Vigil of Motherhood – Sunday, May 11, 1941
We have come once again to that now traditional second Sunday in May on which the nation pauses to remember with something more than the passing daily deference, those mothers who have brought us to life, who have watched over us until we could stand alone, who have prayed for us and sent their love with us, no matter how far we have traveled. The mission of motherhood has always been fraught with poignant paradoxes, in which are mingled indescribable joy and unavoidable anxiety.
In the heart of every mother is the hope that her child will take his place in the world, and yet every mother dreads the day when the baby she once knew becomes a man and goes forth to make his own way. There are other heartaches which beset the sacred career of motherhood as history has so unfortunately demonstrated. Countless times throughout the generations mothers have been called upon to send forth their sons into struggles which were not of their making, nor of their desire. Such times increase the anguish of motherhood because they know that the hazards of the battle are only a small part of that which is to be feared.
To those mothers who live in fear of arriving again at this long-dreaded crossroad, perhaps this should be said: Since you cannot go with your sons you must give them through the years, by the manner of your own life, by the sweetness of your own spirit, such armor within their own souls that they will be proof against all the intentions of evil concerning them. And then, when they have left, go with them with your prayers and abide with them in your thoughts, that they may perchance repeat the experience of Jacob, who, having left his home to travel in a strange land, awoke one night to speak the truth that had suddenly come to him: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” (Genesis 28:16)
Wherever these young men of ours go, the prayers of mothers are reaching after them, to surround them with that cloak of righteousness which is protection against things which some have chosen to look upon as worse than death. This, in the year 1941, is our message to mothers, and the message we speak for mothers to those sons who this day, and always, would do them honor.
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May 11, 1941
Broadcast Number 0,612