A Mother's World

     Mama Vincenza opened her eyes. It was morning or was it really the middle of the night? As she wondered, not yet fully awake, the rooster in the backyard crowed. She glanced around and realized that her husband had already gone.

     "Oh, Hector," she groaned to herself. "How long can you last working such long hours on the farm?" Tears sprang to her eyes as she thought of him while she washed and dressed.

     Next to wake the children and tidy the house.

     "John, it’s time to get up for Mass… Teresa… Costanzo…Charles.

     As they walked along the dirt road, Mama breathed in the morning air and searched the Merlo farm for a trace of her husband. Sometimes she could see him leading the animals out of the barn or doing some other necessary chore. But not this morning. Eight-year-old Teresa slipped her hand into her mother’s.

     "I like to come to Mass with you, Mama, so that I can see Jesus in the white host, but I would like it much better if I could receive Him in my heart like you do."

     "I know," the woman answered with a smile. She wrapped her arm around her daughter. "Just a few more months and you will make your First Holy Communion."

     "Mama," she asked as they walked along, "what will it be like to receive Jesus in Holy Communion?"

     "It will be like going to heaven," came the sure reply.

     "Will I go to heaven soon?"

     "Oh no, only after lifetime of hard work.

     "What kind of work? Sewing, cooking?"

     "Perhaps, but the kind doesn’t matter. What matters is to do what you can, the best way you can, for love of God."

     The conversation continued until they arrived at the church and went inside.

     Castagnito is a small town in the northern part of Italy called the Piedmont Region. As the nineteenth century dawned, the people continued at the same steady pace – industrious, thrifty, unafraid of hard work. When 1899 slipped into 1900, they did not expect to suddenly become famous or rich. Life was simple. Each family built their house from raw materials provided by the Maker. They tilled the land and watched the crops begin to grow. They raised animals – chickens, cattle, sheep, pigs and horses. And the womenfolk spun cloth, fashioned it into clothes, cooked, baked, cleaned, mended and fixed. Yes, life was simple and the people liked it that way.

     Day after day the Merlo family walked to church. Mama Vincenza took the time and care to explain the why’s of such a practice. She would never let them think that going to Mass was something they had to do. On cold days, all through the winter, she bndled them up and explained, as they walked, how sacrifice chosen for God’s love builds strong citizens of earth and makes for a big reward in heaven.

     "But," John asked once, "shouldn’t I stay home and help Papa with the farm, at least in the summer?"

     "Go to Mass first," Mama retorted. "You will work faster and better afterwards. Oh," she added, "if we only understand the value of the Mass."

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    Yes is Forever, by the Daughters of St. Paul, Copyright © 1981, Daughters of St. Paul.
Used by permission of Paulines Books & Media, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, MA 02130. All rights reserved.