“You are one of those mediations of God in my life. You bear God to me, make God present to me. Because you are an image of the Messiah to me, to address myself to you is, indirectly, to address myself to the divine, to the way that divine life is making its way in me, the way I am striving with divine powers, receiving wounding and blessing. To address you and my loving struggle to help you give birth to your own free will is also to address myself to the God in whose likeness I long to be reborn. God has come to me in you to draw me out of death.” FreedomGraceChildhoodDivineBirthMotherhoodImmortalityFree WillParenthoodCommunion Book:Motherhood: A Confession Source: Motherhood: A Confession
“Our healing will not come in a divine grace that reunites us, bringing you back into my womb for us to live by one wholly integrated will. My grace is to wait, to love you through the detours your life takes, even if you travel far from me; to be present to you in hope and prayer; and to bring you near Love by reflecting love to you. I can help birth your will into freedom and goodness chiefly by being reborn into such freedom and goodness myself.” LoveRelationshipsGrowing UpGraceChildhoodMotherhoodParenthood Book:Motherhood: A Confession Source: Motherhood: A Confession
“That you are not mine to possess, that you are not mine to craft and shape, that you are a gift to me, means that you can also be a divine presence to me. When you call to me in your need, that is God's call to me as well. The space I give you to grow and flourish becomes also the space for my own growth and flourishing.” GrowthGraceChildhoodDivineMotherhoodParenthoodEmmanuel Book:Motherhood: A Confession Source: Motherhood: A Confession
“Pope Benedict XVI wrote that liturgy should be "the rediscovering within us of true childhood, of openness to a greatness still to come, which is still unfulfilled in adult life." The child at play is an image for the kind of openness to life that adults should cultivate--that, in fact, the liturgy is trying to help people discover. In church I am seeking my true childhood.” FaithChurchChildhoodMotherhoodLiturgy Book:Motherhood: A Confession Source: Motherhood: A Confession
“In fact, play is how humans have found their place in the world over millennia. Play is what gives birth to much of human culture: storytelling, meaning-making, art, ritual, and religion. Through play we learn to be human. Through play we learn to worship.” PlayHumanityChildhoodWorshipMotherhood Book:Motherhood: A Confession Source: Motherhood: A Confession