We remember you

2 May 2022

Expressing mothers’ experiences of trauma and loss, and the grieving within relationships with mothers and mother figures. 

Words Emma Howan and Rosy Keane

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’’ (Matthew chapter five, verse 4).

For the mums we’ve lost, we remember you. 

For those who never knew their mum, we remember you. 

For the mums who are close yet outside our bubble, we remember you. 

For those whose mums are far away, emotionally, spiritually, mentally or physically, we remember you. 

For the mums who have experienced loss, we remember you. 

For those who want to be a mum but can’t, we remember you. 

For the mums who have lost children or had them taken away, we remember you. 

For those opening their homes and hearts to other children, we remember you. 

For the mums who are exhausted and feeling overwhelmed, we remember you. 

For those trying to survive in unsafe households, we remember you. 

For the mums who are going it alone, we remember you. 

For those who were forever altered through traumatic complications around conception, pregnancy, and childbirth, we remember you. 

For the mums who are struggling through post-natal depression, mental unrest, and illness, we remember you. 

For those in financial hardship, sacrificing mightily for their family, we remember you. 

For the mums enduring a lack of support from family or children’s fathers; or whose community feels fragile, disinterested or isolating in this season, we remember you. 

For those who carry grief around the idea of motherhood, the reality of motherhood, the expectations of motherhood or their own relationships with mothers, we remember you. 

We light a candle knowing that God comforts us, her children. 

This liturgy is courtesy of The Salvation Army Women’s Ministries, New Zealand. 

Rosy Keane is the Secretary for Spiritual Life Development for The Salvation Army Australia