On the grace of maternal love: a sermon for Mothering Sunday
“My womb begot my child”: on the grace of maternal love At the Parish Eucharist on The Fourth Sunday in Lent, Mothering Sunday, 2022 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 “It's the word of Jesus that has the greatest effect On the world. That has found the deepest resonance In the world and in man. In the heart of man ... A man had two sons. Of all God's parables This one has awakened the deepest echo.” The words are those of the French poet Charles Peguy on the parable of the Prodigal Son. He captures how this parable has touched numberless hearts over centuries: how many of us see ourselves in this parable; how it evokes within us a deep recognition of our own journeys. And yet, it might seem an odd choice of Gospel reading for Mothering Sunday. The parable, after all, is dominated by three male characters - a father, an elder son, a younger son. Why does Jesus tell such a parable with no mention of female family members? It is not, after all, as if...