Tomorrow I will be doing a group service project with some of the Confirmation candidates. Then I will be driving off to San Antonio. It's mother's day on Sunday and my mom is in San Antonio this weekend so I will make the 3 hour drive to be with her. What a loving son won't do!
That being said, I am about to offend everyone . . . lol.
I think Mother's Day (and Father's Day) are stupid holidays. I also think gift giving is dumb as well. In my family these holidays have always been major headaches. Parties, having to visit two families in one day, spening ridiculous amounts of money on expensive gifts. No, not for my mom, but for my grandparents. Honestly, I have such a bad taste in my mouth because of 25 years of Mother's Days that I am intent on keeping them as low-key as possible.
I love my mother. I love her everday. Heck, I call her several times a week. I have lived my life respectfully of her, and I have always tried to be a good son. I do this every day of the year. As if the First Sunday after the first Monday of May amounts to a hill of beans!
I especially hate it because its so damn secular. Why can't Catholics celebrate Mother's Day on January 1st . . . the feast of the Mother of God . . . or Father's Day on March 19th, the feast of St. Joseph?
Oh well . . . in the end Mother's Day isn't about me . . . so I will celebrate it, but only because I would be a complete lout if I didn't.
Maybe it's because I'm a chick... but in the last few years, the halmark holidays have sort of grown on me. I don't observe them in the usual 'go out and spend zillions of dollars on the "perfect gift" and card, etc' kind of way, but as an actual occation to stop, remember what these people mean to me and use it as an excuse to have a different way to show it. I guess it happened when my grandfather died, and I stopped seeing my friends/family as much as I got busy with work/moved away, etc. I need an excuse to round everybody (or some people) up and spend some time with them just BEING. A time that isn't a funeral, which seems to be the only time I spend any amount of time in most of my family's presence.
Posted by: Tammy | May 07, 2005 at 05:14 PM
Yeah, maybe there is room for a Sirach-style Mother's day... remember the one who gave you life etc!
*shrug*
Posted by: Keir | May 07, 2005 at 05:45 PM
I just try to observe Valentines day, mothers day, etc. with sincerity. Sometimes I make cookies for my sibs, take 'em to a movie, whatever. One mother's day I took mom to see Spiderman and she got a spidy cup from my sibilings and a spidy key chain from me. Spiderman was one of her fave comics as a kid, so it all worked out. it wasn't traditional, but it worked :)
Posted by: Tammy | May 07, 2005 at 06:13 PM
i'm with you, stephen. i love my mom and dad every day of the week, show them my love by calling and visiting often. it irks me that every year it seems like they add a new "holiday" (i use the term loosely) to the calendar. ugh.
Posted by: Jessica | May 08, 2005 at 04:15 PM
Although I sympathise your feeling on this touchy-feely phenomenon of the so-called Mother's Day and although I think you are right in saying that you love your mom everyday, and a secular day wouldn't amount much to it, I have to gently disagree with some of your reasoning.
First, the secular way of Mother's Day might be wrong, but the spirit of instituting a day for Mother isn't that strange to Catholic ethos. I pray my rosary everyday, so a marian feast doesn't add too much to my love for Our Lady, does it? Or: I love Jesus Christ, I believe in Him, and I go to Mass everyday, so Sunday Mass isn't all that special for me?
When we (humanity in general) dedicate a day to an event or a person, we are not "limiting" its importance to a span of 24 hours, but bringing universal attention to it. It's not "reducing" but "extending."
Christianity doesn't take away this from humanity, but brings it to a perfection. We should love God every moment of our existence, but He is so great that we give Him an entire day: time is a precious gift we can offer to God. Likewise, we don't just pray to a saint on his feast day, we mark a particular day so all can celebrate it.
In the light of this, a secular day like Mother's day isn't all too bad. I agree with what you say and do, but I have to say that many, many others don't do as much as you do and their mothers deserve a lot more than that. It's amusing: if we all cherish this spirit of honouring and loving our mother, we won't even think of reducing it to material reward. The real spirit of Mother's Day is yet to be celebrated.
Posted by: numquamsatis | May 08, 2005 at 10:27 PM
Num,
I agree with you that it is not beyond the pale to have a day that is devoted to honoring mother's. I guess I would probably actually enjoy this day if it was somehow tied to the liturgy or had some meaning beyond crass commercialism and materialistic displays of affection.
Posted by: Stephen | May 09, 2005 at 02:15 AM
i hate telling ppl this but my mom never gets anything for mother's day, nor does she expect it...no, we dont treat her badly or anything--its just that, no holiday (not even christmas *gasp*) has Ever been materialistic to our family...and its great! though we did bake her a cake...hehe
she warned us a week ahead that if we ever bought her anything for mothers' day, she was going to throw it away because (and i quote) "It's a waste of money", and my dad stil buys her roses lol so instead we fulfill her wishes and just clean the house for once lol =)
anyways i know you took out your guitar and sang your mother the mananitas right? hehe (que linda esta la manana....<3)Mass was really beautiful when they all went up for their blessing....what an awesome gift!! they all started crying when we sang mananitas for them!!
Posted by: me =) | May 10, 2005 at 01:30 AM
Personally, I like Mother's Day. Everyone in my family would spend the day with my grandparents. Our vast set of relatives would come in from all over the state and we'd all have a party (during which neither Grandma nor her childless sisters were allowed to do any work). The only cards involved came from people who couldn't make it, and the flowers were the one given during Mass and the ones that we planted in the yard and cemetary. That was also a tradition of Mother's Day - the "sprucing up" of the family graves.
I think what I'm annoyed by is the relentless secularization and cheapening of holidays. Mother's Day didn't start as a "Hallmark" holiday, at least not in the US. Anna Jarvis started it with a church service handing out white incarnations, because they represented purity and patience. The month of May seems appropriate since it's "Mary's Month" - am I the only one who remembers May Crowning and all the beautiful hymns sung at that time?
I'm annoyed by the retailers who try (and often succeed) in making a profit from decent sentiment. I suppose they're the same ones who took the "Saint" out of St. Valentine's Day.
Posted by: Jean | May 10, 2005 at 03:26 PM