Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day
It is good for mothers to have a national holiday celebrated by everyone in recognition of their goodness, and in order to include the father as well, this feast was called Family Day.
On Mother’s Day, congratulations, gifts, and expressions of thanks, praise, and love are offered to her. Whoever’s mother has departed places flowers on her grave, or raises prayers for her…
The mother is the first face a person sees on the day of his birth, the first bosom that embraces him, the first tongue that coos to him, the first eye that looks upon him with tenderness, and the first hand that pats him…
The mother suffered for him before he was born, nourished him with her blood while he was a fetus, then nursed him after his birth, and carried him on her shoulder in his childhood. She took care of him: his health, his food, his cleanliness, his upbringing, and his vaccinations against illness at their proper times.
She became the source of tenderness for him, while protecting him from his father’s anger if he made a mistake.
The commandment to honor father and mother is the first commandment in human relationships, the first commandment on the second tablet of the Law, and the first commandment with a promise, that is, with a reward [Ephesians 6:2].
A person seeks his mother’s prayers and blessing, and indeed, belittling her brings a curse…
Thus it was written in the Law of Moses: “Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father” [Leviticus 19:3], “Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt” [Deuteronomy 27:16]. Also: “The eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out” [Proverbs 30:17]. And insulting one’s mother or father was punishable by death…
Our Lord Jesus Christ, while a child, was subject to His mother [Luke 2:51]. He also cared for her while on the cross [John 19:26–27].
The Scripture and history present to us examples of saintly mothers:
*Our spiritual mother is the Saint Virgin, who was a spiritual mother to the holy apostles [John 19:27].
*Moses the prophet’s mother is a wonderful example of Upbringing:
During the few years he spent with her in his childhood, she delivered to him the faith that remained with him in Pharaoh’s palace amid many forms of worship:
*Likewise, we remember the words of the Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy the bishop: “I remember the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice” [2 Timothy 1:5].
*It was the mothers and grandmothers who preserved the faith in Russia throughout the period of communist atheism, when religious education was forbidden…
*We also do not forget Hannah, the mother of Samuel, who vowed her son and dedicated him to the service of the Lord (1 Samuel 1).
*Likewise Saint Monica, the mother of Augustine, who wept for him for about twenty years when he had gone astray. Saint Ambrose the bishop said to her: “The son of these tears shall not perish.”
*We also remember the saintly mothers of monasticism:
Such as Mother Sarah, Mother Sophronike, Mother Paula, and Saint Mother Arbsima.
*We also remember the saintly mothers of the martyrs who encouraged their children toward martyrdom, among them Mother Rebecca and Mother Dolagy.
*And on Mother’s Day we also remember those who are in the rank of mother as well:
Such as the maternal aunt, the paternal aunt, the grandmother, and also the mother-in-law as a mother in law. And the mothers of our friends, as Saint Paul the Apostle says: “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine” [Romans 16:13].
Likewise the elderly, mothers and fathers:
As the Apostle says: “Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father… older women as mothers” [1 Timothy 5:1–2].
Our country also is a mother whom we love, and the Church is a mother who gave birth to us in the faith.
The saints say: “We cannot take God as Father unless we take the Church as Mother.”
*Do not burden your mother in serving you:
Do not neglect your bed and your belongings for her to arrange for you, but help her in her work according to your ability.
Do not oppose her, nor raise your voice above hers. And do not speak to her on the same level.
And be successful in your life so that your mother may rejoice in you.
See our book (Honor Your Father and Your Mother).
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