Mother's Day

Sunday, May 14, 2023

Mother's Day has been celebrated as a national holiday in the United States on the second Sunday of May since 1914. But Catholics have been celebrating a sort of mother's day since the first few centuries of the Church. The fourth Sunday of Lent, or Laetare Sunday, traditionally was a time to return to your mother church (home parish) and leave an offering. Also known as Mothering Sunday, it naturally evolved into honoring your mother as well.

And devotion to Mary, the mother of God and our spiritual mother, in the month of May gives this holiday added depth for Catholics. Each year on Mother's Day, in parishes across the country, priests ask mothers in the church to rise for a blessing. “Loving God, as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you watch over your Church,” according to the Book of Blessings. “Bless these women, that they may be strengthened as Christian mothers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect.”

Mother's Day Prayer

"I thank you, Creator of us all, for my mother. I thank you that she gave me life and nurtured me all those years. She gave me my faith, helping me to know you and to know Jesus and his ways. She taught me how to love and how to sacrifice for others. She taught me that it was okay to cry and that I should always tell the truth. Bless her with the graces she needs and which you want to give her today. Help her to feel precious in your eyes today and to know that I love her. Give her strength and courage, compassion and peace. Bless her this day with your love." Amen.

This prayer was taken from prayers for and by mothers on Creighton University's Online Ministries. This website and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops offer prayers for mothers struggling through a variety of challenges as well as blessings.