大象传媒

Good morning. On mothering Sunday tomorrow the chances are that plenty of daffodils will be handed over, dubious breakfasts made, and thousands of cards exchanged. Today is an opportunity for many to say thank you to a person to whom they owe so much.聽 Some will do it awkwardly, some effusively, and some will surely forget.聽

I think it is unlikely that the mother on my mind today was ever given daffodils or a card by her son.聽 His name was Constantine, and he had the whole of the Roman Empire on his mind.聽 Hers was Helena Augusta, and she had other things on hers.聽 Under the military protection of her son, she travelled around the Holy Land, seeking out those sites which had featured in the story of Christ.聽 Along the way, she collected relics and had churches built at sites of special significance.聽 In many ways, her travels gave rise to an understanding of Christian pilgrimage which continues to this day.

Today, I highlight her because I want to celebrate mothers whose role does not cease when their children are grown up and gone. They do not fade away as if that part of their life鈥檚 work were done. Instead, they find new avenues, add new skills to the ones they already had, tackle new challenges and seek new horizons.聽 In so doing, they enrich not only their own lives, but those of their children, and sometimes their grandchildren.聽 Today would be a good day to celebrate just such a mother known to you.

Dear God, we thank you for those who give of themselves in the role of motherhood. We thank you for the sacrifices they make and the time they invest in their children. We thank you, too, for all the mothers out there exploring new horizons whether their children are still with them or not and we remember those who would love to have been mothers. Give all of them your blessing today, we pray. Amen.