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March 02, 2008
Mothering Sunday
Also called "Refreshment Sunday" it marks the middle of the Lent fast (assuming you had decided to give up something!) and traditionally it is a day on which you may break the fast and indulge yourself. But it has a more important function as well, hence its more common name. It is a day when we celebrate mothers and motherhood.
At the Abbey we mark it by wearing vestments that are "Rose" in colour (Pink to everyone else!) and with Asperges, the sprinkling of the congregations with Holy water using a sprig of Rosemary while the Penitential Psalm is sung. Children (Young and old) are then invited to collect small posies specially made for the occassion by our Flower Guild and present these to their mothers. Today I think one of the most poignant moments was the sight of two little girls collecting posies which they then presented to their father. Their mother died very suddenly late last year of undetected cancer and he led them round to the cloister Garden of Rest where her ashes are interred and helped them place their flowers on the spot in which she rests.
The Rose vestments are worn for the Virgin Mary of course, the model mother who, like so many mothers over the centuries have carried their chidlren to full term, then watched as they grew up and finally struck out on their own. Some have had the joy of watching their children go on to become pillars of society, or simply become well balanced and well rounded people. Others have had to watch as their children sink into the clutches of drug dependency or alcoholism. And some have had to bury theirs as a result of wars or crime. Being a mother is never an easy task and it is very far from being a "right" in some dusty legal code. It is a God given gift filled with both joy and pain.
Today the Church at large remembers mothers and motherhood - and celebrates the many mothers who shape our lives and mould our futures.
Posted by The Gray Monk at March 2, 2008 04:01 PM
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