For those who are motherless, missing their Mother (or someone who mothered them), or for those who have never had biological children, spending Mother's Day with the sadness of loss, or the grief of unborn children can feel painful and isolating.
Reflecting on Mother's Day with the Meister (the Master, the Teacher) might be consoling. The medieval Dominican theologian and mystic, Meister Eckhart, understood that at our deepest level, we all "mother forth" the Divine:
"We are all meant to be mothers of God."– Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) The Master understood that an incarnational (God-enfleshed) theology requires active participation, not passive adherence. How do we Mother forth the divine in our daily lives, birthing the living Energy of Love that takes shape as Mothering - nurturing, generosity, selflessness, hospitality, and gentleness?
Eckhart recommends going deeper, into the silence of our hearts, to recover that deep stillness necessary to touch into creation's work: "There is a huge silence inside each of us that beckons us into itself, and the recovery of our own silence can begin to teach us the language of heaven." How do we make time for entering into the sanctuary of womb-love, where the miracle of new life gestates, generates awe and gratitude for accompanied becoming? How do we keep holding that liminal space - the mysterious in-between time of "almost" and "not yet," but "growing?"
The Master says the key is to embrace our creature-hood, to immerse ourselves in our own nature, be the glorious being of Light each of us is: "God expects but one thing of you, and that is that you should come out of yourself in so far as you are a created being made, and let God be God in you."
If we are missing our Mother today, or missing the opportunity to be a Mother today, let's go deeper and listen to the language of the divine being birthed in us and in creation. We are all mothering forth the Divine.
Thanks, Mom. I love you. And thank you for loving me forth.
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