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                                        Introductory Mary Garden

                              Twelve

               Flower Meditations
   
                         suggested by the

               Flowers of Our Lady

                              of the

                           Introductory

                      Mary Garden





               Flower Meditations


Christian flower symbolism, with origins in the Wisdom and
Prophetic books of the Bible, was applied to Mary by the Church
Fathers, as an extension of Isaiah's prophecy of the Virgin Mother
of the Messiah as the Blossoming Rod of Jesse - celebrated today in
the Christmas Carol, "Lo, How a Rose 'ere Blooming."

In time, the Flowers of Our Lady came to symbolize many envisaged
aspects of Mary's life, virtues and mysteries, and as such served
to quicken devout persons beholding them in nature and garden to
Marian meditation and prayer.

This devotional tradition has been preserved in "Flowers of Mary,"
a series of 31 meditational flower addresses - one for each day of
Mary's month of May - delivered in May, 1858 in Ingolstadt, Germany
by Rev. Louis Gemminger, then Pastor of St. Peter's Church, Munich
- published in English Translation in 1894.

The following are twelve meditations in the spirit of Father
Gemminger.



 Impatiens has been named Mother Love from the
 constancy of its blooms during the entire period
 from spring to frost - bringing to mind the
 constancy of Mary's love for her Divine Son and Lord,
 and for us, her spiritual children.  We turn to Mary,
 our Mother, in prayer, knowing she is constantly
 present in heaven as our Advocate and Intercessor,
 yet also at our side mediating the graces she 
obtains for us.  From the sense of Mary's presence and graces
received in contemplating its sacramentally blessed Flowers of Our
Lady, the mother Mary Garden at Woods Hole has been called "Our
Lady in her Garden".




 As the shapes of snapdragon blooms bring
 to mind little shoes, we envisage in our
 imagination the little feet and shoes of Jesus,
 and Mary's loving motherly sharing and bonding
 with him as she cared for him in their Nazareth
 home.  In imitation of Mary, may we ever nurture
 and protect the innocence and purity of our own
 children as we instruct them in the truths and
 virtues of the Faith.





 As we look at the tiny white pins in the
 flower heads of sweet scabious, we think of Our
 Lady's wonder and joy as she sewed garments for
 the Divine Redeemer she was to bear.  In
 emulation of Mary, we offer all our work and
 thoughts to God, and, in particular, our sewing
 for home and for our church altar.





 The tiny cross-shaped flowers of sweet alyssum
 bring to mind Christ's Cross, quickening us to
 recollection that all our pains and sorrows were
 borne there by him, and that by our own bearing of
 them in union with him we extend the mystery and
 efficacy of his Redemption - "making up what is
 wanting in the sufferings of Christ." 





 Consider the red poppy, one of the flowers said by
 old legend to have sprung up at the foot of the
 cross from Jesus' redemptive blood drops.   These
 Passion symbols quicken meditation on Christ's
 Redemption of us, of the world of nature, and of
 the earthly Kingdom, so that the divine goodness,
 beauty, truth and glory of Creation may be shown
                forth, shared and magnified in the New Heaven
                and the New Earth for all eternity.





 When the tear-like buds of larkspur appear, we unite
 our thoughts with those of Mary as she wept at the
 foot of the Cross, sharing interiorly the bitter
 Passion of her crucified Divine Son and Lord.  May
 we become ever more closely united with the
 sacrifice of Christ through loving emulation of
 Mary's immolative motherly sorrows - as we are
 quickened to meditation and prayer by these flowers
 said by legend to have sprung up where her tears fell
to the ground beside the Cross.





 As we observe the first florets of cornflower
 blooming in a crown-like ring around the edges of
 each flower head, we raise our thoughts to Mary's
 coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth.  We pray
 to her for the mediation of the graces needed by
 us ever to guide our actions towards the redemptive
 building of God's Peaceable Kingdom of truth,
justice, love, freedom and material sufficiency for all - in
preparation for the transformation of all in the New Heaven and
New Earth on the last day.





 As we come upon the eye-like flowers of
 forget-me-nots, with their golden centers, we are
 quickened to reassurance that the eyes of Mary, our
 Spiritual Mother in heaven, are always turned upon
 us and our needs.  We are similarly reassured by
 the downwards inclining blooms of the daffodil,
 seen as "Mary looking down from heaven".






 We see how beautifully the golden masses of marigolds
 suggest Our Lady's splendor after her glorious
 assumption into heaven, and her "coming forth as the
 morning rising . . . bright as the sun" from the
 interior of the Trinity, as the "Woman clothed with
 the sun" and "Queen in gilded clothing"; and in her
 subsequent merciful appearances on earth.  We ask 
 her to pray that we may obtain the promise of heaven.





 We raise our thoughts from the blue of the
 morning glory, "Our Lady's Mantle" to the
 spiritual mantle with which Mary, Mother
 of the all-powerful God, and our heavenly
 mother also, mercifully protects those who
 turn to her for help.  We beseech her
 protection from all dangers.






 The blooms of petunias were named Our Lady's
 Praises from their perceived resemblance to the
 subtle flowers seen by those gifted with
 spiritual vision to rise from the lips of
 devotees proclaiming Our Lady's praises -
 as spiritual roses were perceived to rise from
 the lips of those praying the Aves and Paters
of the Rosary (the origin of the name, "Rosary").  Or,
alternatively, they may be seen as praises rising from the lips of
Mary, as her soul "magnifies the Lord."  May our prayers, too, rise
to Our Lady and to God as pure spiritual bouquets of love.





 The zinnia is one of a number of flowers whose
 forms and settings in nature suggested to persons
 coming upon them the presence of the radiant
 heavenly human form of the Virgin, for whom the
 flowers were then named.  Other such flowers are
 "Mary", "Our Lady of the Meadow", "Our Lady in the
 Corn", "Our Lady by the Gate".  As we reflect on
 the yellow zinnia as it first blooms, with a single
 haloed glorious flower above its foliage "body," we
rejoice that Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces, is always present with
us by her action wherever graces are distributed.


Copyright Mary's Gardens 1998

Photos copyright 1992-1997 FLOWERscape garden design software,
by Richard H. Kline - All rights reserved