Roses

My mom would always say, "Oh! you will get so many roses in heaven!" That is if the act was worth meriting a rose! It had to be a sacrifice of some big doing. A good deed done. Something that was hard to do. So I was always trying to gain a lot of roses in heaven by doing small acts of sacrifices. Like giving up a portion of yummy food or giving up that chocolate candy that I wanted so badly. It's hard sometimes to sacrifice something you really want! The offering becomes more delectable the more you want it. That is why a pure sacrifice is rewarded more than you'll ever know.

     Roses. That sweet smelling, beautiful creation from God's  Holy hand itself. Roses, as sweet as a poem. Roses, a meaningful gift from one lover to another. A symbol of Peace. A symbol of Love. A symbol of Joy and of Hope. A fragrant reminder that someone cares. Mary is Queen of the Roses. Saint Therese of Lisieux said she would send a shower of roses for an answered prayer. The most common association of the rose is with the Virgin Mary. Saint Ambrose believed that there were roses in the Garden of Eden without thorns, but which became thorny after the fall. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, compared her virginity to a white rose and her charity to a red rose. Saint Dominic is credited with the institution of the Rosary, a series of prayers to the Virgin Mary, symbolized by garlands of roses worn in Heaven. Juan Diego's cape was full of roses that fell out when he opened it. The Mystic Rose appears in Dante's "Divine Comedy", where it represents God's love. The Rose is even a symbol for Christ Himself. By the 12th century, the red rose had come to represent Christ Passion and the blood of the martyrs.

     If we are blessed enough to receive roses for a special occasion, we should take it as a great sign of God's Holy Love for us.