This morning in church the priest said that we would do something special for Mothers Day (celebrated today in Haiti). He said that mothers give us life – that they cannot do so without men, of course, but that we must recognize the role of women as essential to life. He then said that instead of the regular “passing of the peace,” the mothers should all sit and we should greet them with a kiss. I went around to women who were seated and I greeted them with a “Bon fèt” and a kiss on the cheek. A man I’d never met before came up to me and kissed my cheek. I said, “Oh, I’m not a mother.” He said, “It doesn’t matter. Life comes from women.” He stepped away, then came back a moment later and said, “Also, I don’t know what you do here [I am clearly a foreigner, which means I likely work for a mission organization], but if you give your life to help others, you are a mother -- more than a mother.”
I thought that was very sweet – and very much in keeping with what we’d heard in the sermon from the intern just a few minutes earlier, who'd said (better than this, but I didn’t take notes): When you receive someone in love, you [?]. When you respond to others with sweetness, you are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you. When you encourage someone, you are true to your baptism.” Thanks for the encouragement today, Holy-Spirit-by-way-of-a-stranger guy!
