Mother's Day

I believe that we should know the reason behind in every celebration.  We celebrate Christmas not simply because we personally wanted to celebrate it but because we believe that it is important for us to remember the birth of our Saviour.  So with the New Year's, Valentine's Day, the Lenten Season, and all the other legal holidays that we commemmorate.

Yesterday, May 12, 2013, my wall was flooded with so many greetings for the Mother's Day celebration.  .  I myself prepared a short video in honor of my mother which according to my daughter Rein brought her into tears.   But have you ever wondered why we are celebrating Mother's Day?

According to  May 11 of Our Daily Bread for 2013,  the observance  of Mother's Day in the United  States  may be traced back from the efforts of two women to bring  peace and reconciliation during the time of anguish in the 18th century.   In 1870, Julia Ward Howe called for an International Mother's Day to unite and oppose in all its forms the raging wars at the time.  A few years later, Anna Reeves Jarvis began her annual Mother's Friendship Day in an effort to reunite families and neighbors alienated by the war.

Now, every second Sunday of the month of May, a lot of countries worldwide celebrate Mother's Day .  Usually on this day in the Philippines,  all the malls are jampacked and all the food chains are  fully booked.  Flowers, chocolates and cakes sell  out like  hotcakes and beautifully wrapped up as gifts for moms.  Gift checks for beauty salons and spas run out of stock even a few days before Mom's Big Day.  Greetings flow endlessly through text messages and poems.  Status and profiles in FBs are being changed in honor of our dear mothers.

With my sisters who are now all mothers
(L-R Bengga,  Citas, Banjie, Beth and Fler )

 

The Church prayed for all the Mothers on Mother's Day

                                                       

 

A floral bouquet from Arciaga kids for Bengga

 

Arm bouquets for my sisters from their children

 

 

Chocolates from my sisters Bengga & Citas

 

Chocolates for favorite moms

While there is nothing wrong with all the manners and ways we celebrate Mother's Day, we should never forget the reason(s)  why it is being celebrated.  More important than our dates at the mall, bouquets of  flowers, boxes of chocolates and  fancy cakes is the PEACE that a mother instills at home, in her community, and in her country at large.   No amount of good food and beautiful flowers can take the place of a  peaceful home. With peace comes along compassion, forgiveness  and  RECONCILIATION.  A mother should never allow fractured relationships at home to last for days or even for hours .  As the peacemaker and reconciliator, she should make an effort to allow  forgiveness and reconciliation reign in her home.  As to how many times we should forgive our brothers who have sinned against us, Jesus said "seventy times seven" in Matthew 18:22

Now that Mother's Day is over for a day in 2013, I wish that all the mothers would be able to maintain a peaceful home where forgiveness and reconciliation abound for 364 days until I make another wish for the next Mother's Day in 2014.