Spirit of Life, Mother of us all,
You who arise in our hearts as the impulse
to nurture new life and growth:
On this Mother’s Day we pray for the health of all mothers.
We pray that mothers get to choose when to be mothers
and how many times over, and with what spacing in between.
We pray that the work of mothers to become mothers be honored:
the conception, the pregnancy, the hard labor, the birth,
or the fostering or the adoption.
We pray that the nurturing work of mothers and other parents be honored: the nursing the feeding the care the changing of diapers the exhausted vigil at the bedside of the sick child the endless walking back and forth with the colicky baby the tantrums the teaching the learning the hoping the washing the cooking the cleaning up after the conversations about safety and sex the waiting up until the teenager is safely home the repetition of messages over and over again in hopes that something goes in.
We pray that all this nurturing work be honored by allowing every single child to grow up healthy, with plenty of love, good food and water, clean air, clothing, shelter, medicine, safety, education, beauty, joy, companionship, and meaningful work.
We pray that all this nurturing be honored by ending all forms of violence against mothers and children: bullying, domestic violence, gun violence, rape, shootings by police, unjust imprisonment, poverty, war, pollution, destruction of the ecosystems that sustain our lives.
Spirit of Life, on this Mother’s Day we ask you to move in us as love and care for all mothers and all children. Help us to honor not only our own mothers but the work of all who nurture life everywhere. Help us dedicate ourselves to the flourishing of all beings on this, our great Mother, Earth.
In Your many names, we pray.
Amen. Blessed be.