic Mothers’ conference will take place in Aylesford in April 2018. Mothers will meet to celebrate and rediscover motherhood.
Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of a canonised Saint and mother, will speak in England for the first time to remind us that heaven is our goal, and that our calling as women, rooted in motherhood, will ultimately bring us to sainthood.
Pope John Paul II, in a letter to women, affirmed mothers in a remarkable way:
Thank you, mothers! You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God's own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child's first steps..and is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life.
For more information about the Catholic Mothers' conference in Aylesford, please visit: www.catholicmothers.co.uk/about
Picture: Pixabay
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