THE SERIOUS SIDE OF HOLIDAYS

We do not have to be an expert on languages to see a connection between the word holyday and holiday. In Catholic Europe in centuries past, holidays were holydays. They were special feasts of the church on which people went to Mass instead of going to work. In our country, where there is no established religion, we do have one holiday that is a holyday and that is Christmas. But even that is not without controversy. Until fairly recent times, most Protestant denominations did not hold services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but celebrated Christmas on the previous Sunday. Because observing Christmas on December 25 was considered such a Catholic thing, the Puritan government in colonial Massachusetts banned Christmas. Anyone seen celebrating Christmas or taking the day off from work December 25 was subject to a fine. The grinches did not ultimately win out, and Christmas survives as a Catholic holyday and a holiday.

Our other civic holidays, especially those embedded in a three-day weekend, have largely become days for family picnics, taking it easy, and mattress sales, but it was not always thus.. In a few weeks we will celebrate Memorial Day. It began in 1868 as Decoration Day, a time to visit the graves of those who died in the Civil War and to remember the cause for which they died. Independence Day honors what was a very brave move by a minority of colonists who supported independence from Britain and the ideals that lay behind the formation of our nation. Labor Day grew out of the long efforts of fledgling labor unions to provide for the safety and welfare of the working class. Thanksgiving has become inexorably tied to the proverbial “first thanksgiving” between Indians and colonist—a story that was largely fabricated in the late nineteenth century. When President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national observance in 1863, there was no mention of pilgrims and Indians. Even in the midst of a horrible civil war, he said, we must pause to give thanks to God for the rich natural resources we share and for the heroism of the people.

That brings us around to today’s national observance—Mother’s Day. We can all agree that moms deserve the fancy brunch, the breakfast in bed, the flowers and the presents. Self-giving love was the essence of the life and ministry of Jesus; and many of us first learned about self-giving love from our mothers. However, when Anna Jarvis and Julia Ward Howe (more famous for penning the Battle Hymn of the Republic) began the drive to establish Mother’s Day back in 1865, it was meant to be a call to action. More than 600,000 Americans had died in the Civil War, leaving behind many grieving mothers. The idea that Jarvis and Howe had was that on Mother’s Day, mothers throughout the country would come together to rally against war. Women did not have the right to vote, but they could exert their moral authority to avert another war that would result in more grieving mothers.

When Mother’s Day finally became a national observance in 1915, President Wilson, true to the original intentions of Jarvis and Howe, encouraged families to display the flag on Mother’s Day, to honor the mothers who had lost sons in war. As Mother’s Day became more of an economic engine, the original intent of Mother’s Day faded away. Anna Jarvis’ daughter (also named Anna) often railed against this commercialization of Mother’s Day, especially the fancy greeting cards that came to be associated with Mother’s Day: “They are a poor excuse for the long letter that you should have written to your mother.”

While we can be grateful this Mother’s Day that our sons and daughters are not actively engaged in combat overseas, the number of grieving mothers in our country is still great. Daily we read about revenge shootings and gang violence on our city streets and all too often, school shootings. Young people die in accidents, from disease, and suicide. There is the hidden pain and grief of those who lost a child before he or she was born. There are also those, of course, who are grieving the loss of a mother and are having a hard time today. So, as we go about our routines of honoring mom today, it is good to remember those for whom Mother’s Day is a particularly difficult day and to remember that God is close to the brokenhearted. After all, God lost a son to violence too.

                                                                                          Fr. Joe