Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 13, 2001

Anwar Sadat was the President of Egypt during the Presidency of Jimmy Carter. Relations with the Arab world and Israel were just as tense as they are now. President Sadat did something that was very heroic. He broke ranks with the other Arab nations.  He offered to make a peace treaty with Israel. It was a very wonderful sight to see President Sadat, the Prime Minister of Israel, Menachen Begin, and President Carter sitting at the same table in Washington to sign this treaty.

When the reporters asked President Sadat what made him think that this treaty would work, he said that he had a very special ally, the Israeli mother. The mothers in Israel didn’t want their sons to be killed and they would support this foreign president.

That is a quality of a mother: to look out for the welfare of her children. That is certainly the quality that is very strong in our spiritual mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 1917 on this very day, Mary appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal.  She called her children all over the world to feel in a new and deep way the special love that God gives to us.

Why is that so important? Jesus says in the Gospel today: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Jesus’ commandment is not to love one another in any way that we wish. He is commanding us to love as we have been loved by God.

We can see in Mary how God has loved all of us. May we allow Mary to be our Mother so that we can feel more deeply God’s love for us and give that love to others.