Philippines celebrates month for Blessed Mother, moms

IN keeping with an old tradition, the Philippines celebrates the month of May as the month of mothers and the Blessed Mother.

Sunday, Mother’s Day, special prayer services in honor of mothers were held in Catholic churches across the country. Offerings will be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, revered as the mother of Jesus, the mother of the Church, and the mother of all mankind.

Prayers will be centered on requests for the Holy Mother’s protection and intercession for the well-being of mothers and Filipino women, in general. In several churches Sunday, priests will bless all the mothers after each celebration of the mass.

The Church urges the faithful “to keep the original spirit of Mother’s Day and the example of our heavenly mother in mind. “Pray the rosary and pay tribute to the Queen of Heaven, the model of all Christian mothers,” Church officials said.

In his encyclical, Pope Paul VI said, the month of May calls on the faithful in every part of the world to pay a “moving tribute of faith and love” to the Queen of Heaven. “During this month, Christians offer up to Mary from their hearts an special fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration.

A brainchild of Anna Jarvis, who started the crusade to find a memorial day for women, the first celebration of Mother’s Day was held in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908, at the church where her mother, Ann Jarvis, taught Sunday school. Today, the site is recognized as the International Mother’s Day shrine.

In 1914, US President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday of May every year as Mother’s Day, an observance that soon spread to many parts of the world.

Report from Manila Bulletin