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Summary
- The fifth commandment, “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12), is the Bible’s command about mothers; the 1928 Book of Common Prayer explains it as a duty “To love, honour, and help my father and mother.”
- The priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24–26 can be said over a mother or prayed for her.
- Short prayers cover a living mother’s strength, health, sleep, safety, decisions, joy, faith, friendships, money worries and old age.
- For a seriously ill mother there is the 1928 Prayer Book’s prayer “For a Sick Person,” and Catholics and Orthodox can ask a priest for the Anointing of the Sick or Holy Unction.
- Catholics and Orthodox pray for the dead, and the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers has prayers for a deceased woman and for deceased parents; most Protestants do not pray for the dead, and the Westminster Confession limits prayer to the living.
- Moms in Prayer International, founded by Fern Nichols in 1984, is a movement of mothers who meet to pray for their children and schools.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Exodus 20:12; Numbers 6:23–26; Psalm 91:11; Proverbs 1:8; 17:22; 23:22; 27:17; 31:28; Isaiah 40:31; 46:4; 66:13; Jeremiah 30:17; John 11:25–26; 19:26–27; Ephesians 2:10; 6:2; Philippians 4:7, 19; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; 2 Timothy 1:5; Hebrews 11:1; James 1:5; 5:14; 1 John 4:19). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Prayers and Thanksgivings, “For a Sick Person,” p. 45; Offices of Instruction, p. 288; The Burial of the Dead, p. 336. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. “Various Prayers for the Dead”: “For a Woman deceased” and “For deceased Parents,” p. 593. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888/page/593/mode/1up
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraphs 1514–1516. https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_two/article_5/ii_who_receives_and_who_administers_this_sacrament.html
- Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2005. Question 211; Appendix, “Eternal Rest.” https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html
- Orthodox Church in America. Guidelines for Clergy (2023), “The Mystery of Unction” and “Burial.” https://www.oca.org/files/PDF/official/2023-OCA-Guidelines-for-Clergy.pdf
- Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapter 21, section 4. https://thewestminsterstandard.org/the-westminster-confession/
- Moms in Prayer International. “Fern Nichols Bio.” https://momsinprayer.org/who-we-are/leadership/headquarters-staff/fern-nichols-bio/
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