Commitment 5

We come to the fifth commitment of Spiritual Motherhood: adopting our Priest-son for the rest of our lives. 

Yes, we do adopt our Priest-son for the rest of our lives.  Why would we do this?  We have made a commitment to pray for him, so we pray for him.   As long as he lives, we should be praying for him.  If he should pass away before we do, we would continue to pray for him still.  He might be in Purgatory and we still have the responsibility to get him to heaven.  So we would pray still.  Later on, if we choose to do so, we could adopt another Priest to pray for for the rest of our lives again.  Since we have promised to pray for our Priest-son, he is counting on our prayers.  He knows we have committed to do this every day.  He counts on this grace for help. 

A quote from The National Catholic Register newspaper (May 2014) states this beautifully.  In this issue, the article on Spiritual Motherhood describes how important our prayers are and how they benefit the ‘whole body of Christ”. 
 
As Father Aytona, who heads up a Spiritual Motherhood program in California, explained, "The reality of motherhood is helping people get to heaven; that’s the true essence of motherhood. So spiritual motherhood is nurturing Divine life in others as you share in Mary’s spiritual motherhood."

Indeed, St. John Paul II made that clear in Redemptoris Mater (his Encyclical on the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church): "Being a mother constitutes more than simply caring for ‘bodily needs,’ but should also be concerned for the salvation and moral life of children … and spiritual life directed toward heaven. This type of maternity can be described as spiritual motherhood."  Nurturing this Divine life "should first and foremost be done for a Priest because he is the primary instrument that gives us grace through the sacraments," Father Aytona said.
 
Ultimately, through spiritual maternity, the Church benefits.
 
Father Gary Selin, formation adviser and professor of theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in the Denver Archdiocese, points out that St. John Vianney, the patron of parish Priests, said that when the ministerial Priest is strong, many souls are saved. "He’s basically saying when the spiritual mothers are praying for the sanctification of Priests, they’re benefitting the whole body of Christ."

One spiritual mother said, “If priests are not solid in the Church, how will we be solid in the Church?  If priests are not willing to suffer, how will we be willing to suffer???  Good priests = good parishioners, good parishioners = good families, good families = good children, good children = good grandchildren, good grandchildren = good generations. “

God bless you and your families.
 
Mary Anne Gronotte
Phone: 859-341-6214
Email:  [email protected]