A Mother's Day Prayer
 
Mary, Mother of sorrows,
ease the sorrow of mothers who suffer either the loss or seperation of their children. Grant them courage, strength and hope so that they might rebuild their lives and their families.

Grant us your compassion
so that we might acknowledge and understand the plight of Mothers who suffer these sorrows throughout the world. Grant us the wisdom and courage to support just policies that will help rebuild broken lives and promote the essential unity of the family.
 
Come, Mary, Mother of us all.
Move us to see that we are all part of your family. Help us cherish every child, respect every mother's dignity,
and tear down the walls that divide us, so that caring communities might flourish
like May flowers under a blue sky.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Sixth Sunday of Easter: Mother's Day
Passionist JPIC E-Bulletin
May 9, 2010
Greetings!  

This weekend we celebrate Mother's Day. Besides the Lectionary Reflection for the weekend we also offer you resources and prayers related to this great occasion.
 
The Lectionary Reflection is provided by Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, CP. Fr. Sebastian will explore the Gospel message of true peace and social harmony in light of the special role that mothers play in our society. To engage in discussing Fr. Sebastian's reflection please visit theLectionary Reflection blog site and be part of the conversation.
 
We continue to update on Passionist social ministries and reflection with our Passion for Justice Blog. We invite you to visit our site and encourage you to offer your own thoughts. 
 
In lieu of an action section we offer a Mother's Day prayer service that has been developed by Education for Justice. We hope that you will find this an appropriate prayer that can be used with your own family, community or ministry. We also invite you to be part of our social networks by clicking on the tabs below.
 
Peace,
John
 
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Lectionary Readings:

  • Acts 15:1-2, 22-29. Luke's account of the council of Jerusalem.
  • Revelations 21:10-14, 22-23. John receives a vision of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven. The city has no temple because now the people will relate directly with God and the Lamb.
  • John 14:23-29. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you." Jesus explains the sign of peace differentiating it from the peace that the world offers. The Holy Spirit will teach us everything.
 
crossCalendar:
May 9: Mother's Day
May 10: St. Damien of Molokai, American Saint
May 13: Our Lady of Fatima
May 14: St. Matthias, Apostle
May 15: International Day of Families
May 16: Feast of the Ascension
May 16: St. Gemma Galgani, Passionist Saint
 
Quotes:
To overcome today's individualistic mentality, a concrete commitment to solidarity and charity is needed, beginning in the family.
-Pope John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, #49
 
The family, grounded on marriage freely contracted, monogamous and indissoluble, is and must be considered the first and essential cell of human society. From this it follows that most careful provision must be made for the family both in economic and social matters as well as in those which are of a cultural and moral nature, all of which look to the strengthening of the family and helping it carry out its function.
-Pope John XXIII, Pacem In Terris, #16
 
Indeed, in a healthy family life we experience some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them. For this reason, the family is the first and indispensable teacher of peace.
-Pope Benedict XVI, 2008 World Day of Peace message, #3
 
I invite every man and woman to have a more lively sense of belonging to the one human family, and to strive to make human coexistence increasingly reflect this conviction, which is essential for the establishment of true and lasting peace. I likewise invite believers to implore tirelessly from God the great gift of peace. Christians, for their part, know that they can trust in the intercession of Mary, who, as the Mother of the Son of God made flesh for the salvation of all humanity, is our common Mother.
-Pope Benedict XVI, 2008 World Day of Peace message, #15
Thoughts for your Consideration: By Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, CP  
 
Today is Mothers Day.  It celebrates the important role that the mother occupies within the family.  She is the heart of the family.
 
This is a significant social position, that is, a public prominence, and it works in tandem with the private task so often associated with the mother of the family, that is, the care-taking and well-being of her children.  We probably regard this latter concern as the more important of the two, but the church, especially in recent times, suggests that we should think in broader terms about the family, namely, as the basic building-block of society at large. The family is not just a private endeavor, but is a social enterprise. And so the mother of a family is a contributing factor in the betterment of society, contributing substantially to the establishment of social elements extending beyond the family itself. This comes about primarily through the children with whom she and her husband enrich other, larger, elements of society.
 
In recent times at least one organization of socially attuned mothers has emerged on the public scene, appropriately designated MOMSRISING. They bring to the public forum issues to which they are especially sensitive precisely because they are MOMS with oversight over children, which prompts their activism in the media and in legislation that have helped brought attention and oversight to the social problems associated with noxious elements on furniture imported from abroad, and with the leakage of harmful chemicals into the milk and other beverages children drink from plastic bottles. These are improvements benefiting society at large, not just the little ones.
 
For this reason linkage can be found between Mothers Day and the Easter Season during which it occurs. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was no more a private event than the work of the mother in the family. The resurrection was a renovating episode that shook the foundations of society. It occurred in the person of Jesus, Whom today's gospel recognizes as the Word of God the Father. The title Word is frequently applied to Jesus-not just to specific words He spoke to us-but to Himself as a Person, One of the Three within the Trinity of Persons, Another of Whom is the Father Who speaks to us, the "Word of God".  Jesus as this Word unites the Speaker (God the Father) and the listener, ourselves. In doing so He is a harmonizer of the divine and the human.
 

Passionist JPICHarmonization is a major concern of JPIC activities: Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation.  And harmonization of God and ourselves is the hallmark of Easter. By rising from the tomb Jesus obliterates the wall of sin and death between us and God, bringing us together.
 
It's on the basis of this conviction that we can listen to the Book of Revelation's vision of a new Jerusalem-the poor city that had been the victim of attacks, destruction and defeat over the centuries-and envision a different kind of Jerusalem, no longer to be trampled underfoot by trespassing armies, but now a gloriously gleaming place no longer in need of a sun or a moon for brightness, because it basks in the light of glory bestowed on it by the resurrection.  It is new creation, which is a mainline JPIC concern: a different and better kind of social structure that typifies harmony and peace, not divisiveness and war.
 
The church concretely illustrates concord emerging amid disagreement dividing the early church over the need of continuing certain Jewish practices, like circumcision, in the lives of Jewish converts to Christianity. This was a religious rite that had embedded itself deeply in Jewish society.  The day's scriptures describe a peace delegation sent from Jerusalem to Antioch to straighten out this matter, by suggesting other social/religious exercises (abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols, from the blood within meat of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage). Here we see social/religious practices current in a setting unaffected by the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb, giving way to new arrangements in a society thriving in the light of the resurrection. Once again, harmony replaces discord in a specific social setting-truly an exercise in JPIC.
 
The resurrection is a powerful bonding force capable of restructuring society. It is a social event, as well as a religious occurrence. When we celebrate Mothers Day under the glow of Easter, we see the impact of both on society at large, and recognize their potential for addressing issues that can better society.
Mother's Day Reflection and Prayer: By Education For Justice
 
Mother's Day was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their children.  Today, many mothers around the world are currently confronted with the realities and impacts of war.  We pray with them and for them.
 
In Argentina, El Salvador, and Guatemala, decades after their children disappeared during civil wars and as a result of military death squads, Elderly mothers still remember the feel of their children's hands in theirs.
We pray for all mothers whose memories keep their children alive.
 
In Darfur, a family runs from the sound of the militia's guns; The mother cannot hold all their hands, the children scatter, are lost in the night.
We pray for all mothers whose children are lost in war.
 
In the U.S., a family is separated by an immigration raid, The mother taken into custody, the children waiting, waiting, alone at home.
We pray for all mothers who cross borders to make a better life for their children and suffer because of it.
 
In Sierra Leone, Uganda, the Congo, children are taken to become soldiers, forced into military service and scarred forever by the guns they carry and the orders they are forced to carry out.
We pray for all mothers whose children are taken for war and who lose their childhoods forever.

In Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, female children are given up in desperation caused by poverty or lured by that rare thing, hope, only to endure the unspeakable violence of sexual slavery.
We pray for all mothers whose children are trafficked due to poverty.
 
In the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, mothers leave their own children to take care of other's children worlds away, carrying grief with them as they leave.
We pray for all mothers whose must care for the children of others to provide for their own.
 
In the U.S., mothers lose their children to the deceptive glamour of drugs and alcohol and the darkness of addiction in a culture that deforms the desires for the good and beautiful.
We pray for all mothers who long to free their children from the tyranny and grip of addiction and dependence.
 
We turn to Mary, model of strength and fortitude, who knew the anguish of being separated from her own child.  Mary, we turn to you today and we ask you to intercede for these mothers, and for all mothers to bring them solace and comfort.  Give us all the grace to continue, the courage to hope and fortitude to dream a better world for all of our children.  Mary, through the love and mercy of your Son, be with all mothers who suffer deeply. Grant them your strength, give them your grace, and guide them in their labors.
Amen.
 
North American Passionist JPIC Office