A Sunday for all mothers
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| People attending a Mother's day drive by to honour their mothers living in a nursing home, USA (ANSA) |
Around the world, mothers and their children have been
separated by lockdown measures. As families celebrate Mother’s Day on 10 May,
we remember Mary, Mother of the Church, and all mothers who are suffering
during this time of trial.
By Francesca Merlo
For many countries around the world, the second Sunday
of May marks Mother’s Day. Although it is celebrated differently from
country to country, and even from family to family, whenever and wherever
Mother’s Day is celebrated, it is a day to honour our mothers, and all the
sacrifices they make for us.
Pope Francis once said that humanity is “built on mothers”
and that their love is a cure for a world, which is so often divided and filled
with bitterness. He spoke of a mother’s heroism in self-giving, “strength in
compassion” and “wisdom in meekness.”
Mother's Day in a time of coronavirus
This Mother’s Day will be felt a little differently as, all
around the world, countries are facing strict lockdown measures due to the
Covid-19 coronavirus. Although many mothers have been lucky enough to welcome
their children home for this lockdown, many more are finding themselves
separated, and in some cases, far away.
Future mothers
Some of the mothers most affected by the pandemic are
expectant ones. In a statement released on 7 May, the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) estimated that around 116 million children will be born
throughout the duration of the emergency.
UNICEF’s Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, said “millions
of mothers all over the world embarked on a journey of parenthood in the world
as it was”. Now, she continued, they must “prepare to bring a life into the
world as it has become”. She described it as a world in which expectant mothers
are afraid to visit health centres for fear of infection, or of missing out on
emergency care due to strained services. “It is hard to imagine how much the
coronavirus pandemic has recast motherhood”, she added.
Since the start of the coronavirus, the rate of home births
has, in fact, risen, as more mothers choose their homes to be a safer option
than visiting a hospital.
Peacekeepers
Pope Francis described mothers as peacekeepers, saying that
“in their unconditional and sacrificial love for their children”, mothers are
“the antidote to individualism; they are the greatest enemies of war”. He noted
that Mary, too, “saw many difficult moments”, and like a good mother she is
close to us, her children, “so that we may never lose courage in the
adversities of life”.
Mary Mother
May is also the Marian month, in which we celebrate Mary -
proclaimed by Pope Saint Paul VI as the “Mother of the Church”, in 1964. “God
Himself needed a Mother” said Pope Francis, and Jesus Himself gave her to us.
“She is the Queen of peace, who triumphs over evil and leads us along paths of
goodness, who restores unity to her children, who teaches us compassion”.
The Pope has invited the world to pray the rosary throughout
this Marian month, saying “contemplating the face of Christ with the heart of
Mary our Mother will make us even more united as a spiritual family and will
help us overcome this time of trial”.
Around the world, on Sunday 10 May, many people will be
praying to Mary, our Mother, for their mothers, near and far.
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