Letters to mothers

This season explores the way we live out the feminine genius as mothers and the myriad way that we mother as women. All women are mothers. Every single one of us, regardless of the vocation you’re in or how old you are or if you’ve ever birthed a baby, is a mother on a spiritual level. Some of us do have children who have come to us in a variety of ways, whether that’s physical pregnancy, adoption, foster care, or through marriage. But that physical motherhood is a physical manifestation of the spiritual motherhood that we all have as women. All of us are called to bring forth life into this world.

All of us are called to mother.

Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God’s own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child’s first steps, who helps it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life.
— saint pope john paul ii, letter to women