Mother's and Father's Day
Parish Diary
Fr. Peter Daly
4/29/98
The Hallmark "holy days" are upon us. Mother's Day and Father's
Day. Fueled by the greeting
card and florist industries, these two observances have taken on a semi-sacred
character, second only to Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving in the calendar of
family observance.
Until
recent years these days hardly got a mention in church. Today they are practically a part of the
liturgy. This is all for the good I
suppose. These observances show
reverence for the fourth commandment, "Honor your father and your mother, that you may live long in the land that I give
you." That is not just scripture,
it is practical advice. Ignore these
days at your peril.
Of
the two, Mother's Day is clearly the bigger deal. It is the sun. Father's Day is the moon, basking in
reflected light.
There
is definitely an up-tick in church attendance on Mother's Day. I think that is because young adult and
teenage children everywhere say to their mothers, "What do you want for
Mother's Day?" To which mothers
everywhere respond, "I want you to go to church with me and then we can go
out for brunch."
God bless 'em. It is touching to see those "20 some
things" struggling to remember the responses for mom's sake. You can see mom's eager face too, hoping that
the preacher will say something that day that will hook her youngster back into
the sheep fold. The pressure is
definitely on for priests.
After
mass on both days restaurants are full.
One headwaiter at a big
Since
we are in a semi-rural area, we don't have many "brunches" places nearby,
unless you count the buffet at Bert's Lunch and Auto Repair Shop. This place seems more appropriate for
Father's Day. It provides both a high
cholesterol breakfast and an oil
change, all in one convenient location.
What else could a dad ask for?
In
our parish hall, we mark both days with breakfasts. For Mother's Day, the Men's Club cooks. For Father's Day, the Ladies' Club
cooks. This results in an odd reversal
of tastes. Since the men choose the menu
for Mother's Day and the women choose the menu for Father's Day. Our Mother's Day breakfast is very masculine,
with pancakes and syrup, eggs, and lots of bacon and sausage. The Father's Day breakfast is more feminine,
with fresh fruit and nice pastry. The
people who seem to enjoy it the most are the kids. They get credit for a meal without having to
do any work or dig too deep into the piggy bank.
Once
of the nicest features of Mother's Day is that churches
get a chance to join together in some ecumenical effort. In our parish, for instance, we are joining
with other area churches to support the local crisis pregnancy center for
Mother's Day. We will give out
"tiny feet" lapel pins in exchange for a donation to help expectant
and new mothers. Other area churches
will also sponsor the same crisis pregnancy center with fund raisers.
The
best thing about Mother's and Father's Day is that we celebrate vocations too
little honored recently. The Christian
vision of motherhood and fatherhood needs a little building up.
For
women we can celebrate the love that they showed in giving us the gift of life
and nurturing that life to adulthood. We
honor all mothers, especially new mothers, accept many difficulties like the Blessed Mother who herself was a woman in a
crisis pregnancy.
For
men we celebrate Christian fatherhood, in the model of
If
those are the qualities that emerge from Mother's and Father's Day observance,
they are worth every effort, including the greeting cards and the flowers.