Motherless Children and Maternal Mortality – May 13, 2018

Ignatius Loyola’s mother died shortly after his birth.  Jesuit historians tell us he spent the first few years of his life living at the home of a nurse, Maria de Garin, a few miles from the family manor.  It was Maria who taught young Ignatius to pray.  Some twenty-eight years later Ignatius returned to the family homestead to recover after he was injured on the battlefield at Pamplona.  He was nursed back to health by his brother’s wife, Magdalena de Araoz.  Magdalena became a third mother figure for Ignatius and is the one credited with giving Ignatius “The Lives of the Saints” and “The Life of Christ” to read – sparking in him a conversion that would lead to the Spiritual Exercises and the founding of the Society of Jesus.

Which is all a way of saying, “thank God for women, especially women who ‘mother’ children not their own.” 

But it’s still a tragedy that Ignatius mother died so young.  Even more tragic that young mothers are still dying today.

The World Health Organization reports that every day approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.  PREVENTABLE CAUSES.  The WHO reports that 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries.  And maternal mortality is higher in women living in rural areas, among poorer communities, and in young adolescent mothers.  Skilled care before, during and after childbirth can make all the difference – in the lives of the women and their newborn babies. 

The good news is between 1990 and 2015 maternal mortality worldwide DROPPED by about 44%.  Working together we can make “God’s good world, better.” 

 Catholic Relief Services, the international aid organization of the US Catholic Bishops, is one of many organizations doing good work to address this issue.  Our RiceBowl donations make a difference!

Mother’s Day is a hard day for a lot of people.  I’m mindful of all the ways this is a “complicated” holiday. 

But it’s also a day when we can all recommit ourselves to the children around us.  The children in our neighbor and city and, especially, the children in the developing world.  All of us – women and men – are called to “mother” children not our own.