Post Mother’s Day Observations
- As per the priest’s decision, all mothers were called forward during the intercessory prayer for a special intercessory blessing. As was the case last year, every woman, except one, came forward. It was a *different *lone woman this year that did not go forward. We were given roses. Extra roses were laid before the statue of Mary which had been pulled forward for a “crowning ceremony” done before Mass. (Also as per this third world priest’s tradition).
-The family that consists of a single dad with three young boys who lost their mother to cancer almost two years ago was noticeably absent as well as last year’s lone non-mother who is simply unable to have children.
-A woman and her daughter whom I had never seen before showed up an hour before Mass as we were preparing things. I made them welcome and came to find out that they were “between homes”. They had recently left an abusive, drug-addicted father who had shattered their beloved statue of Mary out of spite. Had I been thinking, I would have asked my husband to bring one from home to give them. As it was, the rose really meant something to *this *mother who was still holding on to her daughter through the worst kind of adversity. She still had that; she lost everything, but she still was
that; and she knew she would find that **that **really meant something in *this *religion. They told me they had not been to church in years.
If I had my druthers, I’d make the following modifications for the future in the case of our congregation.
-Keep the blessing, but do the moms really have to come forward? (This is one of those traditions that needs to be worn away gently- just keep asking: do they need to come forward? Eventually, if they really don’t, people will not be so adamant about it.) If they do need to come forward, then this worked fairly well with minimal production: the moms faced the altar for the blessing, then turned to receive roses from the priest himself with the help of the female servers.
-I would like to suggest adding the opportunity for those who have a departed mother, to take a rose and lay it before the statue of Mary, explaining that she is our Mother given to us by Jesus at the foot of the cross; and she is with us now as always… or something to that effect. I think it would be a powerful opportunity for people like those boys to connect directly with their faith and at the same time make this a more positive event for them. This could be done as part of the pre-Mass “crowning ceremony” in our case.
-Personally, I was only annoyed in that I spoke with the priest on three separate occasions and was certain that he said he wanted things done differently; we discussed details and “mentally” walked through his expectations and needs, but then those expectations were executed by him in a completely different way. Thank God I can go with the flow and adjust on the fly. NEXT time, even for something as simple as this, I am going to insist that we physically walk through what he wants to have happen.
Thank you everyone for your great responses. I apologize, TheMc, for being slightly uncharitable. I appreciate that you draw the “line in the sand” as it were.
It’s nice to be able to make recommendations based on well reasoned options; but the bottom line is it all comes down to what the priest wants to do. I am grateful that we have one who is so opinionated in the matter; now if I could just figure out a way to transfer those opinions so that all understood what was going to happen, life would be SO much easier.
