Wishing all mothers of the world a very happy Mother’s Day this weekend. Although this holiday is celebrated on different days throughout the world, this weekend let’s all join American families as we honor our mothers with our sincerest sentiments of love and gratitude.
To mark this day I thought I might share some Irish wisdom on motherhood and some Irish blessings for Mother’s Day. Our mothers are a precious gift from God. So together let’s celebrate their selfless, unconditional love.
Some of these quotes are nostalgic and sentimental in the style of years gone by. One is written for mothers-to-be. Kavanagh’s poetic words memorialize his mother. One excerpt even explores the notorious Irish Catholic style of mothering, but all pay well-deserved tribute to mothers everywhere.
I hope you enjoy these quotations as much as I enjoyed gathering them.
“This heart, my own dear mother, bends,
With love’s true instinct, back to thee!”
~ Thomas Moore.
“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy.
No man does. That’s his.”
~ Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895
“A man loves his sweetheart the most,
His wife the best,
And his mother the longest.”
~ Old Irish Saying
“A mother holds her children’s hands for a little while,
But their hearts forever.”
~ Unknown (I’m not sure if this is originally an Irish saying,
but it is so lovely I just had to include it.)
“Tis the month of Mary,
Blessed Queen of the May,
Mother of God we pray you,
Bless and protect all mothers,
On this their special day.”
~ Irish Prayer
“May embers from the hearth warm your hands,
May sunshine from an Irish sky warm your face,
May a child’s bright smile warm your heart,
And may everlasting love warm your soul.”
~ Irish Blessing
“There is but one and only one,
Whose love will fail you never.
One who lives from sun to sun,
With constant fond endeavor.
There is but one and only one.
On earth there is no other.
In heaven a noble work was done,
When God gave us a Mother.”
~ Old Irish Verse
“Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but
they don’t want them to become politicians in the process.”
~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy
“Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world,
a mother’s love is not.”
~ James Joyce
“May the emerging spirit of your child
Imbibe encouragement and joy
From the continuous music of your heart,
So that it can grow with ease,
Expectant of wonder and welcome
When its form is fully filled…..
And it takes its journey out
To see you and settle at last
Relieved, and glad in your arms.”
~ John O’Donohue - To Bless The Space Between Us
A mother’s love’s a blessing,
No matter where you roam.
Keep her while she’s living,
You’ll miss her when she’s gone.
Love her as in childhood,
Though feeble old and grey,
For you’ll never miss a mother’s love,
Till she’s buried beneath the clay.”
~ Thomas P. Keenan from the song A Mother’s Love’s A Blessing.
” “All that praying you made us do,” complained Maggie.
“And making us go to Mass. And starving us on Good Friday…
And makind us feel ashamed of our bodies
and guilty about absolutely everything.
No, Ma, you were the pits.”
Nuala glowed with pride, truly she had been the best of Catholic mothers.”
~ Marian Keyes
Excerpt from Late Opening At The Last Chance Saloon.
“I do not think of you lying in the wet clay
of a Monaghan graveyard; I see
you walking down a lane among the poplars
on your way to the station, or happily
going to second Mass on a summer Sunday–
you meet me and you say:
“Don’t forget about the cattle–”
among your earthiest words the angels stray…..”
~ Patrick Kavanagh
Excerpt from his poem In Memory Of My Mother.
“God made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old:
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And he moulded her heart of gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.”
~ Pat O’Reilly
Excerpt from his poem Wonderful Mother
Lá Na Máithreacha Sona Daoibh!
(Happy Mother’s Day)
Irish American Mom
