Mother’s Day Message

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

Washington Irving

Sunday, 10 May 2010.  Today is Mother’s Day and all across Belize and indeed the world we are giving thanks and showing our love and appreciation for our mothers. There is no way we can ever really thank our mothers for all they do for us, but we must make it a habit to keep reminding ourselves how much she sacrificed to bring us into this world and for all she did while raising us.

Celebrating our mothers is a tradition that goes back for many centuries.  Historians tell us that Ancient Greeks held lavish celebrations to honour Rhea, the mother of the Gods.  In Christianity, especially for Roman Catholics, Mary the mother of Jesus is celebrated as the mother of the Church and great religious feasts are held to honour the Blessed Mother.  Starting out as a mostly Christian celebration, every Sunday was called Mothering Sunday, when the church community honoured Mary and by extension mothers.

Whether you want to view celebrating Mothers Day as a religious or a commercial event, everyone agrees that Mother’s Day is a very special occasion and everyone honours their mother, living or dead, by their expressions of love and appreciation.   Of course every day should be Mother’s Day, since there can be no greater sacrifice than that of mothers who carry us for nine months, loving  and nurturing us from that moment to adulthood.

Like me there are some whose mother has left this earthly life and has gone ahead of us to their heavenly reward.  For us Mother’s Day is still important; as a Christian I believe that mothers who have passed on are our guardian angels, always watching over us as we move on in life.  Their love for us and our love and appreciation for them can never be extinguished.

This Sunday as we celebrate our mothers, we must also be mindful of the many Belizean mothers who on Sunday will shed a tear or say a prayer for their sons who have died violent deaths.  No mother should be made to bear the pain of burying a son.  No matter the reason, our compassion for the mothers who cry out on television, mourning the lives of their sons lost to street violence, is a reflection of our failure to create safer neighbourhoods.   As a nation we must work to stop the vicious circle of violence which is claiming the lives of so many of our sons and bringing so much pain to our mothers.

Former US president Abraham Lincoln is famous for many great political quotations, but one of my favourite Abraham Lincoln quotes is not about leadership, or one of his famous presidential or political statements, it is what he had to say about his mother.  Abraham Lincoln said:  “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.” How many of us would not say the same about our mothers?  A mother’s greatness and her sense of sacrifice inspires the best in each of us, for we know that there is no greater love than that of a mother for her child.

So as we celebrate Mother’s Day, let us give thanks for all the women of Belize, but more so for our mothers who day by day provides us with the greatest love of all, that of a mother to her child.

On behalf of the People’s United Party, I wish all our beautiful Belizean mothers, a happy, peaceful and blessed Mother’s Day.

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