Mother--Ann Jarvis 1832-1905
Daughter--Anna Jarvis 1864-1948
The Mothers of Mother's Day
Mother’s Day, May 10, 2009
Acts 9:26-31 1 John 3:18-24 John 15:1-8
To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (15:1-8)
Glory to you, Lord.
Jesus said to his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine pruner. He lops off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and He prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will bear more fruit. You must go on growing in me, and I will grow in you. For just as the branch cannot bear any fruit unless it share the life of the vine, so you can produce nothing unless you go on growing in me. Yes, I am the true vine, you are the branches. Whoever lives in me, with me in him, bears much fruit. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit and become my disciples.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Mothers Day, May 10, 2009
In the church’s calendar, today is the fifth Sunday of Easter. In the nation’s calendar, today (the second Sunday of May) is Mother’s Day. On this day, tradition has us wearing a red flower, if our mother is living, and a white one, if she is deceased. I have been wearing a white flower for sixty-one years in memory of a mother who loved me with a love beyond all telling. But because of unfortunate circumstances, she couldn’t do anything to show her love for me except to weep. She was like the Sorrowful Mother who stood helplessly at the side of Jesus.
The commercial spirit puts its stamp on all our national and religious holidays, and in the process we lose sight of the holidays’ original intent and inspiration. That’s certainly true for Christmas. It’s true also for Mother’s Day. Contrary to popular wisdom, Mother’s Day was not invented by the Florists’ Association or by the Telephone Co. Historically, it was invented by mothers protesting the killing of sons in war. At the end of the day, Mother’s Day was originally more about peace than about mothers.
A pioneer of Mother’s Day
In the United States, Julia Ward Howe laid the groundwork for Mother’s Day as a national holiday. She is famous especially for authoring the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Yearly she would organize Mother’s Day meetings in Boston, Mass., and would encourage mothers to rally for peace, for she believed that mothers bore the loss of human life more painfully than anyone else.
In 1870 she issued a Mother’s Day Proclamation which at heart was a peace proclamation. It reads in part,
Arise then, Christian women on this day! Arise, all women who have hearts. Say
firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our
sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too
tender towards those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to
injure theirs.” From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our
own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!”
Ann Jarvis: a magnificent mother
It was Julia Ward Howe who laid the groundwork for a Mother’s Day holiday. It was Anna Jarvis (1864-1948) who got it inscribed on the national calendar. Anna had a magnificent mother whose name was Ann. Ann did not have an easy life; she lost eight of her twelve children before they reached adulthood. No doubt such a tragic life made Ann very compassionate towards other suffering mothers.
The words of today’s gospel come alive in Ann: “My Father is the vinedresser who prunes every branch that produces fruit, so that it might produce more fruit.” (Jn 15:2) Pruned by the heavenly Father, Ann, indeed, produced much fruit. She understood the need for proper sanitation and sought to communicate that knowledge to other mothers. She organized Mothers’ Work Day Clubs in several towns in 1858, which provided money, medicine, and housekeeping assistance for mothers who were ill. She urged her clubs to remain neutral during the Civil War, hoping to form oases of peace in a land devastated by a terrible war. After the war, she organized Mothers’ Friendship Day to help reconcile a nation torn apart.
The words of today’s gospel come alive in Ann: “My Father is the vinedresser who prunes every branch that produces fruit, so that it might produce more fruit.” (Jn 15:2) Pruned by the heavenly Father, Ann, indeed, produced much fruit. She understood the need for proper sanitation and sought to communicate that knowledge to other mothers. She organized Mothers’ Work Day Clubs in several towns in 1858, which provided money, medicine, and housekeeping assistance for mothers who were ill. She urged her clubs to remain neutral during the Civil War, hoping to form oases of peace in a land devastated by a terrible war. After the war, she organized Mothers’ Friendship Day to help reconcile a nation torn apart.
Anna Jarvis: an intensely devoted daughter
Ann Jarvis died in a little town near Philadelphia on May 9, 1905. Her daughter Anna was intensely devoted to her mother and her selfless spirit. On May 12, 1907, Anna conducted a small tribute to her mother in her mother’s Methodist church. She passed out 500 white carnations--one for each mother in the congregation. Then she embarked upon a mission to establish a nationally recognized Mother's Day. The first official Mother's Day ceremonies were held in Philadelphia on May 10, 1908. Six years later, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a Congressional Resolution setting aside Mother's Day as a national holiday, to be celebrated on the second Sunday in May. And that’s how Ann, a magnificent mother, and Anna, an intensely devoted daughter, became the Mothers of Mother’s Day.
Conclusion
Only individual mothers
`Mother,’ as a general idea, does not exist.
Only single individual mothers exist,
and their name is legion.
There are mothers who are battling cancer
and still have children to rear.
There are mothers who have mentally challenged children,
and who face a daunting task with the dawn of every day.
There are mothers whose sons and daughters
are estranged from each other or from their mothers themselves.
And there are mothers who wonder where they went wrong,
for path of parenting is painful and precarious,
and few there are who tread it perfectly.
And then there are mothers who do a very good job of parenting,
and who feel very blessed and fulfilled in their children.
And there are mothers in heaven,
who left earth before their work was done
and who, from the Throne of Grace and power,
now do for their sons and daughters what they wanted to do
here on earth but couldn’t.
Today, on this second Sunday of May,
there are deceased mothers for whom we wear white carnations,
and living mothers for whom we wear red ones.
To those mothers who are still living “let us do good,
for the night time comes in which no man can labor.”
(Jn 9:4)
