• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

How to widen our hearts on Mother’s Day

May 12, 2018
By Laura Kelly Fanucci
Filed Under: Commentary, Guest Commentary

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

For mothers who have lost children.

For children who have lost mothers.

For women who long to be mothers.

For mothers who never got to meet their children.

As my husband and I are writing a book on miscarriage for Catholic couples, I’ve posed the question on social media: Has your parish’s blessing on Mother’s Day included prayers for women who long to have a child or women who have lost a child?

To my surprise and delight, readers shared beautiful examples of prayers that honor the motherhood of women far and wide. Single mothers, stepmothers and godmothers. Birth mothers, adoptive mothers and foster mothers. Women suffering from infertility, miscarriage or the death of a child.

Indeed, the church counts on so many to “mother” its children — women religious, teachers, nurses and catechists. Giving thanks for this wider vision of motherhood is a rich celebration of God at work in our midst.

But every year I hear from women who struggle to come to Mass on Mother’s Day. They know there will be a special blessing, or mothers will be asked to stand, and their broken hearts cannot bear it.

What if we could speak a loving word to their longing?

I’ve heard people grumble at such suggestions. “Why do we have to make every holiday so complicated?” they ask. “Why can’t we just celebrate without worrying that we’re offending anyone?”

Because we are called to love our neighbor.

And our neighbor is not only the proud mom who loves Mother’s Day because she finally hears a word of blessing and support for her calling. Our neighbor is also the woman who prayed for children every night and never got pregnant.

Our neighbor is the single woman raising her sister’s children. Our neighbor is the stepmother who feels forgotten or maligned. Our neighbor is the woman who lost a baby to stillbirth and feels invisible at church.

A mother whose only child was killed in a car crash — can we still honor her devotion?

A birth mother who did not raise her baby but gave the gift of parenthood to another couple — can we acknowledge her sacrifice?

A couple who has suffered a miscarriage — can we remember their parenthood beyond what the world can see?

I believe we can: through the power of prayer.

By adding words of compassion to the blessings we add to Mass each Mother’s Day, we can become the church that challenges and changes the world’s limited definition of motherhood.

Mary herself was called to mother under unconventional circumstances (to put it mildly). But even when she had to give up her only child, her spiritual motherhood grew to embrace the entire world.

Her song of praise in the Magnificat did not focus only on her own life but leapt to a wider view of God’s work among the poor, the hungry and those in need of mercy.

What a powerful and prophetic model for all our hearts, called by God to grow in love.

The beauty of the church is that it is big enough for all of us: the grateful and the grieving, the beaming and the broken. God’s call to love our neighbor reminds us to care for those who mourn while others celebrate.

This Mother’s Day, if your parish adds anything to Mass, let it be words of love as wide as our Lord’s. Prayers that celebrate motherhood as a calling. Blessings that comfort the sorrowful. Petitions that pray for the living and the dead.

Words to remind us that Mother’s Day is not for us alone.

 

Copyright ©2018 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Laura Kelly Fanucci

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Sculpture of St. Rita and St. Therese with a cross and holy water font at the center sits on a table

A Gift and a Connection to the Past

Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use

Cupcakes with 2025 graduation toothpicks in them and a bowl of cookies

Our 31-hour Road Trip

St. Paul and discovering that sin is ‘missing the mark’

Six lit candles on a chocolate birthday cake

Making a birthday wish come true

| Recent Local News |

Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86

Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

Sister Ann Belz dies at 88

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • A Gift and a Connection to the Past
  • Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86
  • Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest
  • Sister Ann Belz dies at 88
  • Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use
  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en