The story is told of two tribes that lived near each other. One tribe lived high in the mountains. The other tribe lived in the valley.

One day the tribe from the mountains came and kidnapped a small child. This caused great suffering among the members of the tribe that lived in the valley. They formed a small search party of the strongest and best men to rescue the child.

As they climbed the mountain to reach the village where the child had been taken, they found that it was most difficult to climb the rocks of the mountain. They reached a point that they could not continue because the mountain was so steep. They began their descent when suddenly they saw above them the mother and her rescued child.

They asked how could she have accomplished what they could not do.

She said, "You are not the mother of this child".

It is true that mothers have a strength that goes beyond understanding. Mothers can respond to their children when others stay back for whatever reason.

Today in the first reading we are told that the Church which was the Apostles, Mary and some other women gathered in the upper room where the Last Supper had taken place to pray and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They waited for nine days.

We gather to pray and wait for the Holy Spirit to come to us. We are facing very difficult times in the Church. We see that the crisis in the Middle East is getting worse. We see so many problems in our lives and in the lives of others.

We need the gift of the Holy Spirit to do the very difficult that must be done to bring about a greater good in the Church, world and in our lives.

What was part of that mother’s drive to do what the tribesmen could not do? She loved her child as her own. Do we love the Church as our own? Is it our Church? Is it my God who is calling me to change and be changed?