BEING part of the Church makes motherhood all the sweeter for Jessie Brennan and Ramona Villanueva as they prepare their bubs for Christmas.
Mrs Brennan with her daughter Chryssa, seven months old, and Mrs Villanueva with her son Israel, 18 months old, sat down to talk about being young mums in the Church today.
“I think it can be really easy for motherhood to feel really lonely, but when you’re part of a community, part of a parish, you know that you’re not alone,” Mrs Villanueva said.
“You can see other people are trying to live their best and most faithful life as well, along with raising kids; you can see it’s not an impossible task, it’s actually a really beautiful endeavour to raise your children in a faithful family and a faithful place.”
Mrs Brennan said she was always grateful to hear priests at the start of Mass acknowledge that it was “good to have babies here”, knowing they might make noise and fuss.
“That takes a weight off my shoulders, an anxiety off my shoulders, because ultimately I know if the Church isn’t crying, it’s dead… if we don’t have kids growing up in the Church, then who’s going to be the next generation of Catholics.”
She said the Catholic community she was part of was “so giving and so helpful”.
She also made friends with many other mums in the same position who shared similar values while at Church gatherings.
“And I haven’t really had to pay for any new (baby) clothes,” she said with a laugh.
Mrs Villanueva said being part of the Church as a young mum “made life more full”.
She said when parishioners showed interest in her child or offered help for something they might have dropped on the ground, she felt affirmed in her vocation.
“You don’t have to do it by yourself and you never really feel alone,” she said.
Both mums said parishes with crying rooms made going to Mass much easier.
“Personally I love a crying room,” Mrs Villanueva said.
“I love a space where they can just be themselves and do what they need to do – run around, cry, be fed and not feel self-conscious about that.
“It helps us feel involved … and present at Mass but also be present to (Israel) at the same time.”
Motherhood had shone a different spotlight on Christmas for both mums.
Mrs Villanueva said newborns were so vulnerable and for God to place Himself in that position was so “audacious”.
It was Mrs Brennan’s first Christmas with Chryssa and said she knew she would empathise a lot more with the Nativity story.
Both mums drew strength from Mother Mary.
“Something that I always think about is saying ‘yes’ to the hard things, saying ‘yes’ to being open to God’s will all the time,” Mrs Brennan said.
“And in (Mary’s) motherhood as well… I strive to be like her as a mother, to be patient, to be loving, to be a comfort, a guide.”
Mrs Villanueva said there were times when looking after a baby was tiresome and mundane, and that lifted her mind to think about Mary’s humanity.
“I wonder what that would’ve looked like for her… there’s a sense of solidarity – I’m sure there were days when she got bored, you get bored… and you feel almost a comradery.
“Mary did this – and she wasn’t just raising a normal human person, she was raising God.
“There’s grace in that, and there’s grace in this, and all parts of it – all of the hard and all of the joy.”
