“The bond of love is stronger than the tie with which nature has so strongly bound parents to their children” (St. Bernard of Clairvaux).
No doubt St Bernard, the great lover of God, was referring to the bond of love with God. And since this link is stronger than that of blood, it is possible to leave one’s family behind when it comes to responding to one’s vocation and to dedicate oneself entirely to the bond of love with God. Indeed, this bond is indestructible and bears the greatest fruit. It also creates new bonds between those who have put God first and nothing before the love of the Heavenly Father.
Jesus Himself makes this clear. When His relatives called Him while He was speaking to the crowd, He replied, ‘“Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother”’ (Mk 3:33-35).
There is no deeper bond than that which unites us to God, which cannot be equalled by any human love, no matter how great. In the message to Mother Eugenia, our Father declares:
“A mother never forgets the little creature she has brought into the world. So if a mother loves the little being I gave her, I love him more than she does, because I created him (…). She may later on forget him or think of him rarely, especially when because of his age he is no longer in her care, but I will never forget him. I will always love him, and even if he no longer remembers Me, His Father and Creator, I will still remember him and love him”.