Mothering Sunday or Laetare Sunday  always falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent and is  a tradition  that goes back many centuries. The word ‘Laetare’ is Latin  and it  means  ‘rejoice’.  

Centuries ago it was considered important for people to return to their ‘home’ or ‘mother’ church once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit the main church or Cathedral of the area and give honour to their Mother Church. 

 

As the years went on,  it  became established as a day for families to reunite, celebrate and honour their own mothers as the focus of the family.  It became a time when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants, were given a day off to visit their families.

Now, it is a day when flowers ,gifts, and cards are given. But it can also be recognised, in its truest form, as a time to recognise those who are in the act of ‘mothering’. The dictionary defines ‘mothering’ as ‘to care for or  ‘to protect’. Those  who serve others, those who provide loving, nurturing care as if they were the mother to the individual  are so often forgotten.

 

On   this   day,   when   we   honour   our  own mothers and those who provide loving   care,   we   also remember Mary the Mother of Our Lord who nurtured and protected Him all through his early  life.