she knew who she was to her children - 33rd week wednesday

This must be the most difficult time in a mother’s life – to see one’s children tortured and killed because of what they believed in.  Her sons may have been martyred but this mother was martyred seven times over because of the death of her seven sons.  And yet one would have expected a mother to save her sons from death, instead she urged them to accept their martyrdom courageously, to resist the temptation of compromising their faith, and to embrace bravely the consequences of the following the laws of God.  Why did she encourage her sons to accept the consequences of serving God over men?  Why was she encouraging her sons to be brave in facing death? 

It is because she knew who she was in relation to her children.  She said: “I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed.”

“It was not I who gave you the breath of life.”  Parents don’t own their children.  They remain God’s.  In relation to their children they are not owners but stewards, persons entrusted with God’s most precious gift.  I hope parents would see their children in this light and accept the consequences of seeing them in this light.  An owner for example commands and give orders, but a steward discerns together with her children and learns together the will of their real creator.