Happy Friday friends, again,
I don’t know if you know this, but Sunday (in addition to being the Feast of the Ascension most places) is also “Mothers’ Day.”
I know this because my wife has been unusually attentive to reminding me about the date for the last several weeks. I’ve tried to pass the information along to our daughter, but I’m not sure how much attention she is giving Sunday’s holiday.
It’s never really clear to me what the “right” gift is to get your mother. It’s a bit of a minefield.
Flowers are a nice gesture, I suppose. But the whole day is such a racket that they hike the prices for a week in advance, and it’s almost impossible to get something that isn’t visibly the “leftovers”, even if you pay top dollar and order in advance.
A meal out is customary in a lot of places, but somewhat linked to the assumption that mom does all the cooking normally and it’s more about the “night off” than the meal itself. So, in these sensitive cultural times, you never can be sure if suggesting a meal out will be misinterpreted.
Ladies don’t tend to wear hats anymore, so millinery is out, and we’re in between seasons so clothing is likely a bust.
Jewelry is always considered the failsafe of last resort, but my own mother insists that past a certain age a woman’s taste becomes so personal and refined that she really has to choose her jewelry herself. I’m sure she’s right, but it does take that option off the table, too.
Really, I think what all mothers want is to know that the people they love and have dedicated their lives to loving, are themselves happy, fulfilled, and serving the Kingdom. And, I think, they want to help make the world in which their children and grandchildren live better.
That’s harder to fit in a box, though.
Luckily, there is a way.
Consider giving your mother the gift of a Pillar subscription. I mean, it’s the perfect gift, when you think about it. The busy mom-on-the-go could certainly benefit from the early morning concision of Luke Coppen’s Starting Seven news round up. And what grandmother wouldn’t prefer the more sedate and gentle pace of getting her Church news read aloud to her via our Pillar TL;DR podcast?
And if you are a mother, well let’s be honest, it’s your special day and you deserve it. Go on and treat yourself.
Of course, the mother in your life might already be a Pillar subscriber — it’s been known to happen. In which case, you already know she’s as committed as we are to our mission here, putting fidelity to the truth at the service of the Church through our journalism, helping her be everything she is called to be. In which case, what mom might really want is for you to gift a Pillar subscription to her favorite priest or even bishop.
And maybe one for her least favorite priest, too — we’re a broad church of a publication here and I know from experience that Pillar readers can and do make the best and sometimes unlikeliest of friends.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that the mom in your life is simply not in need of a gift this year, even by proxy, and really only wants and asks for your prayers. WE should all pray for our mothers, and all the mothers in our lives, of course.
And in doing so we should commend them to Our Lady, mother of us all, and pray for our mother the Church.
Being an institutional mother, you can’t really get the Church anything. But you can of course spare a thought and a prayer for the religious sister in your life, for they have real ministries of motherhood too.
As it happens, religious sisters are some of our most dedicated readers — I met two in Rome last month who left me seriously humbled by the attention and enthusiasm they give to our work.
I don’t want to be presumptuous, but a gift subscription for a local convent might be well received you know.
Anyway, that’s all.
I just wanted to remind you Mother’s Day is coming, as I have most certainly been reminded. What you do with that information is up to you.
See you next week, again,
Ed. Condon
Editor
The Pillar
