To the Band of Brothers: May 9, 2021

Fr. Willie ‘87 | President
Good morning!
 
I know it’s very strange to be getting an email from me on a Sunday morning, but this is no ordinary morning. It’s Mother’s Day and, while it should not be a strange thing for you to be nice, respectful, obedient, and complimentary to your mother all the time, today is a day you should go way beyond the call of duty.
 
There is a powerful, indisputable bond between you and your mother. Even though half of your DNA was contributed by your dad, it was in your mother’s womb that you were knitted and nestled for nine months. You were literally tethered to her and received all you needed to develop and grow.
 
This, in part, is the reason few people know you as well as your mother. Your doctor may know you physically, your counselor psychologically, and your spiritual director spiritually, but your mother knows and loves the whole of you. I know my mom does. So, in her honor and convinced I’m not the only one who has experienced this, I would like to share with you three phrases I often heard from her that are, simply put, pearls of maternal wisdom.
 
The first is one of my personal favorites: “Ay, Willie García-Tuñón, te conozco porque te parí” (transl. “Oh, Willie García-Tuñón, I know you so well because I birthed you”). For the longest time, I was convinced my mother had extrasensory perception (ESP). I would place a glass of milk too close to the edge of a table and, somehow, she knew it would come crashing down to the floor. I would get my arm ready to smack the back of my brother’s head and, pop, the back of my head was being smacked.
 
It didn’t only apply to actions. Even my words and thoughts were known to her far in advance of my saying or thinking them. Like King David in Psalm 139, “Even before a word is on my tongue, you know it all” (v. 4). She would look at me with one eye closed and warn, “Piensa bien lo que vas a decir” (transl. “Think well what you are going to say”). For the record, this second phrase does not count against my three-pearl count.
 
Come to think of it, the birthing line only applied to bad things. It was almost as if she had no premonition of what I did right. Maybe those moments were too rare. She would look very surprised when she would find me brushing my teeth without her reminding me and be aghast when I actually made my bed before leaving to school. And, if I offered to walk the dog, wash the car, or mow the lawn, she was convinced there was something amiss.
 
The next phrase wouldn’t seem to apply at first glance: “Cuando tengas hijos te vas a acordar de mí” (transl. “When you have children, you will remember me”). As a priest you would think I am liberated from this apparent curse. But, when you are a priest charged with helping take care of 1,375 kids, the phrase is very, very appropriate. As a matter of fact, after a long day at Belen, I can clearly hear my mother’s voice and wonder how she survived us.
 
The third phrase is, “Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo” (transl. “The devil knows more because of age than because of being the devil”). The first thing I would like to mention about this phrase is that it definitely sounds better in Spanish than it does in English. It simply doesn’t work as well. I do confess, though, I would love to hear my mother say it in English. It would clearly remove some of its punch.
 
As for its power, there is no doubt youth provides ability and potential. What it does not provide is wisdom. That comes with age. As I look back on my youth and remember the things my mother said and did, I realize how right she was almost all of the time. I know I failed to see that when I was a young teenager. Her years of experience, motivated by the love for her children, made for being raised in a home that was safe and happy. My mother knew because she was simply older and wiser.
 
Words cannot express how much we owe our moms for what they have done for us. Every day should be Mother’s Day. Of my mother’s sayings and their wisdom, I could echo the words of the gospel of St. John, “There are also many other things that [my mother] did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world could contain the books that would be written” (21:25). I could actually write pages and pages of this stuff, but I have no intention of writing a novel. Not to mention you have to get working on making your mother breakfast.
 
Auspice Maria
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BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain.  The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline.  In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty.  The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow.  Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.