In honor of the occasion, we made one of our rather rare outings to a restaurant for some good burgers and a shared bananas foster bread pudding for dessert. Agent Murphy cooperated very well by sleeping through most of our meal.
So the pro-life committee had our monthly meeting today and decided on this as the prayer from the committee to run in the parish bulletin for Mothers Day weekend:
A Prayer for Mothers
Good and Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth new life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.
Give them the strength to love and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly. Give them the faithful support of husband, family and friends as they care for the physical and spiritual growth of their children. Give them joy and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood. Most of all, give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most.
Dear Lord, let me honor my mother if she is living and remember her in prayer if she is dead. Pour down your grace on her and on all mothers on this day dedicated to them.
Amen.
At the beginning of Plato’s dialogue
But I see that you are disinclined, and as I have an engagement which will prevent my staying to hear you at greater length (for I have to be in another place), I will depart; although I should have liked to have heard you.
Thus I spoke, and was rising from my seat, when Callias seized me by the right hand, and in his left hand caught hold of this old cloak of mine. He said: We cannot let you go, Socrates, for if you leave us there will be an end of our discussions: I must therefore beg you to remain, as there is nothing in the world that I should like better than to hear you and Protagoras discourse. Do not deny the company this pleasure.
The dialogue concludes with these remarks, also from Socrates:
By all means, I said, if that is your wish; for I too ought long since to have kept the engagement of which I spoke before, and only tarried because I could not refuse the request of the noble Callias. So the conversation ended, and we went our way.
The excuse “I can’t stay because I have an appointment.” is at least as old as Plato.
Quotations are taken from the translation by Benjamin Jowett as published by Project Gutenberg.