…Actually, I will not say anything to the mother, because her excuse may be old age, weakness or loneliness. But I tell you, O daughter: Is your mother’s home too small to accommodate you?! She is the one whose womb wasn’t too small to carry you!

If you could live for nine months in her womb, can you not live one more day in her home? Or is it that you cannot tolerate her?!…

Your response might be: my mother’s behavior is wicked! She seeks earthly things! She despises fasting! Sin is her make-up! She walks about in obscene clothes! That’s why I cannot live with her!

Before anything else, even if she was as you described her, you will be rewarded for declining to search for her mistakes.

She carried you in her womb, nurtured you, and kindly put up with your childhood with noble affection. She washed your clothes and nursed you in illness… She sustained you till you became a young woman and taught you the love of Christ. Therefore, you should not be annoyed by the behavior of your mother who dedicated you as a virgin to serve your Groom “Lord Jesus.”

—St. Jerome

via Family Love by Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty