Sixth Sunday of Easter C.  May 9 2010.  Our Lady of Grace 7:30 and 11:30.  Acts 15:1-2, 22-29. Revelation.  21:10-14, 22-23.  John 14: 23-29.

They had been married for 24 years so he was very surprised when his wife told him to take another woman out for dinner on Mother’s Day. She explained that while she loved him, this other woman loved him too.  She explained that he didn’t spend enough time with the other woman.

The man’s wife wanted him to spend some time with his mother, just the two of them alone.  She explained that she deeply loves her husband but that in the 24 years of their marriage he had never been alone with his mother on Mothers’ Day.  She said that while she would miss her husband on Mother’s Day, now that their children were away at college, it was about time that she repays the debt she owed to the woman who had gifted her with so great a husband.

His mother lived almost a hundred miles away.  When he called her and said that he was coming to take her out to dinner, just the two of them, on Mother’s Day the old woman was very suspicious.  She said, “Is there something wrong with you heath?”  Then she blurted out, “Are you and you wife breaking up?”  He laughed out loud and said, “No, my wife thinks that I should take the first women who ever loved me on a date – just the two of us.”

When he arrived at his mother’s house he was very nervous and his mother was nervous too.  She was dressed in the fancy dress that she only wore to weddings. She was waiting at the door with her coat on when he arrived because she didn’t want to keep her very busy son waiting.  As she got into the car she said, “I told all of my friends that I was going out with my son.”

 When they got to the restaurant she took her son’s arm as if he were prince charming.  She was very proud of him.  In the restaurant the old woman couldn’t keep her eyes on the menu.  She kept staring at her son as tons of memories ran though her mind.  She said to him, “When you were small I used to read the menu to you, now you will have to help me.  I don’t see very well anymore.” 

The two talked about many things old and new.  The time flew by and before they knew it they had missed the movie that they had planned on seeing.    When they arrived at her home the old woman said, “I hope that we can do this again – but next time I will pay. I used to do that all the time for you. I would like to do it again now that you have grown up.”

His wife asked how his Mother’s Day date had gone.  He said, “Very nice, much better than I ever imaged. Thanks for encouraging me to spend time with my mother.” 

A few months later they received a call saying that his mother had died of a massive heart attack.  There was no time to talk before she died – and there was no need to talk because they had done that already.  Shortly afterwards they received an envelope found in the mother’s apartment with a copy of a restaurant receipt in it from the place they had had dinner.  The note said, “I paid this bill in advance.  I paid for two plates.  You will never know how much our dinner together meant to me.  Please share the same kind of dinner with the new woman in your life, your good wife.  Remember that there is nothing more important in life than saying “I love you” to those you love and then showing it in what you do. Thank you, your mother.”

Jesus said, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him.  Whoever does not love me does not keep my word.”

Love is an action.  Loving God is shown by what we do.  Loving actions are more important than words.  Mother Teresa said that she never tried to convert Moslems or Hindus.  She told her sisters to love the way that Jesus loved and that would be the best and most convincing sermon of all.

Being a good mother is a challenge to express love in action:

Some say it takes a year to get back to normal after you've had a baby ... the truth is that once you have a baby life never returns to normal again.

Some say being a good mother comes by instinct. Taking a three year old shopping proves that motherhood is a constant challenge … not a gut feeling.

Some say that good mothers never raise their voices.  That somebody never came out the back door just as her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window.

Some say that your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her ... that somebody isn't a mother.

For the actions that proclaim our love for Jesus and for other people we give God thanks and praise.  For our mothers living or dead we are deeply grateful this Mother’s Day.