Mother’s Day: Catholic Church in Portugal publishes message, remembering motherhood in a context of war “with intense solidarity”

Episcopal Commission for Laity and Family also mentions mothers who play a role in the absence of fathers.

Lisbon, April 26, 2024 (Ecclesia) – The Episcopal Commission for Laity and Family (CELF) wrote a message regarding Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on May 5, evoking motherhood in the context of war.

“In times of fragile Peace or even countries at war, we remember with intense solidarity, all the Mothers in territories exacerbated by violence, in refugee camps, in emergency escapes, in forced migration and, even worse, in mourning for lost children in this inhuman context”, can be read in the text sent to the ECCLESIA Agency.

CELF states that “celebrating Mother’s Day, in the month of May, the month of flowers and the heart, is to remember Mary, the one who always welcomed the prayers of all Mothers suffering from life’s hardships – days of salt – or exultant for joys that appear along the way like flowers of Hope – sunny days!”

The Catholic bishops point out that “all mothers have the right to support from everyone”, saying that if they had “to highlight the increase in support for some Mothers”, they would highlight “the poorest, the most alone, those who have to be a mother and father”.

“How can we not admire the Mothers who had to face all the difficulties without the responsible and committed presence of their parents? How can we not value Mothers who, through adoption, gave life to children, not biological but from the heart? How can we not exalt the heroicity of mothers who, due to the death of their spouse or partner, faced the raising and education of their children in solitude?”, they ask.

The text evokes that, for Catholic Christians, “the Gift of Maternity arises from the heart of God, He who is Father and Mother, and modeled in the Virgin Mary of Nazareth all the beauty and tenderness of Divine Maternity”.

“Through her, God became close to each one of us, he became one of us. Therefore, in each woman’s motherhood we can meet the source of life and the author of Life. In the Love of each Mother we come eloquently closer to God’s Love for each one of us”, she highlights.

The Catholic Church in Portugal highlights that there is no doubt that “Mother’s Love is the most perfect metaphor of God’s Love”.

The Portuguese Catholic bishops also refer to the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, thanking “God, through the Mother of Jesus, for the Gift of Peace” that it is possible to continue “to experience” in the country.

“May Mothers renew in their hearts values ​​of respect, tolerance and Peace, and may they show us through their example and affection that we are all children, therefore, brothers. May they continue to defend the dignity of each Human Being in the richness of their differences and in the diversity of their races, cultures, creeds and talents”, they appeal.

At the end of the text, the body of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference expresses “renewed gratitude” to all mothers.

“We ask the Mother of Mothers for her intercession in order to assist them in the greatness of their Mission and so that in all their children the correspondence of recognition and commitment to the Good of their loving Mothers may be awakened”, he concludes.

Mother’s Day is currently celebrated in Portugal on the first Sunday in May.

L.J.