Call Your Mother

Advice from the late Charlotte Bloomberg to her son, Mayor Michael of New York … “Call your mother.”

As a son of Notre Dame, this has special meaning for me.

Before my own mother passed away, it meant being there for her, being available for her joy at hearing from me, too often separated by distance. I was impressed that the Mayor was known for calling his mother every day, and embarrassed that I never had that focus. It is a failing I will live with, and one that instructs my frequent contact with my own children, sometimes too much.

I think about Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, and realize I came much too late to the Rosary and to praying to her on a regular basis. One would think that Notre Dame would have made the process easier, but it was there that I stepped away from the Church, from Our Lady and from my own mother for two years. It was a time of rebellion, a time to walk away from the constant religion my mother pushed on me … now I know what a misunderstanding that was. 

“Call your mother” is advice to be taken to heart, before it’s too late. And I know that “call your Father” is just as important … He and She are there for us, if we but call on them.