Finding Hope in God’s plan with our Spiritual Mother
Archdiocesan Women’s Conference draws women closer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Jubilee Year of Hope
By Mary Powers
The Archdiocese of San Francisco held its annual Women’s Conference on Saturday, February 1, at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Belmont. The Jubilee event was attended by 100 women from the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Northern California with the themes of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Spiritual Motherhood, and being anchored in Christ who is our Hope.
The day began with two talks by keynote speaker Timmerie Geagea, host of the podcast and Relevant Radio Show “Trending with Timmerie.”
In her first talk, Geagea spoke on the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role as a model for all women, especially in her motherhood. Using the example of the Visitation, Geagea said that women are called to follow the example of Our Lady to be spiritual mothers as well as physical mothers, explaining that even after finding out that she was to have a baby, Mary went in haste to visit Elizabeth to help her with her pregnancy since she was advanced in age. Geagea further explained that Mary, in her motherhood, has been through so many of the trials that women go through and is a mother that women can turn to for guidance and help.
In her second talk, Geagea spoke on the virtue of Hope, how Jesus is our Hope and how women can anchor their prayer life in order to be the mothers that God has called them to be. She explained that Hope is a supernatural gift strengthened through living a sacramental life—staying close to the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The Conference also include Mass with Archbishop Cordileone where he spoke on the virtue of Hope in his homily and how Our Lady embodies that Hope, a model for women in the Church. Speaking of the Blessed Mother’s command to the waiters at the wedding at Cana, the Archbishop said that it parallelled Jesus’ last command at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory of Me.”
“This is what He tells us to do, and John’s version of the Last Supper makes it clear what that means: not simply enacting a ritual, but lowering ourselves to wash feet, to love one another as He has loved us, to lay down our lives for Him and for one another,” said Archbishop Cordileone. “To do for each other what He has done for us.”
Mary’s living out of both her request of the waiters and her Son’s final commandment comes from the gift of her womanhood, the Archbishop said.
“The gift of the intuitive sense of knowing – a different way of knowing, that gives assurance, sure hope, that God is working out His plan of salvation for each of us, even in the midst of the trials and vicissitudes of our life in this world,” said Archbishop Cordileone. “It is the gift that God has given all women, the “feminine genius” as Pope St. John Paul II was so fond of calling it, a gift so needed in the world today, even if in imperfect form due to the condition of original sin into which we are all born.”
Later in the day, the women gathered for Eucharistic Adoration and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, ending the day in prayer.
