DEAR READERS: The following Mother's Day column has been requested for an annual rerun. I think it's worth repeating and hope you agree.
DEAR ABBY: I am a longtime reader but have never written before. I am enclosing a part of your column that I have kept in my Bible for years. As you can see, it is yellowed and shredded, and half of it is missing. I don't know how many hundreds of times I have read it. It gave me such a feeling of peace and comfort. It was titled "A Prayer for Mama."Will you please print it again? I would love to have another copy. - DOROTHY L.
DEAR DOROTHY: With pleasure:
DEAR ABBY: My beloved mother passed away recently, so I called the minister and asked him for the wording of a prayer I could say for my mother. He said, "I'm too busy - and a lot of good prayer will do her now!" You see, Mama went to church long ago, but my father never liked to go, so Mama finally quit going. Abby, I can't believe that heaven is open only to church members.
I've called all the bookstores in town, and they say there aren't any prayers for the dead in any of the prayer books they have. I've heard there are places where you send a few dollars and they pray for the dead, but I don't know their addresses.
Abby, I'd be so grateful if you would print a short prayer I could say for my mother before I go to sleep. Any faith is acceptable. I can't let you send it to my home because my father looks over the mail first, and I'm sure I'd never get it. Please don't turn down my odd request. It means the world to me. Thank you, and God bless you, Abby. - A PRAYER FOR MAMA
DEAR READERS: I found this prayer in my Union Prayer Book. It is the one Jews recite on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) to honor the memory of a deceased mother:
IN MEMORY OF MOTHER
"I remember thee in this solemn hour, my dear mother. I remember the days when thou didst dwell on Earth, and thy tender love watched over me like a guardian angel. Thou hast gone from me, but the bond which unites our souls can never be severed; thine image lives within my heart. May the merciful Father reward thee for the faithfulness and kindness thou has ever shown me; may he lift up the light of his countenance upon thee, and grant thee eternal peace! Amen."
DEAR ABBY: I can't believe it's Mother's Day again. With every passing year, the holidays seem to come closer together.
Abby, I wish you'd find space in your column to remind young married women to remember their mothers-in-law - even if it's only a card. There were so many years when I should have remembered my mother-in-law on Mother's Day, but I never did.
This year I sent her flowers - to the cemetery, bitterly regretting that I had never sent flowers while she was able to enjoy them.
I should have been more attentive to her and written her more about her grandchildren, whom she loved so much. And most of all, I should have let her know how much I had grown to love her.
I hope others will not commit the same sins of omission as I. Abby, please print this. Next year might be too late for some. - REGRETTING IN CALIFORNIA
Everybody has a problem. What's yours? Get it off your chest by writing to: Dear Abby, P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, Calif. 90069. For a personal reply, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope.