I just love Catholic radio and feel so privileged and blessed that I can be part of this beautiful “electronic community” that joins people together in unique and sometimes startling ways. Yesterday’s Women of Grace Live program was especially graced and I was awestruck at the movement of the Holy Spirit through the air waves.

 This marvelous work of the Holy Spirit began with a caller named Susan who lives in Kentucky. She called to ask me if I knew of any support groups or ministry outreaches within the Church specific to women who were facing the heart-breaking reality of infertitlity. While I told her I was unaware of an organization whose mission was this particular area, I did encourage her to seek help from the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Tom Hilger’s “NaPro Technologies” have been very beneficial for many women seeking to conceive a child. All of Dr. Hilger’s work complies with the teachings of the Church regarding this most important life issue. 

Personally, I was struck by Susan. She desires to follow Church teaching on this matter and had already discarded the idea of invitro-fertilization and other technologies that interfere with the unitive dimension of the marital act. It was clear to me that this was a woman whose only desire was God’s will even if it meant she would never conceive a child of her own. I talked with her about the great call of spiritual maternity and how a woman’s biological capacity or lack of it in no way diminishes her call to be “mother.”

Shortly after Susan ended her call, another caller from Kentucky phoned in. Her name is Christy. Christy shared with me and with my listeners that she well understood Susan’s plight, she herself struggling with infertility. Christy shared that she had three other friends who were also infertile and she was intending to meet with them at a local coffee shop, on a recurring basis, so that together they could give each other mutual support and encouragement. Her goal was to “mother” these women along in a way that helped them to discover God’s will for them in the midst of their disappointment and suffering.

I was awestruck! Here was precisely an example of what I had been communicating to Susan about the call of all women to be mother in and through the circumstances of their lives. Clearly, Christy was experiencing the maternal love and affection that comes from spiritual maternity as well as the interior grace of receiving and surrendering to its very special dynamic.

I had the idea that maybe Susan and Christy needed to know each other and that maybe — just maybe — a new ministry of support was being birthed right there on Women of Grace Live. Just maybe, Susan could do what Christy was doing and perhaps this great gift of spiritual maternity would grow and expand to other areas meeting a real need in the lives of many women facing the prospect of sterility. And maybe — just maybe –this effort could lead to a deepening understanding of the need and  calling to spiritual motherhood that can be the reward of such a difficult cross.

Our call screener, Jennifer, took Christy’s contact information off-air, and I invited Susan to call back if she was interested in getting in touch with Christy. She was and she did. May God bless them both and how wonderful it will be to see what God does with all of this.

Today is the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower. She is a perfect exemplar of spiritual maternity. In his book, Maurice and Therese: The Story of a Love, Bishop Patrick Ahern tells of the special friendship of Therese and a struggling seminarian named Maurice. The letters shared between the two are in the book and we get a glimpse into how one saint seeks to “mother” and “nurture” the soul of another. It is fine reading, inspiring and deep, and I highly recommend it. It is my prayer that all of us continue to seek and discover the diverse movements of God and the marvelous plan He has in mind for each of us.

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you. Plans for your welfare not your woe. Plans to give you a future full of hope.”  –Jeremiah 29:11