A Spiritual Mother’s Realization

One question we receive pretty often is about who can participate in the Spiritual Motherhood Sodality. Can someone be a spiritual mother even if they are unable to physically visit an adoration chapel or attend daily Mass?

I recently spoke to a Spiritual Mother from Maryland who told me many fun and interesting stories about her upbringing. She is the youngest of 8 children, and is now 83 years old! Her family was always surrounded by priests – priests over for dinner, cooking for them, helping them with errands…. She would always offer what she had, especially to those that were visiting from other countries. The cold weather was a harsh welcome for those priests from Africa, so she would collect warm jackets for them to use during the winter. Her interaction with priests was just part of her life and she always made it a priority to assist wherever she could.

Now as an elderly woman, she has realized that her ability to help has increasingly become limited. That is, until she heard about Spiritual Motherhood.

This special maternity is practiced in many ways, but most importantly, through prayer. Her love for the priesthood is still as strong as ever, but now she is excited to help in a whole new way – to adopt a priest as her spiritual son and offer small sacrifices for his vocation. And isn’t this the way that Our Lady took as well? By adopting a priest and praying for him as much as possible, we can bear much fruit in their lives as well as ours.

Even for those who are unable to spend time in adoration, there is still so much that can be done to assist our brother priests. One way to do this is by saying spiritual communions throughout the day. Perhaps you can say one every hour for your adopted priest. This can be just as pleasing to Our Lord simply because you are offering him your best regardless of your limitations.

This is how we need to look at our lives as well. Find a way to bring our daily activities into a supernatural activity. Be immersed in prayer no matter what you do or where you go. And continue to offer your life as a prayer for your adopted son.