Bishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi, Archbishop of Piura and Tumbes, affirmed that “motherhood is the sublime vocation of women” and that mothers are “irreplaceable in the transmission of the faith”, in his homily this Sunday in which he celebrates Mother’s Day in Peru and in several countries around the world.
In his homily at Mass this Sunday, the Peruvian Prelate thanked the mothers for “have given us the gift of life”.
The Archbishop said that this day is an occasion to thank mothers who “from the moment of conception (moment where the life of every human being begins), until the day of our birth, and then throughout all the stages of our existence, accompanies us, cares for us, and teaches with his word and tenderness, and gives us his strength in difficult times so that we do not lose courage in the face of life’s adversities”.
“Motherhood is the sublime vocation of women”, highlighted Bishop Eguren.
“She has received from God the vocation to welcome life, give birth to it, embrace it, protect it, feed it, support it, accompany it, and in this way realize to a great extent her being as a woman”.
For this reason, he continued, “how important and urgent it is, today, value the dimension of motherhood in the life and culture of society!
In addition, the Archbishop highlighted, “the mother is irreplaceable in the transmission of the faith. Who has not learned from their mother to cross themselves, to say the first prayers, to make the first gestures of devotion to Jesus, Mary and the Saints, or to receive the first notions of the faith through simple catechesis?
“Without the Christian mother, not only would there be no new Christians, but faith would lose its warmth, its tenderness, its mercy,” he specified.
The Peruvian Prelate also recalled that this May 8, Good Shepherd Sunday, the 59th World Day of Prayer for Vocations is also celebrated.
“Dear young people: Seek the Plan of God in your lives. The Lord is not capricious, imposing and arbitrary as we usually are,” he explained.
“Only by seeking and then surrendering to the demands of the divine plan, will they be truly happy. Dear young people: seek and When you find, do not be afraid to give the Lord a generous and total yes.”.
Bishop Eguren then said that “vocations will flourish if families fulfill their mission of being the first ‘seminaries’, that is, seedbeds of faith. Wherever there is a Christian family, vocations sprout”.
“There where parents assume the mission of transmitting the faith to their children and showing them the beauty of being Christians, vocations arise,” he stressed.
Then addressing the parents, the Archbishop asked: “Do not be rivals of God. Children are a gift, not a property”.
“Your mission with them is to help them seek God’s Plan in their lives and encourage them to adhere to the divine plan that is the only path of authentic freedom, happiness and fulfillment for their children,” he concluded.