Mother’s Day in Los Angeles County will include Archbishop Jose Gomez blessing mothers at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and Hillside Memorial Park & Mortuary in Culver City conducting its annual Mother’s Day Remembrance Service.
Gomez will present carnations to all mothers as he celebrates the 10 a.m. English-language Mass as will the cathedral’s pastor, the Rev. David Gallardo, at the noon Spanish-language Mass.
“We should give thanks to God for our mothers every day for all their sacrifices and love,” Gomez said. “For Catholics, motherhood is a vocation, a special calling from Jesus Christ. Mothers especially are our first teachers about prayer, charity and the practices of our Christian faith.”
Both Masses will be streamed at facebook.com/lacatholics, youtube.com/olacathedral and olacathedral.org/live. The 10 a.m. Mass is also available on digital channel KABC7.2 and Sirius XM Radio Channel 129.
Hillside Memorial Park & Mortuary’s Mother’s Day Remembrance Service is set to begin at 10 a.m. at its large chapel and consist of music, prayer, tribute and celebration. The service will be streamed at www.hillsidememorial.org/mothers-day.
Those attending are asked to contribute canned and dry foods, eyeglasses and hearing aids to the Hillside Chesed Project, an effort to help others associated with the spirit of tzedakah, the Hebrew word commonly used to signify charity but more accurately meaning a religious obligation to do what is right and just.
In his Mother’s Day proclamation, President Joe Biden wrote, “Every Mother’s Day, we give special thanks to honor and celebrate the mothers in our lives. Mothers across America provide unconditional love and extraordinary strength. They are our rocks in moments of crisis and our guiding lights when we need it most.
“Our nation would not be where we are today without their enduring foundation of love and support.”
Mother’s Day was initially proposed in 1870 by activist-poet Julia Ward Howe as a call for peace and disarmament. It was celebrated in 18 cities in 1873, continued for another or so 10 years or so in Boston under Howe’s backing, then died out.
The second attempt to establish Mother’s Day began on May 9, 1907, the second anniversary of the death of Anna Jarvis’ mother Ann.
Jarvis invited several friends to her home in Philadelphia in commemoration of her mother’s life, which included providing nursing care and promoting better sanitation during the Civil War, helping save lives on both sides.
Jarvis announced to her friends her idea of a day of national celebration in honor of mothers, which was first celebrated on May 10, 1908, at the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Ann Jarvis worshipped.
The church is now known as the International Mother’s Day Shrine.
West Virginia Gov. William E. Glasscock issued the first Mother’s Day proclamation in 1910.
By 1911, it was celebrated in nearly every state. President Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional joint resolution in 1914 designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day nationally.