The second Sunday in May officially was proclaimed as Mother’s Day in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson. It came after a campaign by a woman named Anna Jarvis of Grafton, W.Va., who first celebrated it in 1908 as a memorial for her own mother.

Since then, it has become part of the nation’s spring calendar. It is also celebrated around the world in various forms.

It seems only right to take time out of our busy schedules and thank mothers for who they are and what they mean to us. And while it is meant to be marked as a specific remembrance of each person’s own mother, it is also worthy to commemorate what is the role of the mother in society.

Mothers are the bedrock and the foundation of families, the basic unit in our society. They give birth to and nurture new life in ways that no other person can. From the moment of conception, a mother has a special innate bond to her child. In the days following the birth of a child, the mother becomes the primary source of nutrition and indeed life itself for that child. No one can replace a person’s mother.

The role of the mother in the family is unique. It usually falls to Mom to raise the kids, to feed the family and to purchase the goods that are necessary for day-to-day living. This occurs in various degrees because of the unique situations of each and every family. In today’s world, the stresses on family life are accelerated. But the family still continues to gather together around Mom.

The role of single mothers is made so much more difficult because of these individual strains. In some cases, moms are called upon to be both Mom and Dad. It’s an unfair burden, but the reality of the situation is that usually it’s the Mom who holds the family together.

It is right to honor Mom. The sentimentality of the Hallmark card and bouquet of flowers is hardly sufficient to fully observe the dignity and contribution of motherhood and our individual moms. Mothers are a source of strength, a reason for hope and a concrete representation of love in our midst.

In his Letter to Women, St. Pope John Paul II wrote: “You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God’s own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child’s first steps, who helps it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life.”

What a mother is to the family, Mary, Mother of Jesus, is to the Church. The reason Mary is held in such esteem is because she was the woman who gave birth to the Savior. She nurtured Him, guided Him and walked at His side even when the journey included death at its end. She has been the very model of motherhood throughout the ages.

Mary is the personification of grace for all of us in the Church. Her faith and love was unshakable, and she represents to us a model for living in good times and in bad times.

It is no accident that May is the month of Mary as well as the month when we honor mothers. Mary was the Mother par excellence. Let her show the way to the women of our times. Let her be the source of strength for today’s mothers as they struggle with their duties and as they fulfill their roles as Moms in our world.

Thanks, Mom, for all you have done and will continue to do. This is your special day. Bask in the honor of motherhood. You are the foundation of God’s plans for us all. We know that without Mom, nothing happens.