The Simple Gospel

By: Brenda Wieneke

Coming from a Protestant background, one of the biggest misconceptions about the Catholic faith is that they worship Mary. Before my own conversion to the faith, Mary was someone I never really understood. To me, she was like any other woman and there was nothing special about her. I remember rolling my eyes whenever she came up in conversation, especially when others spoke about her being sinless. Although I couldn’t stand the thought of her, there was always something deep in my heart, a deep love that was always there but had been clouded by my own woundedness and other views.

After becoming Catholic, the Church teachings on her were something that I respected but didn’t spend much time learning about. I was like a little kid doing everything to get my parents’ attention but not wanting to ask. Instead of asking them to look at me, I would throw temper tantrums to get their attention.

Through all my temper tantrums, she was standing right there, waiting for me to finally realize that her attention had already been given to me. Once that first realization clicked, the doors of my heart opened in a new way to her.

One of my first experiences with Mary was at the age of 12. During the two years that I lived with my dad, I was put in Catholic schools, and that opened a deep love for the Church that I didn’t know I had.

The Catholic school I attended was called Our Lady of Fatima Orphanage Mission (or Home). OLF focuses on caring for orphaned, abandoned, and destitute children. The school not only cares for orphans but also provides much-needed support to needy and abandoned children. With my dad and stepmom not having the means to care for me, I was accepted into this school.

Another experience that stayed with me happened when one of my dad’s girlfriends wanted to bond with me and decided to bring me to Mass one Sunday. Before Mass began, I wandered off by myself, looking around the church. As I walked, I came across a statue of Mary. I stood in front of it, said a prayer, and walked away. At the time, the moment felt insignificant, but years later it would become a meaningful part of my conversion and my understanding of Mary, her motherhood and her heart.

Motherhood has been truly a blessing to me. It has allowed me to see a glimpse of who God the Father is. It has forced me to confront deep wounds that had always been there but never addressed. Motherhood has stripped away the many walls I built to protect myself, exposing them and healing them at the same time. It has shown me the deep love Jesus has for us, a love so deep it led to His death. In my own small way, motherhood has given me a share in that love, a love so strong that I am willing to give of myself to my children daily.

My motherhood has become a place of healing that I never thought possible. Through that healing, I’ve been able to experience a deep and beautiful love for Mary as my Mother. In many ways, my own motherhood has been a redemption of the pain and abandonment I experienced with my own mother.

As I reflect on both, my heart still aches for my mother, but what I long for is being restored through my relationship with my own children.

While praying in the chapel today, I found myself reflecting on Mary’s motherhood, how completely she gave of herself to her child, her vocation, and her family. She was present from her first encounter with the Angel Gabriel, through her pregnancy, through the hidden years before His public ministry, through His Passion, and at the foot of the Cross. And she is still present. She gave all that she was in love and sacrifice, and that same love is now extended to us as her children.

She has met me in moments when I needed a shoulder to cry on, when I questioned whether what I was doing even mattered, when I am serving my family, especially my children, and when I needed a model for how to raise them. The more I have embraced my own motherhood, the more I have come to appreciate Mary as a mother. I have learned to embrace the hiddenness of motherhood while trusting that I am seen and heard. Though there is not much written about her life, the Holy Spirit reveals more of who she is when we open ourselves to it.

Looking back, that small prayer I said as a child in front of her statue was not insignificant at all. Something shifted in me in that moment. I return to it often because I now see it as the moment she quietly stepped into a role my heart deeply needed. In a real way, she became a mother to me especially as I continue walking through my own journey of motherhood.

Through her, I have learned to love even without having had that model. I have learned obedience to the will of the Father. I have learned to say “yes” in small ways, and those small yeses have grown into a willingness to say yes in bigger ways. I am still learning what it means to be a true disciple, and I continue to grow in that each day.

The words of John 19:26–27 have become especially meaningful to me: “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”

These are words I continue to pray with and I encourage you to do the same.

No matter what stage or season you are in right now, know that you have someone very close to your heart, someone who desires for you to experience a deep and real love, someone who gently leads you to her Son, and whose entire being reflects Him.

If there are walls or misconceptions that have hardened your heart toward her, know that the Lord sees you and desires for you to experience His love through His mother. She loves with a steady, faithful love a love that reflects her Son. She desires for you to know what it means to be cherished, to be seen, to be held, and to be loved by a mother.

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