Mothers
Day 2014
Everyone’s mother is SPECIAL, and rightly so.
We owe our physical as well as social and spiritual (to an extent) being to our
mother. At a time when our minds are easily influenced and molded, our
mothers taught us earliest the meaning of right and wrong, courtesy and respect
for others – especially our elders – and a love and regard for the great Being
to whom we owe our Creation.
When just a toddler I can remember my mother going
about her daily chores singing many of the great old hymns of the Church.
They still ring in my mind’s ear today….What a Friend we have in Jesus…..Alas,
and did my Saviour Bleed…..At the Cross…..In the Garden…..Love lifted
me…..Abide with me…..The Church’s one Foundation…..Onward Christian Soldiers…..Amazing
Grace…..and on, and on. Their beautiful words and melody have sustained
me when times were difficult, and they have called me back home when I was oft
a prodigal.
When I could barely speak and understand, my
precious mother would sit me on her knee and tell me about Jesus. I did
not understand her explanation of why He died for me, but I knew that He did it
out of an unknowable love because mother had said it. When I asked her
where I came from, she answered from heaven…..and I believed it. We came
from His Holy Presence as He had fashioned our members in the womb, from the
Father, “trailing,” as Longfellow has said, “clouds of glory.”
I later went off to West Point and later to the
service. I wandered away from some of the lessons my mother taught
me. But ever in my memory were her words and her songs. Always and
hauntingly they came back to my mind as consoling angels. My mother
taught me that character mattered, that purity in all matters affecting life
was the rule, and that love was greater than all else.
In May of 1991, my mother was taken to the hospital
with chest pains. The physician did not consider them life-threatening,
but admitted her to a private room for observation. That night my mother
suffered a massive heart attack which destroyed much of her heart. The
Doctor told us that she only had about 23% of usage left in her heart and that
her outlook was grim. If she survived, she would never again be able to
work in her treasured flower gardens or do anything else of note. I knew
mother would not be happy in that sad state.
On the Saturday night before her death, she asked me,
“Son, will you pray that I go easy?” I tried to make light of her comment
and told her she would be fine, but she insisted. I did pray that the
Lord would allow my mother’s passing to be ‘easy’ and painless. Sunday
morning, the Doctor called us in for an impromptu meeting. We feared the
worst – and got it! The physician had gone in to see my mother around
10:00 A.M. on Sunday morning. She was in a light-hearted mood and
responded to the doctor’s joking comments with a smile. He said that as
he reached up to get the attendant’s chart, he looked back down at my mother
and realized she was gone. Just like that! His heroic attempts at
reviving her were futile. But mother had a great day beyond our
knowing. She had gone to be with her Lord, Redeemer and Saviour – on
Mother’s Day.
Jerry L. Ogles
Presiding Bishop
Anglican Orthodox Church
Worldwide
