Chat & Photos
Petals of Grace
Feb 18, 2001, Julianne G. Jackson, Mobile, AL
Here are the pictures I promised I would send. With them, I would
like to talk a bit about how Petals of Grace came to be:
Recently there has been a renewed interest in Our Lady of
Guadalupe. Many prayer groups have incorporated her intercession
and her image is seen depicted in much modern art. The story of
her appearance to Juan Diego is so hope-filled and the result of it
was a great number of conversions in a predominantly pagan culture.
Much of the period in which Juan Diego lived and our present day
can be compared.
A friend (Teresa McCown) and I had recently become very interested
in flowers and their spiritual symbolism. We went on a retreat at
Casa Maria in Birmingham, Alabama and in each retreat room there is
a portrayal in tile of the Blessed Mother or a saint. We were
surprised when we entered our room that on our wall was a picture
of Juan Diego. That retreat weekend was filled with special gifts
from God all which seemed to revolve around the story of Juan Diego
and flowers. Our prayer at the conclusion of the weekend was that
if it be God's will we too could be like Juan Diego and spread
flowers of Mary about us. Little did we know what was ahead.
The next month I was traveling and happened perchance upon a
beautiful Marian shrine in Orlando, Florida. At the gift store was
a book which was being featured called Mary's Flowers, by Vincenzina
Krymow. This book, which is such as treasure, pulled together much
of what Teresa and I had been discussing. We were both so excited
about the book that we immediately began telling people about it.
We found the Mary's Gardens web site and copied off literally every
page listed. In the meantime, Our Lady of Perpetual Help also
seemed to be coming across our path in related areas in which we
were reading.
Because of this, I ordered from the Internet a book about her,
since I had read that the stories of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our
Lady of Perpetual Help were linked and that in each instance many
conversions resulted. Another connection resulted when we
discovered that a priest wrote an article for a magazine called
"Our Lady of Perpetual Help", that initially was quite instrumental
in spreading the Mary Garden ministry. When my package arrived
instead of a book, it contained over 500 novena cards to Our Lady
of Perpetual Help. And so we dedicated all our efforts to bring
the devotion of Jesus and Mary through flowers to the intercession
of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
During this time I had emailed John Stokes who had passed on two
names who could help to answer some questions, Lisa Creamer and
Paula Mucha. Lisa was invaluable in describing her container
gardens. We wanted to spread the Mary Garden Ministry and the
container gardens seemed a perfect way to educate others and instill
in them a desire to do similar plantings in their own gardens at
home bringing a more constant awareness of God's presence found in
the everyday. We named our efforts Petals of Grace and decided to
share any profits with the Visitation Sisters in Mobile, Alabama.
The cloistered sisters run a retreat house and the gift store there
began to carry samples of our gardens. It seemed only fitting
since through this ministry we too by the grace of God seemed to be
participating in the mystery of the Visitation.
We kicked off Petals of Grace in May and have done hundreds of
gardens. Through this ministry we have shared in people's joys and
sorrows. One of the most important parts of what we do is in the
delivering of the gardens. It is at this time that with the
unversally appealing aid of flowers we are able to share in faith.
Our lives have been blessed in so many ways by the stories of those
who we come in contact with and we know by their responses that
they too have been touched in a most profound way.
Each of our gardens are done in cactus bowls, as you can see in the
picture. Yet we also do hand painted pots with significant
scripture verses painted on the rims. All are blessed by a priest
and in addition to plants contain a rosary, a statue or cross.
Petals of Grace prayer book created with information from the web
site, a book on how to say the rosary, and a novena prayer to Our
Lady of Perpetual Help, as well as an individualized listing of the
plants and their religious significance, plus seed packets for
other Flowers of Our Lady for their gardens. Each month a priest
familiar with this ministry, says a Mass for the intentions of all
those involved in the Mary Garden Ministry, from those who have
received gardens, to those who have created them, to those who keep
the ministry alive in whatever way the Lord has prompted them to do
so.
There is so much more I could say. Teresa and I have been so
blessed to be a part of this and our husbands and family have grown
as well. It has been exciting to connect with others that are doing
so much to spread Jesus and Mary through flowers.
In Jesus through Mary,
Reply
John Stokes, Mary's Gardens
27 Feb, 2001
Thank you for your message and photos, via Paula Mucha, for posting
to our website Chat and Photos area as an introduction of Petals of
Grace for our daily website visitors.
I note your mention that your love for Mary's Flowers came by way
of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. I am reminded that when I
gave a slide lecture in Chicago in the fall of 1954, as guest of
Servite Father James Keane - Chicago's "TV Priest" of that era (I
was a guest in the studio when he did his Feast of the Rosary
program that year) who published a number of articles on Mary's
Gardens in his "Queen of the Missions" magazine - a woman in the
audience came up afterwards and said that when she visited the
Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico City she had visited the Cactus Garden
of Our Lady there, and had brought back a booklet about it. She
told me that her son, who was away at school, had the booklet and
that she would get it from him and mail it to me. Regrettably, she
never sent it, and I had failed get her name and address for
follow-up. I have inquired about this garden on numerous
occasions, including letters to the Shrine, but without success.
I have always valued the report that at Guadalupe, in 1531, the
radiant translucence of the cacti and shrubs just prior to Our
Lady's first appearance there, led Juan Diego to wonder if he had
come upon the terrestrial paradise itself.
Your attention is called to the flower, Vriesia mariae, Painted
Feather, Mary - clearly named from its likeness to Our Lady of
Guadalupe.
My parish church has a dozen or more stained glass windows
depicting Our Lady's appearances. One of the first as you enter is
that of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego, with the words, "I am
the Ever Virgin Mary" (adjacent to one of Our Lady of Lourdes and
Bernadette, with the words, "I am the Immaculate Conception").
Our beloved Mary's Gardens partner of 25 years, Bonnie Roberson,
had a deep love for Our Lady of Guadalupe, and placed her statue in
Our Lady's Solar Greenhouse, as Woman Clothed With the Sun (along
with one of Our Lady of Fatima, of the Miracle of the Sun).
Bonnie's first husband, who died in mid-life, was a
Mexican-American, and their son, Juan Manchara, was born on the
feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12th.
And now you have joined in our work through Our Lady of Guadalupe!
All prayerful best wishes for your Petals of Grace mission.
Reply
John Stokes, Mary's Gardens
5 Mar, 2001
Mindful of your special interest in Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan
Diego, and in the Miracle of the Roses, I am forwarding to you the
following two messages re. Juan Diego from my "Mind & Events of the
Church" archives, which I update daily as a guide to what to pray
for as the world moves towards the coming of God's Kingdom.
FORWARDED MESSAGES
1.
From: jguerrero@princeofeden.com
To: marysgardens@mgardens.org
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 13:35:19
Subject: VATICAN Commission Uncovers True Identity of Juan Diego
From the Desk of
Monsignor Jose Luis Guerrero Rosado
CANON, BASILICA OF GUADALUPE
http://www.princeofeden.com/
Dear friend of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
I have worked for many years at the request of the Holy See on the
Commission studying the cause for sainthood of Blessed Juan Diego,
the seer of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The Commission has made some startling discoveries about the true
identity of Juan Diego. He is so much more than the humble Indian
we thought him to be.
His name was Cuauhtlatoatzin.
He was a royal prince, a fearless military general, a philosopher,
a poet and had several wives, as was the custom of his people in
16th Century Mexico. He gave all this up to become a Christian and
an ambassador of Christ not only for the Mexican peoples, but for
the whole world.
It is my opinion that Juan Diego will soon become known as one of
the greatest saints in the history of the Church. He will be
recognized as something of a Patriarch, along the line of Abraham
and Moses. It is significant that God should reveal him to us in
this way, now, as we enter the Third Millennium.
Juan Diego’s whole story is now revealed in a book called PRINCE OF
EDEN, by Dr. Christine Jones, soon also to be made into a major
motion picture. The book includes an Afterword by me and the two
other priests working with me on the Commission.
A new website contains much of this information about Juan Diego,
the book, the film and a documentary video on the making of the
film.
Please support this important Apostolate by visiting the website
and help bring the whole story of Juan Diego and the message of the
Virgin of Guadalupe to the world:
http://www.princeofeden.com/
Thank you for supporting this cause,
Msgr. Jose Luis Guerrero Rosado
A FEW EXTRA THINGS TO LOOK AT:
Get a free holy card of Our Lady of Guadalupe with a novena to Her,
and pray with us:
http://www.princeofeden.com/help/first/index.htm
The making of the film, PRINCE OF EDEN:
http://www.princeofeden.com/making_the_film/index.htm
The whole story of JUAN DIEGO:
http://www.princeofeden.com/juan_diego/index.htm
Secrets of the TILMA:
http://www.princeofeden.com/tilma/index.htm
How to get the book and documentary video:
http://www.princeofeden.com/help/second/index.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
ZENIT, August 25, 2000 - DAILY DISPATCH - The World Seen From Rome
====================================================================
JUAN DIEGO'S HISTORICITY IS VERIFIED
MEXICO CITY, AUGUST 25 (ZENIT.org). The Center of Guadalupe Studies
has just presented the book "The Virgin's Messenger," written by a
team of archaeologists and anthropologists, which proves the
historical existence of Blessed Juan Diego, the Indian visionary of
the Virgin of Guadalupe's apparitions.
Asunci—n Garcia Samper, head of the team made up of members of the
National Institute of Anthropology and History, and the Center of
Guadalupe Studies, reconstructed the Blessed's family tree, going
as far
back as 100 years after Christ, and including 900 relatives. Juan
Diego came from a noble Indian family; he was a grandson of
Nezahualcoyotl, and highly respected in Mexico-Tenochtitlan. In
fact, according to the research, the composition of the cape, or
"tilma," on which the Virgin imprinted her image, corresponds to
that of the noble class.
Bishop Enrique Salazar, director of the Center of Guadalupe
Studies, announced that all the documentation gathered will be
given to John Paul
II around October 12.
Juan Diego's cause of canonization, following his beatification by
this Pope, is already quite advanced. These new discoveries
reinforce his postulation.
ZE00082504
====================================================================
Reply
Julianne G. Jackson
Mar 5, 2001
A big thank you for all you do! Thank you so much for posting
the story of Petals of Grace on the website. And your response
meant so very much.
I know that you have been involved in the Mary Garden ministry for
some time now and perhaps because I am a new kid on the block I
don't know this-----but have you ever shared your story? How did
the Lord call you to dedicate your life in this way? It certainly
is a unique calling and one that is blessing countless others. I
know that you are quite busy yet learning another's story can be so
edifying and so very motivating as well. Will you share?
Thank you so much for the forward concerning Juan Diego. It is
fascinating.
Both the Lady of Guadaloupe and Our Lady of Perpetual Help both
brought about many conversions. In both cases this was done by
visual means---one through the tilma and the other through a
painting from an unknown artist. It is said that a picture speaks
a thousand words. The visual has such a powerful way to enter our
hearts.
Look at the Scriptures concerning Holy week----Jesus entered
the city on a donkey which was a powerful visual sign that he
entered in peace. On Holy Thursday He washed the feet of the
disciples and specifically asked the apostles did they see what He
was doing. His action expressed a powerful lesson on serving
without any words. And what about the Passion and Jesus' death on
the cross? The Gospel of John is filled with instances in which
the visual teaches straight to the heart. I could go on and on yet
the point that I am making is that in this day and age in which
words have become confusing at times because of all the
connotations which they carry we often misinterpret each other but
the visual cuts through those barriers and speaks to the heart.
And that is why
I see the Mary Garden ministry as such a powerful tool for
conversion and a deepening of faith through prayer. Because as we
all know flowers speak to the heart (look at the Valentine
industry). To educate others about the flower symbolism helps a
person look beyond the visual stimuli and in a deeper dimension
teaches them of Jesus and Mary.
John, this entire undertaking is so much more far reaching than
one can imagine-----in a sense those that are involved could be
said to be on the planning committee for the coronation of Mary as
Queen of Heaven. I do not mean any disrespect by that yet often
look at the ways which God calls us through the framework of the
mysteries of the rosary.
And so if you have the time I would love to hear your
story----because I am quite certainit is a beautiful one.
God Bless You this day,
P.S. In the article about Petals of Grace I mentioned an article
in which a priest wrote for a magazine entitled Our Lady of
Pepetual Help that was instrumental in spreading the concept of
Mary's gardens. I can not seem to locate it but am I mistaken in
having read an article from your research that a priest wrote a
story on the Woods Hole Mary garden for this magazine and this
started the ball rolling here in the states?
Reply
John Stokes, Mary's Gardens
Thank you for your message of today.
The article which was the inspiration for undertaking the work of
Mary's Gardens was "Lillie Tower" by Redemptorist Fr. James J.
Galvin, C.SS.R, first published in the April, 1946 issue of
"Perpetual Help" magazine, of which he was the Editor. Our Lady of
Perpetual Help is the title under which the Redemptorists
especially venerate Our Lady. St. Alphonsus Liguori of the
Redemptorists wrote the Marian Classic, "The Glories of Mary".
"Lillie Tower" refers to the Angelus Tower built for St. Joseph's
Church, Woods Hole, Massachusetts by Frances Crane Lillie of
Chicago, a summer resident of Woods Hole, who also planted the
first U.S. public Mary Garden, beside the tower.
I converted, from the Society of Friends (Quakers) to the Catholic
faith in September of 1946 - through a "Road to Damascus"
lightening bolt of grace (while in my parents' garden). I had read
practically no Catholic books or magazines; had only one Catholic
friend, in another city, and did not know where the local Catholic
parish church was located. So I looked up the address of the church
in the phone book, drove over, rang the doorbell, and asked the
priest on duty for Catholic instructions. After three months of
instructions, I was baptized on Christmas day - the priest
supplying a godfather as I had no Catholic friends or aquaintances
in the area.
During that three months period I undertook to become generally
informed about the Church; went to a book store and bought 100
books; and subscribed to 20 magazines. One of the magazines was
"Our Lady's Digest", and in the September 1946 issue I read a
reprint of Fr. Galvin's "Lillie Tower". I disliked the plaster
statue of Our Lady in the parish church, and was appealed to by the
idea of her visual flower symbols mentioned in the article - but
did nothing about it at the time. The article, with added drawing
of the Angelus Tower, is reproduced on the website as
(/JG-LT-PH.html), accessible from the Home Page via INSPIRATION AND
OUTREACH/50 Years of Developmental Articles/1946 - Lillie Tower
In the Fall of 1949 I enrolled in evening courses of St. Joseph's
College (now University), and there met Edward A. G. Mc Tague who
was teaching a course in "The Postulates of Economics"
The rest is told in the website article, "The Mary Garden Story"
(/JS-TMGS-MG.html) - via INSPIRATION AND OUTREACH/50 Years of
Developmental Articles/1996 - The Mary Garden Story.
In your message you say,
"The visual has such a powerful way to enter our hearts. . .
"I see the Mary Garden ministry as such a powerful tool for
conversion and a deepening of faith through prayer. . . .
"To educate others about the flower symbolism helps a
person look beyond the visual stimuli and in a deeper
dimension teaches them of Jesus and Mary."
This is of the essence of the Flowers of Our Lady, whose medieval
visual symbolism of Mary's priveleges, life, virtues, mysteries -
quickening devotion and prayer - predates the introduction of
printing and the general literacy of the Faithful. I am writing
freshly about this in a review, to be posted to the website, of
Lisa Creamer's, "Mary's Gardens for Children - a Teacher's Guide"
about to be available for $9.00 plus shipping from
marygardenchild@aol.com
after a year's testing in some 10 schools
Further than teaching a beautiful mode of Marian devotion, the
Flowers of Our Lady instruct generally in the lost spiritual
power of the visual in Creation. Of these Flowers and the
pre-printing, pre-reading, pre-catechism children of the middle
ages, Frances Lillie said, "The flowers were all they had." Yet,
the\ Flowers were also so much more.