A Reflection of Love, Loss, and Our Heavenly Mother

+JMJ+ Mother’s Day can bring out a full range of emotions. For some, it’s a day of celebration—of hugs, flowers, and thank-you’s. It’s a time to honor the women who raised us, nurtured us, and showed us what love looks like. We should celebrate them—mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, spiritual mothers—all the women whose presence has shaped our lives for the better. Praise God for our mothers!

But for many, this day also carries weight.

Maybe your mother is no longer here.

Maybe your relationship with her was marked more by absence than presence, or pain instead of comfort.

Maybe you have a difficult relationship with a child.

Maybe you long to be a mother, and that longing still goes unanswered.

Maybe you’ve lost a child.

Maybe you wonder if you miscarried but don't have confirmation either way because it was too early for a test.

If any of that is true for you, this day can feel more like a wound than a celebration.

Let’s be honest about the pain that many women feel. We can honor mothers without pretending everyone’s experience is the same. Love and grief often live side by side. And when they do, we need more than greeting cards and brunch reservations. We need mercy. We need grace. We need something eternal.

This is where the Blessed Mother meets us.

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is also our mother. She holds the sorrowful and the joyful. She knows what it means to carry life and to grieve it. She stood at the foot of the Cross, and she walks with us still. For those who feel unseen or forgotten on Mother’s Day, Mary sees you. She holds you in your pain, and she does so without judgment or hurry.

She offers tenderness when your heart feels raw.

She offers strength when you feel like you have none left.

She is mother to the motherless.

She is a mother to those learning how to live out motherhood in ways they never thought they would be called to.

Let’s honor all mothers with gratitude, with complexity, and with compassion.

We place our joys and wounds in the care of the one who never turns away: our Heavenly Mother, Mary.

Mother Mary, pray for us!