Readings from Mystical Flora - Christ and the Flowers

[Shin]

The first quality of the rose is that it grows without artificial aid, and has hardly any need of being cultivated, as you see roses in the fields growing up without any cultivation. And although its perfume is extremely sweet when it is fresh, yet it is much stronger when it is pressed and dried. And this represents marvellously well that Divine flower, our Lord, who came forth from the Blessed Virgin, as it had been foretold by Isaias that a flower should rise out of the root of Jesse (Isa. xi. i ). For though He gave forth perfumes of admirable sweetness all the time of his most sacred infancy and during the whole course of his life, yet it was at the hour of his holy death and passion that, like a rose crushed and withered by all the torments He endured, He breathed forth a fragrance much more powerful in order to draw souls after Him by his perfumes.

The sweet Saviour of our souls wished to be called Jesus of Nazareth, because Nazareth is interpreted flowery or flourishing city. Ego sum flos campi. "I am the flower of the fields," He says in the Canticle of Canticles. And to show us that He was not only a flower, but a bouquet composed of the most beautiful and sweet-smelling flowers that could be found, He wished to keep this name of Jesus of Nazareth upon the cross. But does it not seem that our Lord was more like a faded, withered flower upon the cross, than a blooming one? Look at Him, all covered with wounds, defiled with spittle, his eyes sunken and dim, his face bruised, pale, and discoloured, from the greatness of his sufferings, all his blood poured out and the pangs of death having already seized upon all parts of his body. Oh! it was truly at that moment that He showed Himself rich in the flowers of all the most beautiful virtues. Oh! how great and lovely, my dear souls, are the flowers which this blessed plant of the death and passion of our Lord caused to bloom forth whilst He hung upon the cross. I will content myself with choosing four of the principal, most remarkable and most necessary in the spiritual life. The first is holy humility, which, like a violet, sheds around it a perfume extremely sweet in the death and passion of our Saviour. The second is patience, the third perseverance, and the fourth is the very excellent virtue of holy indifference.

- Mystical Flora, St. Francis de Sales

[Shin]

Let us now return to our orchard, or flower-garden, and behold now how the trees begin to fill with sap for the bringing forth of the blossoms, and then of the fruit - the flowers and the plants, also, their fragrance. This illustration pleases me; for very often, when I was beginning - and our Lord grant that I have really begun to serve His Majesty - I mean, begun in relation to what I have to say of my life, - it was to me a great joy to consider my soul as a garden, and our Lord as walking in it. I used to beseech Him to increase the fragrance of the little flowers of virtues - which were beginning, as it seemed to bud - and preserve them, that they might be to His glory; for I desired nothing for myself. I prayed Him to cut those He liked, because I already knew that they would grow the better.

I say cut; for there are times in which the soul has no recollection of this garden - everything seems parched, and there is no water to be had for preserving it - and in which it seems as if the soul had never possessed any virtue at all. This is the season of heavy trials; for our Lord will have the poor gardener suppose all the trouble he took in maintaining and watering the garden to have been taken to no purpose. Then is the time really for weeding and rooting out every plant, however small it may be, that is worthless, in the knowledge that no efforts of ours are sufficient, if God withholds from us the waters of His grace; and in despising ourselves as being nothing, and even less than nothing. In this way we gain great humility - the flowers grow afresh.

O my Lord and my Good! I cannot utter these words without tears, and rejoicing in my soul; for Thou wilt be thus with us, and art with us, in the Sacrament. We may believe so most truly; for so it is, and the comparison I make is a great truth; and, if our sins stand not in the way, we may rejoice in Thee, because Thou rejoicest in us; for Thou hast told us that Thy delight is to be with the children of men. O my Lord, what does it mean? Whenever I hear these words, they always give me great consolation, and did so even when I was most wicked.

- St. Teresa of Jesus, The Way of Perfection

[Shin]

'Meditation is made, we may say, as the bees make honey; for they make it by gathering the dew that falls from heaven upon the flowers, and drawing a little juice from these flowers, which they change into honey, and then carry to their hives. Thus we go over and over the life of our Lord in meditation, taking up one action after another, and considering them, in order to compose the honey of holy virtues, and draw from them the graces of a holy meditation.'

St. Francis de Sales, 'Mystical Flora'

[Brigid]

Made me think of making tea with lemon and honey.

[Shin]

And Friar's balsam!

[Brigid]

And Friar's balsam!

 

[Shin]

Here's a quote from Holy Card Heaven's 'Wisdom of the Bee' quotes:

"May your soul, like a mystical bee, never abandon the dear little King and may everything within it be for Him."

From St. Francis de Sales.

And from St. John Damascene:

"In imitation of the method of the bee, I shall make my composition from those things which are conformable with the truth and from our enemies themselves gather the fruit of salvation. But I shall reject all that is worthless and falsely labeled as knowledge."

We have quite a few quotes on flowers and bees on the forums here if one searches.

I will have to find even more!