Good morning, Staff, students, and most importantly the incredible Mothers that have graced us with their presence.
Today, we come together to commemorate Mother’s Day, a special occasion dedicated to honouring the remarkable women who not only brought us into the world, but nurtured and shaped us into becoming the young men we are today. As I stand before you, I am privileged to have been given the opportunity to reflect upon John’s recount of the wedding at Cana.
When I think about this gospel, three key lessons jump out to me. Firstly, our mums, they get us like no one else, they often understand who we are and our capabilities, better than even we do. Secondly, there is something unique about a mother and sons’ connection, existing before you were even brought into this world, allowing for a special line of communication, like no one else. Finally, they ultimately know what is best for us, even if we sometimes don’t understand at the time.
My initial belief stems from the opening of the passage where Mary, upon hearing of the wine shortage, turns to Jesus saying, “They have no wine”. To which Jesus responds, “woman, what does this have to do with me”. While I can only imagine my own mum’s reaction if called her woman, this wasn’t disrespectful at the time and merely indicated Jesus’s lack of concern for the wine. Through this we see how Mary possessed a unique understanding of Jesus in a way no one else did, not even himself. With this simple request, Mary demonstrated the unwavering faith and trust of a mother in her child, a faith that each and every one of your mothers holds in you.
As Mary knew her sons’ capabilities, so does my own mother understand my own. When I felt like giving up on sport, thinking an injury was too much to come back from, she was there, picking me back up. When I doubted myself, thinking I had aimed too high, she was there, reminding me what I was I capable of. At times where I have thought, this content is too hard, I’ll just give up for this one sac, she has been there, reminding me of my sisters ATAR and of her own glory days as dux of her high school, as long ago as that was. Just like Mary, our mothers are there urging us, pushing us forward, knowing our full potential if we were to just keep persisting.
My next two come from when Jesus, knowing of his powers at the time, did not want to reveal for who he was too early, and be arrested before he could spread the word of the lord, replied, “my hour has not come”. But Mary once again confident in her son turned to the servants saying. “Do whatever he tells you.” I like to imagine at this time, she turned back to Jesus, not saying a word to him, but giving him just that motherly look, I am sure many of you know what I’m talking about. That ok, enough messing around look, the I am serious now it’s time to clean your room look. Or as I would now like to refer to it, the look that turned water into wine. Because that is the power of this relationship you have with your mum, nothing short of a miracle. Even now, I look to my mum for support, looking out at the crowd, I search for her smiling face, and in that moment, no words need be exchanged, she tells me everything I need to know. This motherly look heralded Jesus’ first public act, the inaugural “sign” of God’s presence in the world through him and renewed his disciple’s belief in him.
Yet still, I too am sometimes unbelieving of my mother’s foresight. When my Mum tells me to just go to bed or ill regret it the next day and I ignore her. She was right. When she tells me to not have my phone in my room late at night else ill struggle to fall asleep, she was right. When times are tough and she tells me it will be ok, I will be all right, she was right. When she tries to convince me, her co-workers keep her young and she is up with all the new “slang”, she was… actually maybe I won’t go that far, but most of the time, she’s right.
So now, I’d like for all the boys to take this moment, to turn to their mothers, and, looking them in the eye, thank them for their belief, recognise the special connection that they share and admit, that maybe, some of the time, they are right.