May 6, 2016

My Journey to God

My Mother’s Prayer

My mother would pray at the side of our bed,
That God would bless each of our six sleepy heads.
After wiping her hands on the apron she wore,
Down on her knees, she would kneel on the floor.
“God bless Mommy and Daddy, Teresa and Cathy,
Tina, Johnny, Marky, Tommy, and everybody.
Please bring peace to the world, bring the world back to God.”
She’d pray for God’s peace on the world, we were awed!
We knew the next part, knew it by heart.
For, my father was out working long after dark.
A good job or two, his days were so long.
“And thank you, dear Lord, for our Daddy’s good job.”
As her folded hands rested on the next baby’s space,
Silent, unborn, under her apron she lay.
There would be one more child, in this family of eight,
Mom carried the babe with God’s grace.
What came next has remained in my life to this day.
Our Lady’s good grace was the gift that she prayed
Would come upon all of us, work, sleep or play.
“Mary Queen of Peace, pray for us.” She has to this day!

By Christina Eckrich Tebbe
 

(Christina Eckrich Tebbe is a member of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis. In his apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” [“The Joy of Love”], Pope Francis repeated his earlier reflection on motherhood: “Mothers are the strongest antidote to the spread of self-centered individualism. … It is they who testify to the beauty of life.” Mother’s Day is on May 8 this year.) †

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