Angelus News | May 17, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 10

LETTER AND SPIRIT
SCOTT HAHN
Scott Hahn is founder of the
St. Paul Center for Biblical
Theology; stpaulcenter.com.
Of mice and Mom
Small children never doubt their need for a family.
They live in utter dependency. Without help, they
can’t eat, or get dressed, or hear their favorite stories
read aloud.
They are on the receiving end of everything, and it makes
for a good life. But, at some point, they become aware of
yet another need: the need to be needed. They know that
they’re not quite in “full communion” with the older family
members, because they’re
not yet contributing their
fair share. To be needed —
and not just to be loved —
is what it means to be fully
engaged in family life.
One afternoon when I
was very young, I heard a
scream from the kitchen. It
was Mom’s voice! Immediately,
I bolted down the
hall and arrived to see
my dear Mom backed up
against the kitchen counter,
terror flashing in her
eyes. Mom scared? It was
something I’d never seen
before.
Her eyes were fixed
downward, and she could
barely get the words out:
“Th- th-there’s a mouse!”
Then I realized: My
mother needed me. Little
me.
With the fire of filial
courage inflaming my
breast, off I went.
It took less than a minute.
After cornering it, I
reached down and grabbed
it by the tail and picked it
up. It was teeny-tiny. But
Mom still looked on with terror in her eyes.
I then asked what seemed to be a very logical question,
“What should I do?”
“Just get it out of here!”
“St. Mary (the Blessed Virgin) with the Christ Child” icon. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Dutifully, I evicted the creature from the house and the
drama was over.
But I knew that I had ascended to a new plane.
For the first time in my life, my Mom needed me! I could
actually meet the needs of the person who had been meeting
all of mine, all my life.
It was a moment of illumination, a full initiation into
family life, a first glimpse of a mystery that dwelt at the heart
of our family home.
What I glimpsed was the
mysterious and inseparable
relationship between love
and sacrifice. We need
to be needed for our own
unique contribution, our
own unique gifts. What we
have been given, we long
to give away in turn, and
we won’t be happy until
we fulfill that longing,
until we give ourselves
to someone else in love,
holding nothing back.
The family is where
these needs are satisfied in
the natural way that was
ordained by God. St. Augustine
spoke of the family
as a network of mutual,
natural needs, which were
really God’s gentle way
of getting us to love one
another (see “Confessions”
1.6).
The sacrament of marriage
raises these natural
drives and natural fulfillment
to a supernatural
level, so that all our loving
and all our giving prepares
us for the supreme and
ultimate act of loving and giving, which we call heaven.
In May we traditionally honor our mothers, and especially
Mary, the mother we share with Jesus. Do something great
for them.
32 • ANGELUS • May 17, 2024