“Washington’s Birthday is for the ‘Father of our Country’; Memorial Day honors our ‘Heroic Fathers;’ Fourth of July is for our ‘Patriot Fathers;’ Labor Day is for Laboring Fathers; Thanksgiving Day remembers our ‘Pilgrim Fathers’; and even New Year’s Day looks to Old Father Time.” Where, on our patriarchal calendar, wondered devout Protestant Anna Jarvis, is there room for dear old Mom?

Her tireless labors are well-documented, and birthed for us, less than 100 years ago the holiday we celebrate this Sunday – Mother’s Day.

Founded in a church, nurtured in the marketplace, and now, continuing to morph in our post-modern and post-Christian society; Mother’s Day is open to all sorts of interpretations.

Its most enduring, however, is the thanks each one of us has for the lives we have been given and our mutual conviction that we did not get here all by ourselves. Sure, some of our mothers did better jobs than others. Most probably they did the best they could, whether they gave us blissful childhoods or fell well short of what we might think is minimally acceptable motherhood. And this momentary tip of the hat we now give is emblematic of a larger issue.

For just as there is a unique, life-giving bond between every mother and child, there is a unique, life-giving bond between every human and God.
Our mother’s role serves to remind us not only of our sheer and utter dependence on that one-time, and for many of us, continuing bond, but of all the responsibilities that arise from that relationship-
-and, in the context of our faith, to re-examine the bonds that exist between each one of us and our creator.

So just as we honor our mothers, we ask ourselves how we are called to honor our God. What maternal responsibilities do we have?
What divine responsibilities do we have?
Let’s remember Mom with all the honor that’s due.
Let’s remember God with all the honor that’s due.

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For a great history of Mother’s Day:
Consumer Rites- Leigh Eric Schmidt