For Those Who Have Mothered Us

We pray in thanksgiving for all those women who have mothered us:
For those women who have birthed us physically, emotionally, or spiritually
For those who have given life to us in its many forms
And who have sustained us through many years by their loving care.

We celebrate those women who have been models of compassion for us:
Who have been light to us in the darkness of our lives
Who have comforted us in their warm embrace
And healed us with their presence.

We are grateful for all those who have sheltered us:
Who have listened in sympathy when our hearts were breaking
Who have held us gently in times of sorrow
Who have given us hope for tomorrow when we thought
Our “world” was ending.

We give thanks for all those women who have celebrated our joys with us:
Those who noticed even small successes that have gone unnoticed by others.
And we are grateful as well for those women who have taught us
That we will not always be successful … and that sometimes our greatest learnings
Are from our apparent failures.

We celebrate those women who encouraged and challenged us to be risk takers:
Those who were unwilling to compromise the vision entrusted to them
Who taught us not only by word, but also by example, what it means
To be a woman of love, mercy, and justice
Those who have shown us how to be the face of Providence in this world at this time.

We are incredibly grateful for all those women
whose lives have nurtured ours and imbued in us the courage and strength
To be life bearers, risk takers, and vision seekers to a world so sorely in need today.

O loving, compassionate Presence, thank you for all those women
who, through their lives, have shown us who YOU are.
By their example, and through your unending grace and your steadfast love
May others find in us the shelter and the love that we have been so freely given
By those who have mothered us.   AMEN!