Thoughts from the Chaplain - Mothers' Mass

As part of our celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel we will be celebrating a Mass in the National Shrine of Saint Jude.  This Mass for mothers will be for all the intentions of those who have given a donation for this shared Mass and also for those who come to celebrate with us.  So why a Mass for mothers and why celebrate it on this day?

The church frequently tells us that all fatherhood and a father’s love for his children is a reflection of our heavenly Father and his love for his Son.  It is this that sowed the seed for a Mass for mothers; it is not a great step to saying that motherhood as well as reflecting the feminine aspects of tenderness, compassion and nurturing of God mirrors the motherhood of Mary and her support and caring for her Son.  This led to the celebration of a Mass giving thanks on behalf of all mothers for the life of Mary, Mother of God, Theotokos and what better day to celebrate this than on the great Feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the primary feast of the Carmelite order.  We venerate her as mother, sister, queen and intercessor - a relationship which brings her close to us in all our times of need, anxiety and doubt.  

Often we find it difficult to approach the saints in a close and intimate way.  With Mary and with her Son it is different; He died for us and Mary said yes to God’s will and by bearing Him in her womb enabled Him to be incarnate and to fulfil His Father’s plan for his creation.  Year for year, throughout the world the faithful dress Our Lady of Mount Carmel in costly robes and process with her through the streets singing her praises and asking for her intercession.  During these processions she is transformed from a plaster or wood carving into a symbol of our devotion and our need to be close to her.  She becomes truly our mother. 

This is why we are having this Shared Mass on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in order for all mothers to see in her their mother and the source of all their motherly attributes.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for all mothers

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, National Shrine of Saint Jude

You still have time to send in your names. Simply add the name(s) of a mother, or grandmother via our on-line shop, and your donation. Those listed can be your mother, someone else’s mother, a grandmother, someone who is expecting, someone who is hoping for a child, or a maternal figure in your life.

Fr Michael Manning, O.Carm.