A New Mater
By Jane Cannon, Alumna of Maryville University, St. Louis, Missouri
A few years ago a group of alumnae at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, Missouri, happened upon one of Pauline Perdrau’s later versions of Mater Admirabilis — her last one actually — entitled “Mater in the House of St. John.” For a fundraising project in anticipation of the school’s bicentennial, the school assembled framed prints of this depiction, which was frequently dubbed “Old Mater” for efficiency’s sake (if not out of reverence). Some alumnae/i, I fear, were offended by this new (although old) upstart who had shed her rose-colored dress, parked her lily in the other room and was poised, scissors in hand to snip the thread from the distaff, which she had wielded demurely for so many years.
It was not hard for me, eighty years-old by then, to relate to this portrait of impending finality and to welcome a realistic image of a woman who had, since her youth, embraced the motherhood of an infant divine, of a new son bestowed at the foot of the cross and of all mankind who would become her family here on earth. She was tired! Her eyes, no longer downcast in contemplation, looked up to the God who had chosen her for this unique (and exhausting) role.
But Mater has not cut the thread, and neither should we! The family that she had inherited, unknowingly, at Bethlehem continues to grow, to flourish and to look to her for courage and wisdom. Those of us who have enjoyed the privilege of membership in the Sacred Heart family have embraced Mary’s contemplative example, her courage to lend herself to unaccustomed challenges, and her compulsion to reach out to others. And this has surely been a year to test our performance in that shrunken social arena! What a young woman in Nazareth learned to do must surely be easier for us, we who find ourselves so naturally and conveniently disposed to make these connections, regardless of our age. There are no hills to climb to visit a cousin! Reaching out, for us, is as easy as a phone call, a text, an email or, someday soon let’s hope, a visit to embrace kith and kin in the web of our fond Sacred Heart relationships.
A Mater Litany
By the RSCJ Avila Community, Albany, New York
Mother of refugees, help them find a home among us.
Mother of those who are caught in war, give them again a tranquil life.
Mother of those who wander without country, give them new roots.
Mother of those whose families are separated, help them be joined again in love.
Mother of the unborn, give courage to parents bringing life into this world.
Mother of the abused, especially because of the pandemic, preserve them from violence.
Mother of all the suffering, free us from our pain.
Dear Mother of the invisible and the essential, we beg you to intercede for these essentials of a human life, surely the desire of the Heart of our God for all our sisters and brothers across the world. Amen.
Images: Mater in the House of Saint John; A Contemporary Rendering of Mater by Min-Ah Cho, 2015
