MOTHER’S DAY (May 13)

Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. This year it falls on May 13.

“God could not be everywhere, and therefore He made mothers” says Rudyard Kipling. I always used to wonder who that great person that said these golden words was. I didn’t know it was our very own Kipling, the English poet, short-story writer, and novelist; best known for his work of fiction, THE JUNGLE BOOK.

It seems that the origin of Mother’s Day goes back to the era of ancient Greek and Romans. The Greeks used the occasion to honor Rhea, wife of Cronus and the mother of many deities of Greek mythology. Ancient Romans, too, celebrated a spring festival, called Hilaria dedicated to Cybele, a mother goddess.

But this year, I would like to dedicate Mother’s Day to my special mother – Mother Mary – the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and the Mother of all who follow her Son (John 19:26-27). One of the roles that Mary fulfils is the MOTHER that we see in early Christianity!

Pope Pius XII dedicated the entire human race to Mary in 1944. The Church has long taught that Mary is truly the MOTHER of God. St. Paul too observed that “God sent His Son, born of a woman”, expressing the union of the human and the divine in Christ. My research shows that though she is not our MOTHER in the physical sense, she is called a spiritual MOTHER, as she conceives, gives birth and nurtures the spiritual lives of grace for each person.

And so the intercession of Mother Mary is very powerful as Jesus cannot neglect His mother’s commands. This can be proved by the first miracle Jesus did at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11). Mother Mary told Jesus “They have no more wine” and Jesus turned water into wine!

Therefore, the confidence that each person should have in Mother Mary was expressed by Pope Pius IX in the encyclical Ubipriinum: “The foundation of all our confidence is found in the Blessed Virgin Mary. For God has committed to Mary the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is His will, that we obtain everything through Mary”.

PS: But Catholic teachings make clear that Mary is not considered divine and prayers to her are not answered by her, they are answered by God.

So here’s wishing the Mother of all generations a very Happy Mother’s Day!