I thought I would give this Thought for the Week it’s Christian title rather than the American idea of Mother’s Day which started in 1908.
Mothering Sunday was thought to have started when children, mainly daughters, would be given the middle Sunday in Lent off from their domestic servant duties and allowed to return to their mother church rather than attending their local church. This meant a return to the family home town and seeing their mothers for whom they would pick a bouquet of wild flowers.
I found it interesting when I was researching this topic and looking at various reflections and prayers that a lot of them seemed to focus primarily on remembering mothers who are struggling, whose children are struggling, and women who are desperate to be mothers but for various reasons cannot be.
There is a real balance to be struck on occasions such as this. There’s no point in having Mothering Sunday if you can’t celebrate motherhood, but then neither should we simply brush everyone else aside whose situation isn’t what it should be.
My own mother passed away nearly 30 years ago, but I can still celebrate her life and all that she was (and in some respects continues to be) to me.
There is something sacred and very profound about motherhood which can (and, I would argue, should) be celebrated. And there is almost a maternal love and care we can offer to others for whom this would be a difficult time.