May is a month that we honor and remember. On May 1, May Day, or International Workers’ Day is celebrated around the world. Over the past 10 years, May 4 has been a celebration of Mayo-ness. This has become a Global celebration of Mayo. Please visit mayo.ie for more information.
Cinco de Mayo Day is celebrated by many, but do you know what the day is about? Cinco de Mayo is the day to celebrate Mexico’s victory over the French at the Battle of Pueblo in 1862. In the United States, this day is a celebration of U.S. Latino history and culture.
Mother’s Day
I personally feel that the most important day to celebrate in May is Mother’s Day. This is the day we can thank our moms for all they have done for us.
Our moms are our first nurses, teachers and influences in our lives. Forty years ago, my best friend and mother was called home to God. Although, she is no longer physically present, I feel her presence in my life.
For those who are blessed to have your moms, cherish them. The song “A Mother’s Love’s a Blessing” is so true …“you’ll miss her when she is gone.
I would like to share the following for all our mothers, which was written by Fr. W.J. Lockington.
“An Irish Mother
She is foremost among the hidden saints of earth. As a follower of Christ, whose cloister is within the four walls of the home, wherein she reigns as a queen. A lover of Christ, whose little kingdom comprises the treasured souls that God, has given her to guide. A ruler for Christ, who draws her subjects to her by sanctity and love. Her toil worn hands that clasp the old rosary are eloquent of strength to seize and lift to good all souls they meet. Her lips are molded to lines of peace by years of unending prayer and murmured benisons over sleeping babes, upon her bow eternal calm and resignation sit enthroned, her eyes are lit by the light of serene confidence that tells of a heart secure in the friendship of God.”
Peace Officers Memorial Day and Memorial Day
On the days when we celebrate police officers and our military who have given the ultimate sacrifice for their community and country, the poem, “The Mother” comes to mind. We need to remember their mothers and pray for them and the entire family.
The Mother
By Patrick Pearse
“I do not grudge them: Lord, I do not grudge
My two strong sons that I have seen go out
To break their strength and die, they and a few,
In bloody protest for a glorious thing,
They shall be spoken of among their people,
The generations shall remember them,
And call them blessed;
But I will speak their names to my own heart
In the long nights;
The little names that were familiar once
Round my dead hearth.
Lord, thou art hard on mothers:
We suffer in their coming and their going;
And tho’ I grudge them not, I weary, weary
Of the long sorrow – And yet I have my joy
My sons were faithful, and they fought.”
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Marilyn Madigan
*Marilyn Madigan is the National President of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians and a Deputy Director of the United Irish Societies of Cleveland. She received a Bachelor of Sciences in Nursing from St. John College and retired from nursing at University Hospitals of Cleveland
