“Mothers are the strongest antidote to the spread of self-centered individualism,” Pope Francis said during a general audience in 2015. “’Individual’ means ‘what cannot be divided.’ Mothers, instead, ‘divide’ themselves, from the moment they bear a child to give him to the world and help him grow.”

The pope’s words ring even more true as we approach Mother’s Day 2020 in this time of the coronavirus pandemic.

Because of their abundance of loving sacrifices, mothers in any age are among our true heroes. They always merit the classification “essential” in families. But this spring more mothers are qualifying as superheroes for their ability to divide themselves in myriad new ways.

So many mothers are taking on added teaching roles with their children or making more meals, even often while now working careers from home. We think especially of mothers with children at home who are on the front lines of the pandemic. Imagine the new stresses on nurses and physicians, supermarket workers, transit drivers, workers in nursing and senior homes, or other careers that daily may expose them to the virus.

And this Mother’s Day, so many mothers and grandmothers won’t be able to physically see their children and grandchildren because of stay-at-home requirements.

Still, on this day oh beautiful mothers everywhere — including in heaven — we give you our love, respect, honor, and admiration. Know of it every day, month, season, and year, even if we are temporarily apart. — Thomas J. Dermody