Secular Prayers for Mother’s Day

Editor’s Note: The following was submitted by the author on May 7, 2023. It is being published a day after Mother’s Day as we inadvertently placed this in the wrong folder for publication. We apologize.

Our Mother Who is In Heaven

Our mother who is up in heaven above

honored be thy name and family with you

your children here on earth send all their love

thank you for all your work giving birth too.

Give us this day your mother’s delicious old recipes

for scalloped potatoes and Boston baked beans

cottage pudding cake, ham and black eyed peas

that homemade cocoa we drank through our teens.

Forgive me mother for not helping you more

and spending my allowance at the candy store

thus I avoided the smallest household chore

complaining that washing the dishes was a bore.

I hope to see you in heaven if I ever get there

until then dearest Mother know that I care.

Hail Mother Who Sang Amazing Grace

All hail my mother who sang Amazing Grace

and many other fun songs out in our back yard

some old Christmas carols by our stone fireplace

teaching us to make our own Christmas card.

Jolly mother putting up with three naughty boys

two angelic daughters and her two adoring cats

their bird and rabbit tributes brought old age joys

and for seventeen years her house was free of rats.

To mothers everywhere from Grandma back to teen

with childhood memories of our ‘guardians dear’

all the prayers and songs you taught us in between

your love and purpose Mothers always perfectly clear.

Hail to all our mothers with dignity and grace

this prayer is for you across all cyber space.

Glory be to Thee Dear Mothers

Glory be to thee dear mothers with difficult births

mine with three boys and then two daughters

father said a novena which he considered worth

the life of us all, Cesarean without broken waters

now and ever shall be great mothers to the end

and the same to their loving children and men.

A personal note: My mother was of Irish ancestry

born in 1919 and passed away peacefully at age 92.

She had all her mental faculties and I spoke with her

on the phone the night before she died. She was jovial

and planning a birthday party for my youngest sister.

She graduated from Nazareth College, Rochester, NY

at age 20 in 1939. She had 5 Cesareans sections assisted

by a Chinese physician. She was loved by all who knew

her. She related well with her teen children and their

friends in the turbulent 1960s. She danced and rocked

and sang with all her children. I miss her dearly.