Readings:

Isaiah 26:7-9,12,16-19
Matthew 11:28-30

Reflection:

My mother had a very modest upbringing, not unlike many of her generation, and indeed, not unlike a lot of people today.

She was the eldest of seven children with a widowed mother, and times were tough. Mum loved to tell the story of one time when there was no food in the house. Her mother was walking through Enmore Park when she found threepence (about 2c in the new money). She went to the butcher and bought bones and made soup that fed the family for three days.

Despite not having much choice in what they ate, there was one thing mum couldn’t stand. Brains. And Nana excused her from ever having to eat brains at the family table.

When Mum was giving birth to John, her firstborn, the labour was intense. It lasted for two days. (Dad, of course, was ever helpful. He was out fishing on Sydney Harbour!). It was, for mum, a horribly painful experience. And after two days, John was born.

Mum had nothing to eat during this time, but after giving birth to John, a meal came in, covered in a lovely silver cloche. Famished and exhausted by the experience, Mum was dying for a good meal. She lifted the cloche, and there they sat: brains. She felt sick, but she was so hungry that she demolished them.

She was fond of recalling that when she was in the ward, recovering, a nurse came around. She overheard the conversation with another woman, who was asked by the nurse, “Is this your first child?” Mum thought to herself, “Do women do this a second time?”

 As a woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pains,

so were we in your presence, O LORD.

 My mother went on to bring new life into our world another five times. Despite the pain, despite the hunger, despite the dread, she refused to let the struggle of giving life be victorious over hope and new life.

I’m sure that not every moment she lived, was touched by goodness, and light, and joy. Yet she weathered the storms. She knew that every storm runs out of rain.

No doubt, having a wonderful and loving husband helped.

Our Gospel reminds us to bring all those storms, all those tempests, to Jesus.

“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy burdened, and I will bring you rest”. Take up my yoke and learn from me.  And you will find rest, for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy, and my burden light.

I’m sure that Jesus did not use the word “labour” in the same sense as mum did, but it is certainly serendipitous that it is together with our first reading.

No matter what the moment, we will find rest for our souls and deliverance from our storms.

Peter Gardiner is a Passionist Priest.