Hello all. I kinda fell off the blog world last week. Thank you for all your prayers for my friend. This little blogosphere is a God send. The support and understanding is amazing.
I want to write a letter/email to my priests about the Mother's Day blessing. They usually have mothers stand and have the family put their hands on them as the priest says a prayer. I know a few years ago there was a letter floating around on the blogs that others had written asking their priests to prayerfully discern a different blessing. Do any of you remember it? Links? Copies? I'd hate to reinvent the wheel, but I will if I have to!
God Bless and have a glorious day!
I don't have the letter and actually just heard of it when you mentioned it in the this post. So, thanks for doing that. You're spreading information, I love it.
ReplyDeleteLast year, we went away for the weekend just to get away from any Mother's Day celebrations. We still went to Mass at the Cathedral and they handed out flowers to the mothers. I'm not sure what I'll do this year. Now that we've stopped trying and are committed to childlessness, I'm not sure I'll have an apathetic attitude or not.
Still, I've always believed it's grossly unfair to separate women and our entire sex based on whether or not you gave birth to a live baby or are parenting an adopted child. Mothers are wonderful people, I've got one. But all women especially those that are Spirit-filled and attending Mass faithfully, should be celebrated in my opinion. So, based on that, I might just take that carnation. :)
Oh - if you find this, please post it :).
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to read "airing"'s reply because our parish typically bestows a blessing on all women and, quite honestly, I always felt uncomfortable before our IF and now I am dreading it more than ever. They do the same on Father's Day with a blessing for all men, and watching The Man stand up and listening to the blessing was one of the most difficult things I've endured on this journey.
I'm not one for skipping Mass, but I've considered it for this year - and if I don't skip it, I will be going to a parish where no one knows me and possibly even leaving right after communion. Again, I'm not one to advocate either of these options, but some self-preservation might be necessary this year.
God bless you for doing this! I wish I was brave enough to write a similar e-mail to our pastor! And yes, if you find it, please post it!
ReplyDeleteDitto JellyBelly. I should probably be more pro-active myself, rather than avoiding going to Mass (I didn't go last year, either, since the Friday before Mother's day, my baby couldn't be found on the u/s...not a pleasant experience).
ReplyDeleteALL women are mothers, whether that be biological or otherwise. We were made to be so, and we practice our motherhood when we "hold out our hands to the weak and the abandoned" - or so says Fulton Sheen. I too have been thinking quite a long time (IF has lasted 7 years for us) about the Mother's Day blessing in particular, and after last year's fiasco, I decided we would go away for the weekend, somewhere fun and where nobody knows us. I can stand for the blessing and nobody knows anything about me, because I AM a mother (as are all of you too), albeit one with no child of my own
ReplyDeleteIf your priest has any questions about you asking to include all women in a Mother's Day blessing, the Church has a whole lot on women's vocations as mother - spiritual and physical. Maybe it's worth mentioning to them that spiritual motherhood is just as important and needed as physical.
Sarah- I couldn't agree more!!! Spiritual motherhood IS just as important- it is someone's vocation! I am struggling to find charitable words- I will definitely check out women't vocations documents. Thanks so much.
DeleteI don't mean to shamelessly self-promote, but I wrote an article about one of these lesser known documents that was written years ago, but is still so very relevant. You could definitely show them this document, which is referenced in my blog post. I'll see if I can find others...I know they are out there!!
Deletehttp://www.thefemininegift.org/2011/11/spiritual-motherhood.html
Hi! Yay for Illinois Bloggers! I'm from Hoffman Estates-so not too far from Dekalb. My inlaws are from Virgil-so very close to you! I'm excited for you to see Dr. Stalling in May. She is fabulous! We're going crazy trying to schedule the ultrasound series as its one of the last pieces of the diagnostic puzzle. I'm praying that God will put an openness in our schedule somehow. :) Have a great day!
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