Ever since writing a 20 page thesis on Hamlet, I've been pretty interested in the symbolism of flowers (especially what they meant during the Victorian era). Buttercups symbolize humility, neatness, and a child-like nature.
Forget-me-nots are my other favorite. They symbolize kindness and remembrance (obviously). I also heard somewhere that flowers with five petals also symbolize the Blessed Mother because they resemble a star shape. One of my favorite titles for Mary is Stella Maris, or "Star of the Sea."
I've always been a simple flower kind of gal; I prefer the little flowers over grandiose attention-grabbers. Flowers in and of themselves are great, but give me Tulips (perfect love, hah!), and Daisies (purity and innocence) any day over a few dozen long-stem roses. I like little flowers best. Which brings me to the subject of today's post:
I love Little Flower. She's my third patron (Jennifer Lynn Magdalene Michael Thérèse Joan Thomas Aquinas). I don't really know when exactly I picked up Story of a Soul, but I remember reading it at a Perkins in Sheboygan about three years ago. Since then, I've absolutely loved her. I don't know if she does this, but when I was on CYE staff, Sr. Margaret (Peggy) was in the habit of adding a saint to everyone's name by the end of summer. I remember that she always called me "Little One" during my first summer, and I loved it. It was weird, because I was the oldest one on staff, but it really reminded me of the few good times I had with my father, and one of his favorite songs that we'd listen together. "Little One" quickly turned into "Little Flower," and it's stuck with me since.
The first year on staff can atrocious for those of us who have lived on our own and grown up for ten years before being thrust into the thick of community life. I realized during my first summer that I had a lot of growing up to do. I was nothing more than the spiritual equivalent of Eustace Scrubb.
How do you help a tree stay healthy and grow? You prune it by shearing or chopping off the dead weight.
Of the three summers that I spent on staff, I think that first one was the best for me. It truly pulled a lot out of me that I didn't want to release. I experienced a very desperate dark night of the soul for the first time in my life. When I first begin to experience a dark night of the soul, I felt like I was the only one, that there was something very wrong with me, and that I'd never get any better. Everything felt worthless. Everything felt fruitless. Then. THEN I found out about my heavenly family members who had experienced the same thing. When I first read Come Be My Light by Mother Teresa, I was absolutely confounded. How could someone so incredibly holy be sustained by so little? I felt in good company and quickly discovered Mother's connection to Little Flower, who had also experienced the same thing. I fell in love with Therese's simplicity and RADICAL ABANDON immediately.
It was this lesson in total self-abandonment that led me to the CYE missionary internship. Well, that and a consistent shower of roses from Little Flower during every monthly novena that I prayed for an entire year. Ask me about that in person sometime; it's truly miraculous. And also this song which I connected to this beautiful drawing (which I wanted tattooed on me at one point, sans kraken, anchored to the Eucharist, and "l'abandon" on one of the sails) which reminded me of the vision of St. John Bosco:
Spaghetti, indeed. Anyways, it was during the missionary internship that I fell in love with Truth and opened my heart to a call to the religious life. It's just so beautiful and joyful, so tempting. It' be difficult and rewarding for sure, but I know it's not for me. I think I'd use it as more of an escape than a "yes" to the Bridegroom, and that's no good. Besides, my heart aches with the longing for marriage and motherhood, but more on that at another time.
It wasn't until last summer, when I read The Love That Keeps us Sane, that I learned of Thérèse's fervent ardor for Truth Himself. She said:
"If I'm not loved, that's just too bad! I'll tell the whole truth, and if anyone doesn't wish to know the truth, let her not come looking for me."
What a little spitfire! I look at pictures of Little Flower sometimes and I can just see the fire in her eyes. I imagine she was, for lack of a better term, quite a hellraiser. I've always admired her holy boldness, which is something I'm saddled with all the time.
The Truth hurts. It hurts because it demands radical change. "'If you wish to be perfect...then come, follow me' (Mt 19:21); to this call the disciple must respond with a radical decision and choice[...] the radical and unconditional nature of the decision demanded by the Kingdom of God" (Veritatis Splendor 66). This encounter with Truth is transformative. It forces you to make a decision: stay or go. It's impossible to have even a brush with Truth and remain the same. You just won't be the same. Seeds are planted, souls are stirred, and synapses start firing. I see this all the time when I'm working with my teens and their families.
Today's society is in absolute hysterics about gay "marriage" and homosexuality. As Archbishop Sheen said, there's not one person out there who hates the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they think the Catholic Church teaches.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (emphasis mine):
Chastity and homosexuality
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They (the acts) are contrary to the natural law. They (the acts) close the sexual act to the gift of life. They (the acts) do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they (the acts) be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual (just like all unmarried) persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
Surprised? Why? It means you're not doing your homework.
St. Josemaría Escrivá said that "Holy steadfastness is not intolerance." I'd like to add that it's not bigotry or discrimination, either. We must love all people, and as Aquinas says, to love is to will what is best for the other person. What is the absolute best thing that we can will for another person?
HEAVEN! (duh)
As a society, we're no longer Heaven-focused. Well, no crap, Lowery. Thanks, Captain Obvious. How can we possibly help others get to Heaven if we refuse to tell them the Truth about who they were created to be and how they were divinely designed to love (I could go on forever). We must be charitable. We need to be supportive of the person and their soul, which means not being afraid to tell them that their actions are sinful. The whole "love the sinner and hate the sin" thing, ya know?
Unfortunately, no matter how we say it, though, we're gonna piss some people off. But that's ok. Those of us who lose our lives for the sake of Truth will gain it back again, so no biggie. Be detached. Seek not the love and approval of others, but that of God.
Everyone has a deep desire for God:
27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
- The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.1
But, many people aren't ready for an encounter with the Truth. They can't handle it. We who defend and uphold the Truth need to be patient, which reminds me of a story I once read in Called to be Holy by Cardinal Dolan.
Several years ago, the Archdiocese of New York lost Father Brian Barrett-- a great priest, a member of the seminary faculty, an alumnus of the North American College-- at the young age of forty-two. After his sudden death, an interesting story surfaced about a woman journalist. Seems she was covering the story of the papal visit to New York a year-and-a-half before and was referred to Father Barrett for background in her research. She described herself then as a radical feminist, an "ex-Catholic" who detested the Church and believed it to be the incarnation of everything she considered backward, repressive, unhealthy, and unhappy. You know the type. She unloaded all the barrels on Father Barrett.
How did he react? You know he had to be twmpted to lose his patience with her. Instead, he listened, calmly answered her questions, reasonably explained Church teaching, put up with what she admitted in retrospect were insults and taunts, kept meeting with her, and enver lost his cool. The result? She was in tears at his funeral; she has returned to the Church; she now cherishes her faith and loves her religion. He may have been tempted to lob a grenade; instead, he cast a fishing line, patiently reeled her in... and it worked. A soul has been healed and saved.
Now, no doubt about it, you are going to meet people who could prompt people like the late Mother Teresa to lose her cool! You bet you will at times have to be very firm, to correct abuses, to speak up to preserve the truth, your self-respect, and your peace of mind. All I'm saying is that it is always more laudable, preferable, and more effective if we do so calmly, reasonably, and patiently (104).I love Dolan. I simply love him. I'm overjoyed to have him as our shepherd. He says elsewhere in the book:
I am not saying we are not to be firm, clear, and challenging with others. There are times we must be decisive, say no, state that certain behavior is unacceptable. A priest I know claims the great heresy today is "nice-ism," with priests and bishops so afraid of losing popularity or unsettling people that they turn into fluffy, least-common-denominator Christian ministers. That's not what I mean (86).And BOOM goes the dynamite. As a Choleric, it's very difficult for me to be patient with adults (I automatically think they should know better). My pet peeves are lies and disrespect. If people automatically label me a bigot and don't allow me to speak my beliefs, I tend to anger easily. YAY SANCTIFICATION! This happens all the time with teens- they make huge judgments and jump to conclusions that are based purely on conjecture. It can be even worse when we are asked a question by a family member who really doesn't want to hear the answer to the question but takes it as a personal attack, regardless of the vocal intonation and words used.
But, if Thérèse has taught me anything, it's that I'm to be all for Jesus and keep a custody of my senses. This means I need to shut the hell up and listen holistically to what the person is saying: their words, intonation, what their eyes are saying, facial expression, body language, etc. This allows me to really discover the wounds a person has and enables me to better bring them to the Healer of their soul.
Right now I'm reading Veritatis Splendor, too, and there are some great things in there about society's "moral norms and values" which are contrary to natural law and human dignity.
I should really organize my thoughts more. Heh. I'd just like to end with this:
"Patterned on God's freedom, man's freedom is not negated by his obedience to the divine law; indeed, only through this obedience does it abide in the truth and conform to human dignity" (VS 42).
The Truth of the law of human dignity is engraved on our hearts. However, most of us, myself included, willfully turn our hearts to stone on occasion. We need to allow the Divine Heart Surgeon to break our hearts with His Truth so that He can heal us and help us live in the freedom He wants for us as we walk toward the ultimate Goal.
Little Flower, Ora Pro Nobis.
Happy feast of St. Maximillian Kolbe!!
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