Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day
We celebrate Mother’s Day every year on March 21st, which is also the Feast of Spring. On this occasion, I would like to congratulate all mothers, especially those present with us in our gathering tonight. I wish them all a happy life with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, for I see before me now some elderly women—though not all, of course.
In truth, motherhood is an instinct in a woman. Every wife longs to be a mother and grieves if she bears no children.
An example is Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, who wept in her prayer before God, asking Him to give her a son whom she would dedicate to His service. God accepted her prayer and granted her Samuel, and she rejoiced in him (1 Samuel 1:10–11).
Likewise, Rachel, when she was barren, said to her husband Jacob, the patriarch, “Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30:1). To that extent Rachel longed to become a mother, otherwise she saw death as preferable!
We notice also that our first mother was not called Eve until after she became a mother. “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). Before that, “she was called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23).
It is strange in our society that a woman’s first childbirth is like a test for her! If she gives birth to a daughter, her husband feels sorrow and displeasure—though she is not to blame for that, as most physicians affirm. Yet the mother bears the father’s anger and grief patiently, and if he wishes to “comfort” her, he says, “What can we do? We must accept reality!”—as if lamenting his fate!
But if she gives birth to a son, the father rejoices. Yet whether the child is male or female, he is attributed to the father, not to the mother who bore the pain and labor of childbirth. Thus we read in the genealogies: “Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob…” (Matthew 1:2), without mention of Saint Sarah, who bore Isaac, nor Saint Rebekah, who bore Jacob—though both endured barrenness and later the pains of pregnancy and delivery.
A mother is the model of giving and endurance—during pregnancy with its burdens, in labor with its pain, and afterwards as well.
She gives her child a place within her own body to grow and move; she gives of her own flesh so that he may be formed. His bones are made of the calcium from her body, his blood from her iron, his tissues from her protein—every part of him comes from her until he is complete.
That is why a mother’s health weakens greatly when births come in close succession. The baby depends on the mother’s blood for nourishment, so great care must be given to her during pregnancy—never to distress or exhaust her, and to ensure she is well nourished, for she is feeding not only herself but her child as well.
During nursing, she gives of her own milk so her baby may grow, and thus she also needs strong, abundant food.
For this reason, the Church exempts pregnant and nursing mothers from fasting, especially during the months of formation and growth of the baby.
The mother continues to give and endure for a long time: nursing, cleaning, vaccinating her child, tolerating his crying and waking her at all hours. When he grows older, she carries him on her chest or shoulder, sometimes at the cost of her work if she is employed, and even sacrifices attending church if his crying disturbs the service—unless the church has a Crying Room or Glass Room for mothers and infants.
She also labors to teach her child to walk and speak. Thus frequent births close together are a heavy burden that her body and nerves may not bear—such as a mother pregnant with one child, carrying another on her shoulder, and pulling a third by the hand!
It is therefore wise for a mother to bear a child only every two and a half years, so when the next one comes, the previous child is nearly two years old.
Often the father is busy with his work and cannot help in child-rearing, leaving all responsibility to the mother. And entrusting children to nurseries or servants is not the ideal method of upbringing. One of the Fathers said, “A woman is not called a mother by giving birth, but rather by raising her children.”
The mother is also the sponsor of her child at baptism. She carries him, renounces Satan on his behalf, and declares the foundation of faith, becoming responsible for his spiritual care. The white garments of baptism symbolize the new pure birth, while the red girdle symbolizes the Blood of Christ by which he received the grace of baptism.
So let every mother who receives her child pure from the baptismal font preserve his purity and raise him righteously.
I have told you before about saintly mothers who gave history holy and famous sons.
To mention a few briefly:
Jochebed, who bore Moses the prophet, Miriam the prophetess, and Aaron the high priest—what mother could match such greatness?
The mother of Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, who also bore Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Peter of Sebaste, and their sister Saint Macrina, their spiritual guide.
In Egypt, we remember Mother Dolagy of Esna, Mother Refqa of Sanbat, and Mother Julitta of Tahta.
Saint Paul the Apostle said to his disciple Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus: “I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice” (2 Timothy 1:5).
A mother may depend on Sunday School for her child’s spiritual education, but I would say to her:
If your child spends only one hour a week in Sunday School, he spends the remaining 167 hours with you.
So he learns most from you. What stories of the saints do you tell him? What verses or hymns do you teach him? What habits of spiritual life do you train him in?
You have a duty toward him in early childhood before school, in later childhood, and even in youth. If he goes astray, remember Saint Monica, who wept for her son Augustine until Saint Ambrose said to her, “The child of these tears shall not perish.”
Truly, if all mothers cared for their children spiritually as they ought, the Church would be filled with saints.
In greeting mothers on their feast, we also remember the nuns, for the nun is called Tamav, meaning “my mother.”
They are mothers spiritually. Among them we recall “Mother Sarah,” whom the monks of Scetis sought for counsel, and “Mother Severiniki,” also famous among the nuns.
We must not forget widowed mothers, who bear the full burden of raising their children alone and devote their time and strength entirely to them.
In our greetings, we recall God’s commandments to honor father and mother.
The Ten Commandments were written on two tablets: the first concerning man’s relation with God, the second concerning human relations. The first of these says: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land” (Exodus 20:12).
Saint Paul refers to this in Ephesians 6:1–3, calling it “the first commandment with a promise.”
Conversely, Scripture lists punishments for those who dishonor their parents: “Cursed is he who treats his father or mother with contempt” (Deuteronomy 27:16), and “He who curses father or mother, let him surely be put to death” (Mark 7:10; Leviticus 20:9).
Also, “The eye that mocks his father and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it” (Proverbs 30:17).
Moses’ Law even commanded that a stubborn, rebellious son who refuses correction “shall be stoned by the men of his city, that you may put away the evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 21:18–21).
The word mother can also be understood symbolically. Baptism is our spiritual mother, from which believers are born anew. The Church, too, is our mother, as Saint Ignatius of Antioch said: “He cannot have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his mother.”
Saint Paul likewise said, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).
Students of the Theological Seminary consider it their mother in knowledge and celebrate it on Mother’s Day. Likewise, our homeland is a mother—Egypt is the motherland, and the Church in Egypt is the mother church.
All Christians have a spiritual mother—the Virgin Mary.
Even on the Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ cared for His mother, entrusting her to His beloved disciple John, saying, “Behold your mother” (John 19:27). Thus she became the mother of us all.
During the offering of incense, the priest gives incense before her icon, saying:
“We greet you with Gabriel the angel, saying: Hail to you, full of grace. Hail to you, O beautiful dove, who bore God the Word for us. Hail to you, O true Queen, the pride of our race, who bore Emmanuel for us.”
We honor her as Mother of God and remember her in the Divine Liturgy, saying:
“And especially for our all-holy, full-of-glory, ever-virgin, holy Theotokos, Saint Mary, who truly bore God the Word.”
We also honor grandmothers and elderly women.
Saint Paul mentioned Lois, the grandmother of Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5), and in Romans 16:13 he wrote: “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.” He thus regarded his disciple’s mother as his own—a lesson to all priests in treating elderly women as mothers. He said also to Timothy: “Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father… and the older women as mothers” (1 Timothy 5:1–2).
Another mother worthy of respect is the mother-in-law.
The wife’s mother is a mother to the husband, and the husband’s mother is a mother to the wife—hence the English term Mother-in-law. The best example is Ruth with her mother-in-law Naomi: “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16–17).
It is remarkable that just as God is called the heavenly Father, He also likens Himself to a mother:
“Can a woman forget her nursing child? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15).
“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you… You shall be carried on her side and dandled on her knees” (Isaiah 66:12–13).
And our Lord said to Jerusalem: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37).
It was said of our Lord Jesus Christ that He was subject to His mother (Luke 2:51). He to whom angels and archangels, cherubim, and seraphim submit, was obedient to His mother—a lesson for us all.
How then should we honor our parents?
By obedience and submission; by success in our lives.
As the Bible says: “A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother” (Proverbs 10:1).
A mother rejoices in her successful child and feels shame for her failing one.
We honor our parents also by avoiding choices that grieve them—such as marriage against their will. Esau’s marriage to Hittite women “was a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah” (Genesis 26:35). Thus, in marriage, a son must choose a wife who will not be bitterness to his mother but a comfort, as Ruth was to Naomi.
To honor parents is also to recognize their goodness: their care, labor, teaching, and protection, presenting us finally as useful members of society.
In return, we must care for them in their old age, when they need help and comfort.
Nowadays many elderly people live alone or in nursing homes because their children live far away or abroad. The Church has done well in establishing homes for the aged, standing in place of sons and daughters to care for parents in their twilight years.
Finally, love for parents must be from the heart.
Out of this love flow obedience, respect, care, honor, and the desire to please them in every way.
¹ Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – El-Keraza Magazine, Year 31, Issues 13–14 (April 4, 2003)
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