Today is Mother’s Day. It’s an official holiday, signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. The drive to create Mother’s Day exploded from a simple church service Anna Jarvis wanted to celebrate her mother Anna Reeves Jarvis into a day when flowers and cards are the mark of the day.
But we have to ask ourselves how mothers across the world and in the U.S. really fare when they are caught in the crossfires of war and politics. Not well at all. Whereas other major industrialized countries, such Finland and Poland, to name just two have a maternal mortality rate of 3 per thousand, we in the U.S. have a rate of 20 per 1,000.
And, of course, mothers and their children are the first victims of war and famine. Those who cause wars and withhold relief from mothers either must have really hated their mother or they forgot where they came from and without whom they would not have lived at all.
Prayer for the Day
Holy Love, who graces our lives with love, open our hearts,
Showing us the possibilities of your infinite love for all beings;
Move us beyond a sense of duty into an ever widening circle of love,
Opening us to possibilities we never even imagined.
Enlarge the boundaries of our thought and imagination,
Confronting us with love's demand for justice and mercy,
As did the One who lived for others,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Women in the U.S. have long had the highest rate of maternal mortality related to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. In 2020, there were nearly 24 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the U.S., more than three times the rate in most of the other high-income countries we studied. A high rate of cesarean section, inadequate prenatal care, and socioeconomic inequalities contributing to chronic illnesses like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease may all help explain high U.S. infant and maternal mortality
The Commonwealth Fund, Report 2023
We have seen evidenced once more that women and children are the first victims of conflict and that our duty to seek peace is a duty to them. We are failing them.
Sima Bahous, UN Women
As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted.
You shall see, and your heart will rejoice, your bodies shall flourish like the grass
Isaiah 66: 13-14