How Does Motherhood Change Us Part 1

Who are we as women? How does motherhood change us? How have we been called? These are the universal questions that women ask as mothers. I love the response of one mothering friend who said I am more than just a mom, I am still ME! And that speaks to how motherhood changes us. It changes us subtly, profoundly and permanently: We will always be someones mother.

Let's explore how we can be mother and still be ourselves.

It is important that we look at our Baptismal roles. Through them we have idea of our mission with God, our responsibility to our family, community and self, and finally how these help us understand that all our roles are important and essential in creating who we are now and will become in the future.

First let's look at the role of Priest. For those of us who are Roman Catholic, we understand that a Priest has a distinct role as minister to the community, to be of service to the community, to build up the community. These are all very nurturing aspects of the many facets of an ordained Priest which are manifested through the sacraments, grace to guide and help and finally to be a lovingly present to those in need. Clearly these duties are very similar to what we do as mothers; the only difference being that we are "ordained", through our Marriage and Baptism,not as ministerial Priest, but Priest of the home. As mothers we are called to minister, to service, to build up our family and therefore to do the same for our community at large.

Second the role of Prophet. In Sacred writing we read that God calls Prophets to proclaim the truth, to teach to admonish. The Catholic Church calls parents the first teachers of our children. As mothers our children look to us to be roles models of what it is to be a gentle loving person, not only to others but to ourselves as well. It is in the role of Prophet that we are called to admonish: warn, advise, caution; providing strong leadership through rules, boundaries and expectations for our children based on our understand of how God is calling us to that. We proclaim the truth when ever we live our lives according to our convictions, values and beliefs, as well as how this truth helps us model our duties as Priest.

Lastly the role of Queen*. When we think of Queens we imagine women in castles surrounded by luxury, but there is so much more to Queenship than that. Our Baptismal call asks us as Queen to care for the resources we have been given. If we look after the small things in our lives well, we will progress to greater and greater things. As a child if we had a pet it opened us to caring for our friends with great love, and each loving experience, each experience of how we are stewards - how we take the greatest care of our resources, lead us to how we treat our children and all our loved ones with the greatest love. Each time we open ourselves to God's loving presence we open ourselves to God's profound Grace and through that Grace we have the strength to care for all our resources; especially our most percious: our children.

*The use of the word is to imply the feminine aspect of the Baptismal role of King