The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Neither of my sons has ever “slept through the night.” As they each wake up repeatedly, my husband and I rush to comfort them back to sleep, over and again, night after night. Though we don’t always realize it, God does the very same for us, responding to each and every one of our heart’s cries with a tenderness that is unfailing and inexhaustible.
In today’s First Reading, He assures us that, “as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” It’s telling of both God’s nature and ours that He likens His heart for us to that of a mother’s. Some of the base desires of a mother’s heart are to provide for her child’s needs and to comfort him whenever he calls on her. These desires are God-given and reflect back to us His own desire to care for and comfort us in all things–a desire that He has not left unrealized.
Through the mystery of the Incarnation, God gives us both a Savior and a mother. Mary, as the Immaculate Conception, is a living extension of God’s maternal heart. When we cry out to her with our needs we appeal directly to God’s maternal affection for us. He hears our cries and sends Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted, to be with us in our distress. No hurt or sorrow of ours escapes the watchful gaze of our mother. In Christ she sees it all, she is with us through it all, and she takes care of us in all things.
This gift of unfailing comfort in our afflictions is a part of what makes us children of God. As God’s children we are indeed a new spiritual creation and, accordingly, we are set apart from all others in this world. Jesus tells us in today's Gospel that our very names are written in Heaven. And this is why we can go on our way as laborers of His harvest and carry no money bag, no sack, and no sandals with us on the journey. What we carry instead is the presence of a Savior and the comfort of His mother. Because in Jesus and Mary, God has very tenderly and very intentionally provided for every one of our human needs.
So the next time you find yourself in distress for whatever reason, remind yourself that you have a Father in Heaven who loves you with the profound tenderness of a mother. Be still and listen as He whispers to your heart, “In this too, I am with you.” Know for certain that as God’s beloved child, He responds to your every cry without fail, and that Mary herself rushes to comfort you, over and over again.
Melanie Peinado is a wife and boy mom of two. She has a PhD in History and is channeling her love of learning into online theology studies through the Avila Institute. Coffee shops, beaches, and good books are her happy places and she savors getting lost in them whenever possible.