Through Grace and Grit

As the month that celebrates the maternal strength of mothers and the Blessed Virgin Mary blooms, we are reminded that the most profound "yes" a mother can give is not just to the child she carries, but to the cross she may one day have to carry for them.

In my own family, this month of May is special – a reminder of my grandmother, born in May who we called “Mae-Mae.” Her strength and string of “yeses” is told in her story and that of her youngest daughter, my aunt – a story I was told so often and personally witnessed when Mae-Mae was alive.

During the first trimester of her pregnancy with my aunt, my grandmother contracted German measles. Aware of the risks, she spent months in quiet concern, a vigil of prayer and uncertainty that mirrors the faith a mother must have in God’s plan, even when it is clouded in mystery. When my aunt was a year old, the diagnosis was confirmed: she was profoundly deaf.

Rather than viewing this as a divine punishment, my grandmother saw it through the lens of the Gospel. She didn't ask "Who sinned that my child should be deaf?" but instead looked to the words of Matthew 16:24: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." For her, this was not a burden to be endured with bitterness, but a cross to be carried with fierce, sacrificial love. She had been blessed with a beautiful child with a special need, a child who needed strong and dedicated mothering.

Driven by the conviction that her daughter should never be trapped in a silent world, she devoted her life to teaching her to read lips and communicate verbally. In an era long before the internet, she became a self-taught expert through books and magazines. Mae enrolled in a correspondence class for parents to teach lip reading to deaf children. She devoted all of her time to working with my aunt. My grandmother stood present and unwavering in her dedication, giving her entire self so that her child could thrive.

This May, as we look to Mary as the ultimate model of motherhood, I am moved by that same spirit of Fiat. My grandmother’s life reminds me that a mother’s love is a call to action – a commitment to take up the crosses we are given and transform them, through grace and grit, into a beautiful testimony of life.