A MARY GARDEN PRAYER

 

    Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, As our hearts are raised to you in love and thanksgiving through the light, grace, fragrance and signatures of these pure, blest, transfigured flowers of Our Lady - your direct creations, showing forth and sharing with us your divine goodness, beauty and truth - we commune with you in awe and rapture and pray that we and all our brothers and sisters may be opened to the fullness of the divine love of God and Neighbor, through which we are to transform the fallen world into the culminating earthly Peaceable Kingdom and Paradise, that all may be lifted up resplendent in the eternal New Heaven and New Earth of our Crucified and Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in grateful return glorified to the Father in the union of the Holy Spirit of Love for all eternity. We beseech this through the redemption and mercy of The Heavenly, Eucharistic Lamb that was Slain, and through the intercession of:  

    St. Francis, apostle of the love of God in every creature, 

    St. Paul, teacher of the place of all Creation in the Divine Plan of Redemption, 

    St. Patrick, sanctifier of nature everywhere as wellspring of God's power, 
    St. Colomban, ever alert to find God in the woods and fields, 
    St. Fiacre, opener of the world to the outpouring of Divine healing love through garden herbs and flowers, 
    St. Rose of Lima, to whom the boy Jesus and his Mother were present in the garden, 
    St. Isidore, assisted by Mary's angels in plowing the soil to feed the hungry, 
    St. Phocas, digger of earth in the hope of the Resurrection, 
    St. Dorothy, bestower on earth of heavenly flowers and fruits, 
    St. Bernard, searcher of flowers for likenesses of Jesus and Mary, 
    St. Anselm, theologian of Our Lady's Queenship of redeemed nature, 
    St. Francis de Sales, quickener of spiritual life and growth through the discernment of their mirroring in nature's unfolding, 
    St. John of the Cross, poet of the spiritual countryside of the soul's mystical journey of love, 
    St. Louis de Montfort, nurtured in the spiritual paradise of Mary, 
    St. Theresa, showerer on earth of roses of heavenly love and grace, 
    St. Dominic, missionary of the power of the Rosary, 
    St. John Eudes, drawn by union with the light Christ into the Heaven of the Trinity, 
    St. John Chrysostom, beholder of resplendent earth as the radiance of God's face, 
    St. Athanasius, dweller in heaven on earth, 
    St. Bonaventure, proclaimer of the fullness of Mary's blessed and immaculate magnification of God's creating, saving and renewing power. 
    St. Joseph, patron of all who labor for the building of God's Kingdom, 
    St. John, prophet of the descent of the Heavenly Jerusalem, and of 

   Blessed and Glorious Mary, Ever Virgin, our Mother Mystical Rose, Mediatrix of all Grace, and Queen of Heaven and Earth, in the union of her Immaculate, Sorrowful and Glorified Heart with the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  

- From Mary's Gardens web site.

Painting: Stephen Lochner, Madonna in a Rose Garden, c.1440