The Sundays of Lent are classed as feast days, so offer a chance to break from penitential rigours of the season, but the middle Sunday of Lent is especially important. Mothering Sunday has its origins in medieval times. It was a day upon which priests and people were required by church law to pay a visit to their Mother Church - the founding church in the district, often the cathedral, or the local monastic centre (the Minster). This is a day for remembering the pastoral care of the church, and offering our allegiance and thanks to those in whom our spiritual welfare has been vested.
But as early as 1644, there are accounts of this day being used as an occasion for families to meet together. A certain Richard Symonds described it as a 'great day' when children and godchildren feasted with the head of the household. In the 18th and 19th centuries it became the custom for young girls in service to be given the day off to go and visit their mothers, with a gift of spring flowers, or a cake - a Simnel cake. Hence the alternative title for this day - Simnel Sunday. These cakes are rich fruit cakes, disguised on the outside as plain cakes, so as not to appear to be breaking the Lenten fast. A traditional Simnel cake is bedecked with eleven marzipan balls, to represent the disciples, but omitting Judas Iscariot.
So Mothering Sunday, which began as a day of homage to Mother Church, has developed into a day on which to lavish gifts upon our mothers. But Mothering Sunday should have a distinctly different emphasis from Mother's Day - an American invention that falls in early May. Mothering Sunday is day to remember all those who care for and 'mother' us during the course of our lives, and especially to remember those entrusted with our spiritual welfare. We thank God for all that they do for us and are reminded never to take our carers for granted.
So, for Mothering Sunday, here are two prayers written by Bishop Thomas Ken, one of my predecessors (by some 326 years) as Rector of Brighstone, on the Isle of Wight.
A Prayer to be said by children:
O my God, give me grace, for the sake of your love,
to honour my father and mother, to render them all my love,
reverence and thankfulness,
and all that regard which is due from a child,
that I may pay obedience to their commands,
attention to their instructions, and care for their needs,
and may daily pray for their welfare. Amen.
(Bishop Thomas Ken)
A prayer to be said by parents:
O my God, give me grace to imitate your fatherly goodness,
and for the sake of your love, to love and to cherish, and provide for,
to educate, to instruct, and pray for my children,
to take care to give them helpful correction,
and good example, and to make them your children,
that they may truly love you. Amen.
(Bishop Thomas Ken, Rector of Brighstone 1666 - 69)
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