A long-distance phone call

Many years ago I was invited to the apartment of an American family in New York. It was a birthday party and everyone was there: father, mother, sons, daughters, daughter and son-in-law, grandchildren, relatives, a few friends. The only one absent was the birthday celebrant himself. He was a Jesuit priest in Manila. (Let us call him Tom.) He had been told to await a long-distance phone call from his family.

Today an overseas call is easy to make. Just lift the receiver and dial the numbers. In those days, everything had to be done through operators. The call was set for eight o’clock: 8 p.m. in New York, 8 a.m. in Manila.

The call was made and Tom was on the line. Everyone spoke to wish him a happy birthday. First the father, then everyone else in turn. The men, conscious of cost per minute, spoke briefly. The women, heedless of cost, spoke long. Finally the mother took the receiver, and what she said was memorable.

She said, "Happy Birthday Tom. All of them can just call you Tom or Father Tom or Uncle Tom. Only I can call you my baby".

It did not sound childish. It sounded very natural. Only the father and mother can call a person "My son" or "My daughter". But only the mother can say, "My baby".

That is the unique relationship between mother and child.

More recently a teacher invited me to talk to her class. It was a class in Religious Studies and they were discussing the doctrine of the Trinity.

After the talk, a girl raised her hand and asked if she could ask a question on a different subject. I said yes. Her question: "Why do you Catholics adore Mary?"

I explained that we don’t adore Mary. We venerate her, we love her, we give her special honor.

"Why?" She asked. "She is just a woman, like any other woman".

"No she isn’t," I said, "Mary has the unique honor of being the Mother of Jesus".

She did not seem satisfied. So I said, "Do you Protestant believe that Jesus is true man and true God?"

"Yes, we do," she said.

"How do you address Jesus when you pray to him?"

She said, "My Lord".

I said, Mary must also call him Lord. But in addition, she can call him what no other human being can call him. She can call him "My son".