mother's day

Mother’s Day... 

Today we celebrate ‘Good Shepherd’ Sunday and today in a special way, praying for vocation...the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few and therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into harvest.   

Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” 

Tomorrow/ today we celebrate ‘Mother’s Day’. Today let us thank God almighty for all our wonderful parish mothers who dedicate, sacrifice and do great things for their children and families. Let us thank God for them. It’s only because of mothers, we still taste love in the world. It’s only because of them, we still taste the gift of forgiveness in the world and it’s only because of them, we have so much life in the world. So, let us honor them in a special way today and ask God to continue to shower upon them His countless blessings through Christ our Lord. 

When I was at school, there was a school leader or monitor election happened. There were three students and I competed. And we were given five minutes to perform before 2000 boys our ability, talent and ask them to elect us. The three did dance, magic and powerful speech. They all went well. Then my turn came, I knew what exactly boys liked. So that’s what I did. I took my mom with me and she looked at them all and said, “He is a good boy and elect him and he will do a great job” then, she kissed on my cheek in front of them, which I never liked. And they choose me to be their leader. 

After election, they all came to be saying, “Your mom is so wonderful, and we want to have mother like you do and so on”. They didn’t know that it was all well scripted. They saw only the climax, but the anti-climax was helping my mom for a week, cleaning and picking up garbage.  

Motherhood is a very high calling; their sacrifice and love. Their dedication and self-giving are beyond measure. Because of mothers, the world is a better place today and because of mothers, children are stronger. 

There is a tradition in our culture that on this day, we take our mothers to the temple or church and wash their feet saying to them, “Thank you mom for your love and thank you mom for bridging me into this world” 

The bible says that even before choosing the foster father, Joseph the just man, God chose Mary to be the mother of His only Son. Mary’s role was so crucial in the life of Christ. She was the one who said, “Yes to the will of God” And she was the one who asked Christ when he disappeared at the temple in Jerusalem, “Son, why did you do all this to us” and she was the one who asked him to do something at Cana of Galilee.  

Abraham Lincoln once said, “All that I am and all I hope to be, I owe to my mother”.  

If I call my mom often, she would say, “why are you calling me all the time?” If I don’t call her often, she would say, “so you are too busy to call me now?” So, in either way, you can’t win, but losing to mother is the happiest thing in the world. 

I remember that little story about that boy who forgot his line in a school drama and his mother who was sitting in the front row said, “say, I am the light of the world”. The boy who got the line was so happy and looked at them all proudly and said, “My mom is the light of the world”. In the Holy bible, God’s love is compared to only that of a mother’s love. It’s because it’s selfless and unconditional. 

But we are all proud to say that we respect and love our mothers and we are so happy to pray and support them in so many ways but unfortunately, we are still barely out of the jungle when it comes with women right, equality, women protection and so on. 

Even today in the name of religion and culture, women are being treated differently. The saddest thing is we are still facing honor killing, mutilation, abduction, trade, stoning to death and so many other cruel things are going on and on.  

As we celebrate Mother's Day, let us also raise our voice against all those abuses that are happening around us. If we witness anything like that, it’s our duty to say, “No”. Then we can celebrate Mother's Day every day until then let’s not stopping praying for them. God bless, Amen