Another event was that servants are only allowed to visit their families once a year and that was usually on Mothering Sunday. No one knows the exact origin of this annual celebration though.
Having spent almost six years in England, our Mass in the parish has been made more special with school children taking active part in the liturgy from readings to collections, from offering daffodils to Our Lady to reading poems to honour their moms (spelt as mums in the UK).
Motherhood has often baffled me. It's no joke that women have to experience the pains of growing up - menstruation, cramps, etc - in preparation for their likely role as mothers. And when they do become moms, the pains of being pregnant, giving birth, looking after the baby, etc come to the fore. Not to mention taking care of the household (and putting up with their other halfs and child/ren).
I was like a Jew when I often said before: "Thank God I became a man, not a woman!". However, looking at how my wife and our daughter interact with each other I feel being 'edged out'.(An old man whom I met in hospital elevator when Chiara was born 'prophesied' that.) My frustration gets even further when I couldn't put the child to sleep or stop her from crying. Everytime I leave for work, I could see Chiara so peacefully asleep next to her Mom and I feel envious of it. 'How I wish I were a mother' I quipped.
I changed my prayer: "Thank God I became a man! May I love the woman He gave me and the child that she bore us!"
Happy Mothers' Day to my wife who has taken really good care of me and Chiara, to my mom who looked after me and my siblings singlehandedly during our tender years, and to all mothers out there...in the UK and elsewhere!
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