Mary's Gardens Developmental Correspondence
Letters from John Stokes to Bro Seán MacNamara, Ireland
1988-ff
This "book length" correspondence, and similarly extensive
correspondence (in long process of posting to Website) with Bonnie
Roberson of Hagerman, Idaho; Jane McLaughlin of Woods Hole; and
Nanette Sears of Annapolis, represent Mary's Gardens' "in house";
developmental activity from 1980 (following that of Bonnie, who had
carried it forward from 1968 until then) through 1995, when the
Internet website and general e-mail correspondence were initiated.)
Because of the book length and unediting of the letters, a
listing of letter contents has been prepared .
John Stokes
February, 2005
LETTER TOPICS
January 11, 1988
- Visit to Woods Hole Mary Garden in Snow - Knock Booklet Sent Out
January 21, 1988
- De Montfort Missionaries Knock Pilgrimage Planned
January 23, 1988
- Further Plans for Knock Pilrimage - Photos for Article
February 2, 1988
- Snowdrops, Candlemas Bells, Buds or Blooms for Candlemas
February 11, 1988
- Going Forth from Mary Garden to the World
February 21, 1988
- Sense of Mary's Presence With Flowers as Mediatrix of All Grace
February 29, 1988
- Woods Hole - Mary's Presence Sensed in Mode of Flower Symbolism
March 19, 1988
- Flowers of Our Lady and Present-Day Irish Rural Poor
March 27, 1988
- Effectiveness of Varied Flowers in Quickening Sense of Mary's Presence
March 30, 1988
- Saramentally Blest Flowers: Vehicles of Mary's Mediated Actual Graces
April 19, 1988
- A Sensed Reality of Mary's Presence Sustains Mary Garden Care
May 2, 1988
- U.S. deMontfort Missionary Fathers Pilgrimage Visit to Knock
July 4, 1988
- Answers to M.G. Inquiries - Woods Hole - Annapolis Garden Started
July 11, 1988
- Mary's Gardens Purpose Re-Artculated - Kingdom and Transfiguration
August 1, 1988
- Private Marian Revelations - Woods Hole Garden - imprecatory Prayer
November 15, 1988
- Illuminateed Flower Drawings - Earthly Kingdom - Transfiguration
December 8, 1988
- Follow-up for Knock Articles
December 12, 1988
- Visit to Woods Hole Mary Garden - Rose-Mary Plant - Bell Tower Star
March 17, 1989
- Editing Revisions of Knock Articles for Queen of All Hearts
June 24, 1989
- Mary's Mediating Presence Where Grace is Distributed
July 31, 1989
- Blest Flowers Draw Down Mary as Mediatrix of Their Graces
September 7, 1989
- Knock Bulletin Mention of Mary Garden - Presentation of Plants
December 20, 1989
- Saint Fiacre - Living in the Heavenly City on Earth
January 10, 1990
- Rising to Love of God's Beauty and Truth Through Flowers of Our Lady
March 17, 1990
- Snowdrops Bloom this Candlemass - "Thoughts in Bloom"
March 25, 1990
- Our Calling for Renewal and Kingdom as Instruments of the Holy Spirit
May 13, 1990
- New Annapolis and N. Olmstead Mary Gardens - True Devotion Deepened
July 8, 1990
- Knock Delays - Mary Garden Care Essentials - Deepened Marian Piety
February 2, 1991
- Irish Monthly Mary Garden Column - Mary Garden Society at Knock?
March 17, 1991
- Annpolis Mary Garden Planting - Priest Supporters of Mary's Gardens
July 22, 1991
- Preparations for "Mary of Nazareth" statue at Annapolis Mary Garden
September 8, 1991
- Dedication and Blessing of Annapolis Mary Garden - Significance
August 22, 1992
- Perpetuation of Woods Hole and Annapolis Mary Gardens - Dublin Garden
February 2, 1994
- Artane "Garden of Remembrance", Prototype Burial Plot Mary Garden
March 25, 1994
- Garden of Remembrance leaflet Revisions
(Postings in Process)
THE LETTERS
+
Boston, MA
January 11, 1988
Baptism of the Lord
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank You for Your latter of Decombar let telling me of
your new work and sanding your prayerful beat wishes for Christmas
and tho Now Year.
We found an especially lovely 7ft. 'Georgia pine' Christmas
Tree this year with a beautiful over-all shape and a multitude
of fine branches (instead of fewer, coarsa ones). Also, we found
some large hand-crafted Christmas tree balls which were perfactly
proportioned to its size.
There has been a sort of Kaleidoscope renaissance in this
country the past several years, and I was able to find some
especially wonderful hand-crafted ones.
Yestarday, I drove to Woode Hole and it was one of those
wonderfully bright mornings after an overnight snow storm, with very
little traffic on the (well-plowed) roads.
This was the first time I had an opportunity to visit the
Garden of Our Lady under such pristime white conditions, and I
prayed the Mary Garden Prayer before the figure of Our Lady with
a special sense of wonder, awe and reverence.
I hadn't baen watching the time, and as I got out of the car I
wondered what thp strmnge 'clunking' noise I heard was. Looking up
at the bell tower I found that ihe knockers were striking the
Angelus belle, but an almost leaden sound was coming from them. I
don't khow whether this was duo to the below-freezing temperature,
or to the in-progress repairs Fr. Dalzall mentioned to me on my
lest visit. It was quite unusual.
No one had been in the Garden since the snow as it was
especially pure and untouched.
I was pleased to see the erection of two narrow trelIises
about 7 ft. high and 6 ft. or so apart at the back border -
framing the figure of Our Lady aa you look at the Garden from the
front, and providing an entrance accross to the aroa cloored behind
the Garden in 1985. Just the trallises themselves - which are
nicely crafted, and reminiscent in fooling of the original Lillie
trellis, of which I have a photo - restore the sense of the 'Garden
Enclosed', which I am sure will be enhanced by an appropriate
accompanying planting.
Also, the 1986 removal of the overgrown back privet thicket trees
at the back bed for the proper rostoratton of it planting which was
not possible in the goneral 1982 restoration (when Jsne had to put
plants originally specified for this bed in a left border bed as
you approach the Garden).
I'm sure the Knock Mary Garden booklet, and its just tribute
to the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady, and Jane's centennial
history of St. Joseph's Church, together with your work, was the
effective inspiration for Msgr. Horan's establishment of tha Knock
Garden, have provided added impetu for ihe fullest and highest
quality of restoration of the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady.
I an hopeful that we will be able to make the originally
envisaged full family use of our Woods Hole house in the summers -
so that I will be able to spand time once again at the Garden and
to make the concrete contributions to its life which are
facilitated whon I am 'on location'. Pray for this, Brother.
For Christmas I sent out the remainder of the 20 copies of the
Knock Mary Garden booklet to people who have been close to Mary's
Garden through the years - including Ed's widow Frances, Father
Stanley, Ade Bethune, and Jone Garra (our original 'consultant',
and designer of the 1968 Philadelphia Flower Show Mary Garden).
A1so to Marie Reinhart Jones, who used to drive with Ed and
myself to the St. Joseph's Cpllege Insitute of Industrial Relations
night courses in 1948-SO when Ed and I were conceiving the Mary
Garden idea and work (and who now is the editor of the Chestnut
Hill Local newspaper in Philadelphia); and others close in similar
ways to the practical origins of Mary's Gardens.
I am going to write to Tom Neary at Knock requesting some
additional copies - and enclosing an additional donation, to
contribute to any further underwriting, if neceseary, for
reprintings of the Booklet (or otherwise for any furthar garden
associated literature, such as planting plan give-aways, etc.).
We went to be sure that the Booklet stays in print, Are you
privy to any information as to the quantity of the original
printing, and how many were sold in 1987, etc?
I continue to give thought to the overall ramifications and
development of the Mary Garden idea, Brother, although at a reduced
levol as compared to the last several years. I hope to continue
writing to you of this, as wall as of evente and work ot the Woods
Hole Garden - my letters to you comprising pretty much the sum
total of my Mary's Garden work since the big push providentially
possible with Jane at the time of the 1982 Jubilee.
With your presence close-by Knock now, and Garden renewal
plans nearing completion at Woods Hole, I have a feeling, for 1988,
of consolidation of our bases on both sides Of the Atlantic. I
have no concrete signs of any further movement in Englond, since my
AVE article(s), but hope for some sort of breakthrough there - at
Walsingham, or elsewhere.
I am still involved, personally, in an extensive consolidation
of home, family and affairs - with the hope for establishing a
basis for time for another major round of Mary Garden work:
writing, promoting, lecturing. Pray for this.
With all prayerful best wishes for your good health and for
your educational and Mary's Bardans work in 1998, I am, as always,
Sincerely, your friend, in Jesus mnd Mary,
+
Boston, MA
January 21, 1988
Agnes
Dear Brother Seàn,
I received nice note from Fr. Stanley Matuszewski, M.S.,
Editor for its entire 40 some years of the recently discontinued Our
Lady's Digest.
'Thanks a million' for your wonderful enclosure, The
Knock Mary Garden booklet. It Is very attractive and
should help the Mary Garden movement...
Also, from Fr. Roger Charest, Editor of, Queen of All Hearts,
telling he was leading a pilgrimage group to Europe in April with a
planned visit to Knock.
I wrote to him saying that possibly there would ba considerable
bloom at that time since the 6ulf Stream has a warming influence on
Ireland; and asked him to take a few pictures for me, I also gave
him your Bal1introbe address, to send you the schedule of his visit
so you might be able to arrange to meat briefly at the Shrine,
His address is:
Fr. Roger M. Charest S.M.M.
OUEEN OF ALL HEATS MAGAZINE
Montfort Missionaries
26 So. Saxon Ave. Say Shore, L,I.,
NY 11706 U.S.A.
He has published perhaps I0 full-length articles on the flowers
of Our Lady and Mary's Gardens through the years - including one of
Bonnie's and four of mine (most recently the three Mary Garden
Jubilee articles).
It occurs to me he might went to write something about
your Mary garden work and the Knock Mary Garden, as part of his
report to his readers of his pilgrimage - or perhaps even a full
article. It's about time for a re-demonstration that 'A prophet is
not without honor, except in hie own home'.
I do not mean that your work is not appreciated in Ireland, but
that it is deserving of that special appreciation which can come
from an outside perspective.
I enclosed with my latter to him photo copies of the original
1972 Philadelphia Inquirer 'Hot Line' column reporting of your
inquiry regarding Mary's Gardens, and of the Catholic Standard photo
of you with a dish Mary Garden - so he would have a sense of the
providential continuity of the Mary Garden movement initiative, and
also of your own unique input to it and the Knock Garden,
Father's Knock visit may represent a unique providential
opportunity for us in the hoped for incorporation of the Mary Garden
idea and movement In universal Catholic and Marian religious culture
- Just as the Flowers of Our Lady were part of medieval rural
Catholic religious culture, And this further providential
'leveraging' is possible because of the publication of The Knock
Mary Garden booklet.
Through the years much of the growth of the Mary Garden
movement has been through making the most of Providential
opportunities to set up new links and channels for the communication
of information and for the circulation and fruition of the Spirit -
as well as through direct "promotion". I see this as another such
opportunity.
Perhaps You could drop Fr. Charest a note giving him your
Phone number, and saying you hope you might be able to meet with him
briefly at the Shrine,
I do not have enough detailed acquaintance with the Irish scene
or your personal background to write about you the kind of articles
I did about Bonnie which one can't write about oneself). Perhaps
there is someone in Ireland who know of your life and work who
could write such an article for the QUEEN. Or, perhaps Fr, Charest
or one of his writers would write such an article if the necessary
background information were made available.
In this connection, you wrote to me on November 6, 1990 that
you were 53 years old an October I0th of that year - which would
place Your birthday on October 10, IS27. Later, however, You wrote
me something that led me to believe (without checking your earlier
letter) that you were born on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi
(October 4th). Could You clarify this for me?
I don't know if I eyer wrote you that Ed and I established the
founding of Mary's gardens to be on March 7, 1951, in Philadelphia -
the (former) feast of St Thomas Aquinas.
I suggest that we leave the final initiative up to Fr.
Charest, Brother, after we have provided practical facilitation for
a meeting (assuming you would wish such. Maybe he would just like
to meat you because of his long familiarity with the Mary Garden
movement, and any sort of article etc. would come later. Perhaps he
has an over-full agenda already, but would like to follow up by
correspondence later, etc., My suggestion to him was just the
general one that he might like to meat you.
I mat with him personally just once, around 1983, about which I
may have written you, when he came to Boston to apeak at a Legion
of Mary conference, He was good enough to let me tape our brief
discussion, between sessions, for Bonnie. He greeted her through
the tape, and I recall that we offered prayers for her health.
We were able to fit our brief meeting into a very buoy schedule
on extremely short notice, which prompts me to consider that he
might be able to do likewise with You at Knock (or Ballintrobe), I
made no further specific suggestions to him, as to the possibility
of an article,
With prayerful hope for the fruition of this 'open-ended'
providential opportunity, Brother, I remain, as ever, your co-worker
in the vineyard of Jesus and Mary,
+
Boston, MA
January 23, 1988
Door Brother Seàn,
Since writing you on January 21st I received a phone call from
Father Cherst of QUEEN magazine in which he mentioned that his
planned pilgrimage to Knockck in late April is still tontativo -
awaiting the registration of enough pilgrims to cover expenses.
Actually the stop-avor is in Dublin, with a bus trip to Knock
for a four hour afternoon visit.
He said he would bo most happy to meet you there, but wented
you to know his time constraints. I will let you know if the
planned visit becomes definite.
The purpose of his phone call was to tell me that he plans to
reprint Robert Osterman's 1953 Irish Ecclesiastical Record article
in the March-April issue of OUEEN, and would like to have me
prepare a commentary updating the article in terms of the
subsequent development of tho Mary Gardon movement in Ireland,
culminating in plonting of the notional Irish Mary Garden at Knock.
I enclose a copy of the commentary I have written. I am also
sending him copies of my review of Muire Mhathair and the Knock
Booklet.
He would very much like to have several reproduction-quality
photos of the Knock Garden, and I told him I would write to you and
Tom Neary to see if any could be airmailed in time for his printing
date in about two weeks.
I an writing to Tom Neary today, and also to Robert Woods of
Nyack, NY, whom you mentionod had made a videotape of the Knock
Garden in tho summer of 1986, and whom I had not gotten around to
writing before. My hape is I would be able to make still
photographs from the videotape, if he sends me a copy.
If you are able to send any photos, they will be much
appeciated.
This will apparently bo the first journalistic report an the
Knock Mary Garden in the Unittd States, and it is most fitting that
in be in QUEEN.
I will arrange for ampie reprints.
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
February 2, 1988
CandIemas
Dear Brother Seàn,
This year we had a good January snowfall (about which I wrote
in connection with my visit to the Garden of Our Lady in Woods hole
on January 9th, and then a January thaw about two week ago, which,
together, (moisture and warmth), have produced about 3 inche of
SnowDrop/Candlemas BeIIs shoot growth in the south- facing garden
across the street from our building in Boston. Favorable conditions
for the ever hoped for Candlas bIooms today.
Day before yesterday four or five buds ("drops") appeared, and
yesterday they doubled in size. I don't think they were quite large
enough to have bloomed into "beIIs" by today; but hope springs
eternal and, as you know, growth takes place at night (last night
was above freezing), so in a few hours, when I go on some errands, I
will see what has happened, and so note for you at the end of this
letter (it is now early morning).
I watch the Snowdrop blooms closely every year because they are
for me the beginning of the Mary Garden Calendar. (How appropriate
"The Mary Calendar" is as the title of Judith Smith's book of the
1920's from England which was one of Mrs. Lillie's sources, and
whose personal copy we have, as part of Mrs. Emerson's research
files).
Last year, as you may recall, I wrote that there was good
warmth in late January, but no previous January precipitation, so
there wasn't enough moisture for bloom. This year there are both,
but the ground was deeply frozen, and the flowers were shielded by
the snow cover from the warming sun for much of the January thaw.
Anyway, there are beautiful white buds/drops, so we at lhave Our
Lady's Tears, if not Candlemas BeIIs, for the start of the Mary
Garden bloom season.
How short the time between the watch for late, Immaculate
Conception Roses (which we had two years ago) and early Candlemas
Snow Drops! - with the richness of Chrisimas Trees and hot house
Poinsetteas ("Nativity Flowers" in Mexico) in between.
Then we have the lore that it was "bad luck" if you didn't
remove your Christmas greens by Candlemas (replacing them, if
desired, with "Candlemas Greens" - boxwood).
The perception of Candlemas as representing the end of the
Christmas season, as mirrored by this custom, is a rather profound
thought in that it is spiritually/mystically at Candlemas that we
offer the light of Christmas glories back to God - as Mary and
Joseph presented the Christ Child to God in the Temple.
I recall that there have been Bells for Candlemas for me about
four times in my 37 years of Mary Gardening - twice in Philadelphia
and twice in Boston.
The providential aspects of this are a delight to me. I recall
St. Theresa's mention of her joy and feeling of God's love when a
light mantle of snow fell for her vows in May. I think also of my
oldest daughter, Anne (of "In Mary's Garden", at age 4 or S at the
beach, making sand castles before the waves of the incoming tide and
saying, "I am playing a game with God".
Then, there were the blooms which "miraculously" appeared for
the blessing of Bonnie's Our Lady's Solar Greenhouse, on the Feast
of the Annunciation, 19SI, as I wrote in my 'Our Lady's Digest"
article.
In any case, there is a special welling in my heart of love
for Our Lady's Flowers, and God's Providence, at this time each
year.
I see from the Booklet that there are Snowdrops in beds
1,2,3,4,7 and 8 in the Knock Mary Garden plan. Have they bloomed
for Candlemas? Are there any Snowdrops in the Burren, and if so
(with all its micro-climates) do they bloom at their "liturgical
time"? (My copies of "The Jewels of Thomand' and "Muire Mhathair"
are in Woods Hole, so I can't check just now any references they may
have).
I remember Jane's and my joy when in the first year of the
Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady jubilee restoration the first
Assumption Lily bloom appeared on August 15th.
Fr. Weiser, S.J., in one of his books ("The Easter Book"?)
speaks of how in Europe the Climatic signs of Candlemas were seen
as weather harbingers for the coming spring, and how this has been
secularized as "Ground Hog's Day" here in the U.S. (substituting
U.S. grroundhogs for Euopean badgers).
I suppose one could propose some sort of correlation, or
parallel, between whether there are Snowdrop "tears", or "bells" or
no showing at all, and whether the groundhog sees his shadow,
doesn't or doesn't come out of his/her hole at all, etc..
There is a town in PennsyIvania which has promoted itself as
having the "official" groundhog; and reports and photos of what
happens appear each year in the media nationally.
Finally one recaIIs the saying in England that whether there is
an early or late spring, "everything catches up by June".
I will send a copy of this letter to Fr. Charest, since he
first started me thinking about the bloom calendar at Knock, in
connection with his possible late April visit.
(Evening)
Well, Brother, the official groundhog didn't see his shadow
today (thus signifying an early end to winter weather this year),
and we have here Candlemas "drops", not 'bells".
The surprise, however, was that 10 or IS additional drops
have appeared since yesterday, so that what I found was of a colony
of drops - their cluster of white "flames" resembling a rack of
lighted votive candles before the altar in church.
I have always thought of "Our Lady's Candles" as flower symbols
resembling the candlestick of Our Lady's Candle in English (and
other?) churches - as in Mullein - and accordingly have wondered
about the application of this name to small white flowers such as
White Campion. I now realize thatin the latter the symbolism is of
the candle flames (which I should have realized all along from their
alternate name of "Our Lady's Lights"), Clearly, this is the more
fundamental intuitive association of Snowdrops with Candlemas - the
"drops", not the "bells"- and, as you know, if there is a very late
spring, due to prolonged re-freezing following a January thaw (it's
snowing here again now, this evening), the snowdrop buds, while
showing for Candlemas, may not actually bloom until four to six
weeks later, in March.
Here, again, we have an example of the more profound, almost
"ontological", as distinct from poetic or fanciful, substance of the
Flowers Of Our Lady, which is at the heart of Mary-Gardening.
So, on beholding this flower colony of candle flames, nestled
midst the protecting ivy (as were the early blooming Snowdrops in a
neighbors's south facing garden bed which I used to watch in
Philadelphia) this noon, I blessed them sacramentally with a Sign of
the Cross, and said the Mary Garden Prayer, "...as our hearts are
raised to (God) by the light, grace, wisdom and growth of these
pure, blest, transfigured Flowers of Our Lady..."
In this communion of Candlemas garden joys, I remain, Brother,
sincerely, as always, your friend in Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
+
Boston, MA
February 11, 1988
Our Lady of Lourdes
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of January 28th and its well wishes.
I was delighted to receive your report on the snowdrop blooms
at Knock, which crossed my letter to you of Candlemas, in which I
wrote about the status of the snowdrop bloom here in Boston this
year. It looks as though you have "bells' when we have "drops".
With respect to Fr. Charest's questic>n about late April blooms
at Knock, it occurs to me that some of our early May flowers may be
in bloom in late April in Knock - at least if they, too, are
thermotropic.
From the booklet, I see that about half the flowers from the
Wild Plants for May list (p 31) are in the planting list (p 13).
Our practise in Philadelphia was to make a fresh planting of
blooming pansies and daisies, grown under cold frame (by ourselves
or by local commercial growers) around April 1, "the start of the
planting season", as the foundation planting for spring blooms.
These provided the setting for the April-blooming primroses,
violets, periwinkle, forget-me-nots (biennial, renewed each year),
and bulbs, etc., and also for all the May bloomers.
Then when they began to get scraggly with the June heat, even
when pinched back, we replaced them with blooming marigolds
(Tagetes) and petunias started under glass, as the basic setting
for the June roses and lilies, biennials, summer perennials, and
other annuals, and then for tho rest of the growing season - adding
also long-blooming impatiens (Mother Love), which would continue
with them until frost.
The key to this program was the availabilty of the pansies,
daisies, marigolds, petunias and impatiens; and of a Mary-Gardener
to transport and plant them - plus the refreshing of biennials,
the replacement of any winter-killed perennials, and the setting of
any tender perennials used (e.g. Fuchsia, Rosemary and Gladiolas).
With the lining up of sources for plants and, if necessary,
funds, in advance, and with planning for two free days, in April and
June, this program was followed rather "effortlessly". I did this
personally for the Our Mother of Consolation parish Mary Garden for
seven years, untiI I moved from the parish.
Has anyone been able to keep a bloom calendar for Knock? In
comparing locations its always interesting to consider which species
bloo starts are thermotropic and which heliotropic. I would expect
that thermotropic species like snowdrops would bloom earlier at
Knock than in Philadelphia/Boston due to the gulf stream warmth, but
that heliotropic species (e.g. Iris?) would bloom either earlier or
later, in relation to the spring equinox, depending on the time of
year, due to the higher latitude.
Since polishing my "Paradise of Our Lady" article for Father
Charest (I haven't heard yet whether he will use it or not), I have
had some further thoughts about the Knock Mary Garden and its
incorporation In the life, caremonies, devotion and inspiration of
the Shrine.
A basic element of the Mary Garden idea, as envisaged by Ed
MeTague, and affirmed and embraced by me, was that the Mary Garden
was not to be just a retreat, sanctuary, "upper room" or refuge,
but a place which one entered, and then, renewed, went forth to the
world, renewing all things in Christ - as from Mass.
I endeavored to include this exhortion in my articles:
"If we are to restore all things in Christ, we must
bring to life the familiar names which flowers bore
when they were lovingly regarded as signs, symbols
and, as it were, sacramentalsof the divine attributes
and the truths of our redemption."
(America,1952)
'Our Lady's garden...is a 'Garden Enclosed', but its
enclosing circle is broken by the entrance or gate -
through which redeemed man is invited to proceed to
the center, and through which he goes out to the
world, restoring all things in Christ."
(Catholic Art Quarterly, 1952)
"Leaving St, Joscph's...we see once again the tower
and Mary Garden; and beyond them across the inlet the
Woods Hole town center and laboratories,
"Angelus tower, Mary Garden, sacred art, holy books,
St. Joseph's Church are seen in unity as bringing us
to Him who is the Resurrection and the LiFe. And
beyond them is the world, from which we came and to
which we are to return, restoring all things in Christ."
(QM, 113)
"We must not expect, however, that our souls will be
permitted to rest in contemplation of the flowery beds
of the garden. Mindful that Mary, the Mystical Rose,
was called from her flights of divine love in the
Temple to the work of the incarnation, redemption,
mediation and spiritual motherhood, we should watch and
pray in expectation of God's call through Mary, to
arise and go forth to new duties in the garden of the
world, where the harvcst is great but the reapers are
few."
(Queen, 1960)
"Filled with Peace of Christ, we leave the garden,
praying with St. Francis that we may be made the
instruments of that peace."
(Assisi, 1961)
"The Garden of Our Lady is also a New Paradise of Eden
from which we proceed, with the divine light, grace,
wisdom and power mediated by Mary, the New Eve, to
renew the face of the earth."
(Paradise... MS)
While Knock, and the other shrines of Our Lady, are properly
holy places of awe, veneration, celebration, penance, healing,
miracles, moral exhortation, petition and personal renewal, it seems
to me that they are equally places from which we are called to go
forth as builders ofGod's earthly and heavenly City and Kingdom.
Since the principles upon which we are to build the earthly
City were contained in their original essence in Eden - the sweep of
sacred history being from Garden to City - it is fitting and
important that we be reminded of and refreshed in the primordial
"articulation" of these principles as manifested in the Garden: viz.
in God's instructions to our ancestors in the Garden, in the early
history of the consequences of our violation of these principIcs (of
temptation, Fall and alienation) in the Garden, and at Babel, and in
the renewing parables of Christ and the matter of the Sacraments
(bread, wine, oil, water, beeswax).
Thus, at a pilgrimage shrine we may be refreshed by the
Sacraments and processions, and exhorted to obey the 10
Commandments, to avoid the Capital sins and the vices, to practice
the virtues, and to go forth in love of God, Mary and Neighbor; but
the Mary Garden and Flowers of Our Lady provide a tangible
distillation, lens, prism, matrix, formation, support, vision and
love through which we may so go forth, and through which we may be
reminded of and sustained in the shrine regeneration "on location"
in the world, home and workplace, away from the shrine.
To see this fully and to express it appropriately, one has to
live the life of the shrine - just as I had to spend a couple of
summers in Woods Hole before I could see more fully the integration
of the Garden of Our Lady in parish life as actually lived. In this
I see providential elements in the opportunities afforded to you to
make pilgriMages to Fatima, Lourdes and Rome, as well as to Knock,
and to be in residence near Knock to participate in the life of the
Shrine through the natural and liturgical year.
Surely the Knock Mary Garden can be more then a national Mary
Garden at a shrine, or "interesting landscaping' - ajoyous as these
are. From all the Mary Gardens that have been started st churches
and at small shrines, and later abandoned when the founding inspired
Mary Gardener moved on, I am most aware of the importance of a
deeper grounding and sustenance of the Mary Garden in the basic
devotional life of the church or shrine - not for the sake of the
Mary Garden, but for the sake of the fullness of devotion,
salvation and kingdom, using the totality of God's gifts to us.
It seems to me that this could fittingly be dealt with in
articles about the Knock Mary Garden and, as I said, it seems that
you have a unique providential opportunity here. Anyway, I offer
this as something to be thougt about.
To this end, I was delighted that you were able to present a
miniature indoor Mary Garden to the curator of the new Museum at
Knock, as this presents the essence of the Mary Garden in even more
distilled form - which may help give a vision of how the larger Mary
Garden, surrounding the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, can fit more
integrally into the life of the Shrine. A1sol, I wrote, the
proposed second, smaller, Mhuire Garden, would serve to this same
end.
As I wrote in my articles about Bonnie, the placement of her
Mary Garden so that she could see it constantly from her kitchen
window was an important element for the incorporation of the Mary
Garden sirituality into her whole home life, devotion and
inspiration. And her development of dish Mary Gardens was to the
same end. May she provide heavenly intercession and mediation as we
work out the Mary Garden spirituality for church and shrine!
It would seem that a next step at Knock would be the
preparation of a Mary Garden Prayer Book(let), in which would be
included: selectionz from Scripture, prayers from liturgical
ceremonies such as thee Blessing of Palms and Assumption Bundles;
the Rosary; hymns; prayers from the saints - Ss. Patrick, Francis,
Theresa, etc; passages from St. Bernard, St. John of the Cross, St.
Louis de Montfort etc.; established prayers such as the Dominican
blessing of roses, the Servite Blessing of Flowers for Mary's
Crown, prayers for May Proocssions and Crownings, prayers associated
with the Pope's Go1den Rose, etc.; and then some prayers based on
individual flowers, such as those in Gemminger's book, and others,
along the lines of the "Ten Flower Prayers"; and the Mary Garden
Prayer, etc..
Then, some thoughts about "going forth", along the lines
envisaged above, would be included.
With this, sequences could be developed for visits to the Mary
Garden, with variations depending on flowers cwrrently in bloom from
time to time.
This would take some time to develop, with unction, as with the
Mary Garden Prayer. I'll start pulling together some prayers to
this end, but I would envisage that the essentiaform would arise
from Mary Garden spirituality and prayers of Knock itself - as
actually lived.
I'll direct my Lenten sacrifices and penances to this "next
step", Brother, and to the other approaches on which you are no
doubt ruminating, on location,
As ever, I remain affectionately your friend, sincerely, in Our
Lady,
+
Boston, MA
February 21, 1988s
Peter Damian
Dear Brother Seàn,
After polishing up my 1984 article MS, "Paradise of Our Lady"
for Father Charest, and then ruminating about the contributions of
the Mary Garden to the spirituality of Knock, following the setting
down of some initial throughts in my letter to you of the 11th, I
was almost startled a day or two later by the realization or
discovery that there has been a marked change in my own marian
spirituality - namely a striking heightening of my perception of
Mary's presence.
I have always had a general sense of Mary's presence in the
Garden, and especially in the Garden of Our Lady at Woods Hole, but
it has been of an overall "mantling" presence.
I find that I now sense her presence variously at, with, or in
each flower, plant or bouquet that I am beholding. I look up at a
vase of roses in our living room, and Mary is there; I look over to
Bonnie's Holy Spirit philodendron, and Mary is there - in each case
in the symbolism or mode of the flowers and leaves.
Suddenly, Mary is much closer, in each plant variety. And this
is true for plants, "God's direct creations", in a way which is not
so, for me, for her statues and statuettes, in themselves. In a
Mary Garden, however, the figure of Our Lady does become a focus for
her general presence, but there, too, I sense she is immediately
present in each plant or plant clump as I behold it.
Then, she is beautifully present in a still different way in
each dish Mary Garden, as a special distillation of her mediation
(I'm sure Bonnie sensed this, with her beloved cactus dish Mary
Gardens, quickening her to recollection and love of Our Lady of
Guadalupe).
I see a new significance to my intuitive sense that Mary Garden
plants should be in small clumps - as in Mrs. Lillie's garden -
rather than in large sweeps or borders.
I see, also, a new significance in Mrs. Lillie's title for her
Garden, in the plant list leaflets: "Our Lady in her Garden".
Then, I think back to the very first plant procurement
expedition Ed and I went on in May of 1951, after having started
annuals indoors from seed in April.In a small nursery run by a
lifetime horticulturalist, then in his 80's, we had our first direct
intuitive recognition of Our Lady Cushion (Armeria) and Our Lady's
Tears (Tradescantia virginiana), which I'll never forget. When we
explained about Our Ladys Tears, the nurseryman said, "Yes, she's
crying all day".
This new heightened sense of Mary's presence was perhaps
awakened by my re-reading of Bob Ostermann's mention of Our Lady as
our "constant companion" through her flowers; but it came into full
awareness as I was thinking about the contribution of the Mary
Garden to the spirituality of Knock.
I had first turned to Bonnie for some insights:
"The Knock Shrine, with its Mary Garden, will conquer
the world for Mary.
"Our Lady of Knock will transform the world through her
flowers by placing them close to her heart.
"Total world transformation through the Flowers of
Our Lady"
and, with Ed:
"The Garden and agriculture are the source of all the
principles upon which the world is to be re-created
and the earthly Kingdom built."
Then, as I was pondering, with supplication to Bonnie, as to
how can this possibly be (all insights do have to be tested against
right reason, common sense and the Mind of the Church), and in
envisaging further how the Mary Garden could in some way serve as
prism or matrix as we go forth from shrine to world, along the lines
that I wrote to you, the words of the stanza about Our Lady's Candle
(Mullein) came to mind:
"The Virgin Mary travels over all the land,
With Heaven's Fire in her hand."
with the addition:
"in rose-petal loops emanating from Knock and her other
shrines."
"We are to love Mary's soul-opening distribution of light,
grace, wisdom and power."
Mary goes forth through the world from her shrines; and as we
go forth from them ourselves we are to emulate her going forth (Our
Lady's Shoes, Slippers - "All her steps were most beauteous").
Then, the pivotal insight:
As we are heightened in our sense of Mary's presence at her
shrine, where she actually appeared and communicated to us, and as
we learn and experience through the shrine Mary Garden how she
continues to be present to us now in her flowers - just as really
everywhere as at the shrine - we now have a means of supporting,
quickening and heightening the sense of Mary's presence with us as
we travel with her, and she with us, over all the land.
As the Mass brings down Christ, so do gardens bring down Mary.
Originally this was perhaps discovered in the rose garden, as
distilled in the Rosary beads which we carry with us; but the actual
flowers, God's creatures, do this in a special way.
Bonnie:
"Mary comes to her flowers and gardens in response to
urgent prayer
- because she is the Queen of Flowers
- because flowers most resemble Heaven of all things
on earth
- because they are where Heaven and earth meet
- because they are the starting points from which the
earthly Kingdom is to be built.
"Mary comes to us in her Garden when we invoke her with
total love of soul for her flower and garden signs and
symbols."
I began to have a greater appreciation of why the rose windows
were so central in the medieval cathedrals.
Mary inheres in her flowers.
In my AVE article I conjectured that the medieval circulation
of Our Lady's Relics from the Holy Land might have had much to do
with the naming of Our Lady's Flowers and with their effectiveness
in giving a sense of Mary's presence. Very possibly the sense of
Mary's presence evoked by her relics (as evoked by visits to her
apparition shrines) enabled the faithful to discover that flowers,
too, are of themselves vehicles of Mary's presence.
The sacramentals of Mary.
I have always sensed and look for that "something more", than
sentiment or symbolism, that must have been behind the extensive
spread of Our Lady's Flowers throughout Christendom, and maybe this
is it.
I recalled also that at Guadalupe Our Lady appeared above the
translucent cactuses of Tepeyac hill (and impressed her image on
Juan Diego's cloak with roses); at La Salette at the little flower
paradise the children made; at Lourdes by the speckled rose bush of
the grotto; at Fatima above a small holm oak tree; at Beauring from
the garden shrubs; and at Banneaux from two pine trees.
And at Knock, she communicates to us in a special way that she
is the Rose of Sharon . . . appearing not just at or by a rose
plant, but with a rose embedded, as it were, in her very forehead.
"I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valley."
Overwhelmed by this flood of insights, I dusted off my copy of
Emil Neubert's "Life of Union with Mary", which I haven't look at
for five or six years, and turned to it for clarification - which I
found in the following sentences:
"Jesus resides and acts in us; Mary doesn't reside in
us, but she acts in us . . .
"If...a certain number of souls speak of the presence
of Mary within them, we must understand the word
'presence' as an almost constant awareness of the action
of Mary in their interior. In fact, when they address
themselves to the Blessed Virgin, they do not enter into
their inner sanctuary, but instinctively think of Mary
as before them or at their side."
(p 191-192)
This is very helpful, Brother, in that it enables me to see
that while we are not to presume that Mary is actually present in
our flowers and gardens, her action through them, on our souls, can
be so intense that it is as though she were in fact personally
present in them.
I do not want to get "carried away" here. On the other hand,
there is the quest as to how the Mary Garden is to contribute most
fully to the spirituality of Knock and the other Marian shrines, and
to be more instrumental and efficacious of itself towards Salvation
and Kingdom; and it would seem that perhaps what unites shrine and
garden in this is the sense both can impart to us of Mary's presence
with us, as we go forth from them renewing, by and with Mary, all
things in Christ.
After all it is the sense of the presence of Mary that draws us
to her shrines, as the sense of Christ's presence in Eucharist and
Tabernacle that draws us to his churches. And if at her shrines we
can learn, further, the sense of her presence in flowers, then we
take with us an effective means of sensing her presence as we go
forth to the world. I recall an article fragment I wrote around
1955 which I entitled "Backyard Pilgrimage" (among my archives in
Woods Hole somewhere - I came upon it while putting things in order
for the Jubilee review of things).
And all this is in order that we may go forth with the
nurturing vision, quickening and strengthening in morality and
virtue, and especally in faith, hope and love, as transforming and
leavening instruments in each circumstance - instead of submitting
to the discursiveness and dialectics of secular conditioning,
determinism, imperatives, pressures and temptations of the world
flesh and devil.
Bonnie:
"Mary is personally and actively present to us in
flowers, plants, shrubs and trees; or more precisely, what
is present ta us is a mode or manifestation of her
mediation of God's light, grace, wisdom and power.
"Mary has chosen to appear or manifest herself to us at
Guadalupe, Lourdes, Knock and Fatima from or in
association with plants, rather than just 'out of thin
air', to instruct us in their providential creation and
bestowal as channels and vehicles of Spirit - as
discovered and demonstrated by Ss. Patrick, Columba
Fiacre, Bernard and Francis."
Seen thus, plants are to be understood as instruments of Mary's
mediation. Christ has the sacraments and Mary her flowers and
Rosary.
Bonnie:
"Mary, as we sense, is personally present with the
flower instruments of her mediation because ultimately
and always it is she, not they, who is Mediatrix of All
Grace . . . "
There comes to mind the requirement that an altar table with
candles and flowers be used at every Legion of Mary meeting.
In these thoughts, Brother, we see a deeper union of the
Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens with the shamrock of St.
Patrick, the trees of St. Columba and the garden of St. Fiacre.
Ed:
"The essential and ultimate contribution of Mary's
Flowers and Gardens, as we go forth, is as Mary's
sacramemtal instruments of formation and mediation
for every need."
"We are best to generate appreciation of this by
planting Mary Gardens at Our Lady's shrines and, in
the world, by teaching the names of Our Lady's Flowers."
The generality or specificity of various flower symbolisms
becomes more significant in the light of their instrumentalities of
Mary's mediation.
Thus, the generality of lilies and roses: the annunciational
pure filling with the Spirit of the lily, and the pentacostal going
forth with the Spirit of the red rose - the world-emcompassing
heart-shaped loops of the petals ever returning to the center.
As distinct from the mediational specificity of Our Lady's
Shoes, Fingers, Eyes, Hair, Eardrops, Heart, Ladder-to-Heaven,
Milkdrops, Tears, Candle, etc.
The perception of Mary as Mediatrix and Distributrix of all
Grace, and of flowers as instruments of her mediation and
distribution, protects us from falling into the error of druidic
"nature worship".
St. Anselm has instructed us how Mary is Queen of Nature by
virtue of her co-redemptive Fiat. She is also Queen of Nature by
virtue of her mediational use of it.
Brother this has been quite a flood of thoughts, as I write,
which I share with you in all their spontaniety. In time I'm sure
I'll be able to sift them out.
Due to the very early Lent this year, from the moon's course, I
wonder if Penitant's Rose (Crocus) will be in bloom here by Latare
Sunday.
Sincerely, your friend, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
February 29, 1988
Dear Brother Seàn,
Yesterday I made another day trip to Woods Hole, and again
learned something new about Our Lady's Flowers.
In visiting the Garden of Our Lady in near-freezing weather I
looked for a few herbs to pinch and savor before I said the Mary
Garden Prayer. In doing this I was surprised to see that the one or
two inches of fall growth of a number of self-sown seedlings of
Nigella damascena (Our Lady in the Shade) were apparently winter
hardy, as they were already supple and resuming their growth in the
warming February sun. Perhaps it is technically a biennial or
short- lived perennial, rather than an annual (which I had always
understood it to be) .
Also, the mystery of the January "clunking" Angelus Bells,
about which I wrote you, was solved. As I drove up to the Garden I
saw a truck and some workmen. Several were working on reshingling
St. Joseph's Church siding, but others were atop the Bell Tower with
iron-working tools, a blow torch and welding equipment, making
repairs to the Angelus Bells' supporting frame, strikers and
bushings. They informed me that the Bells themselves (and the
bushings) were bronze, but everything else was iron or steel and
badly rusted. They said that the shafts were "frozen" (in the
machinist's sense) in the bushings, so that the clunking noise was
due to partial movement of the strikers without actually hitting the
bells themselves. They struck the bells for me several times
lightly by hand with a hammer, and a nice, full, sound resounded (to
show they do ring well in the cold).
It is good to see this work going forward. The Tower stonework
was re-pointed back in the 1960's, and still looks in good shape,
but perhaps the bells hadn't been repaired since their installation
in the early 1930's. The original clock which rang the bells for
the Angelus was mechanical, and was replaced by several different
versions of electric clocks or timers through the years.
I was impressed again at how well the yew hedge has grown back
again, so it once again can be trimmed and shaped, after its severe
pruning. Just a few days earlier I happened to catch part of a
gardening program on television, in which someone was explaing how
yew hedges will always grow back no matter how severely you prune
them. This is what the local nursery people told Jane at the time
of the severe pruning back from the sidewalk, but its good to see it
actually happening.
This is the first time I have visited the Garden of Our Lady
(or any Mary Garden) since I have come to have the heightened sense
of Mary's presence, of which I wrote in my letter of February 21st.
I noticed immediately as I approached the central figure of Our Lady
that I sensed her presence to be focused at the rose bush in the
central bed to the right front of the statue ( and not in the statue
itself). She seemed to be just quietly there as I said the Mary
Garden Prayer.
Interesting that for me Mary seems to be present at her statue
itself in the photograph on the cover of The Knock Mary Garden
booklet - because it is immediately surrounded by flowers and
seemingly arises out of them, as distinct from a plant or a bouquet
beside a statue.
The interesting thing about individual groupings of blest Mary
Plants or small groupings of the same Mary Plant is that as we pray
to Mary before them for Mary's intercession and mediation, or for
her formation of us according to her virtues and redemptive or
kingdomly spiritual action, as recalled by the particular plant
symbolism, their symbolical forms heighten our sense of her specific
mediation, channeling, molding or other instrumentality in each
instance, and therefore our disposition and attunement for imitation
of, conformity to or participation in this action - as is the case
also with the positioning or attitude of Mary's arms and hands in
her appearances, especially as at Knock, and Paris (Our Lady of
Grace, of the Miraculous Medal), or in painting (Our Lady Orante).
Thus, Mary's Lily, Rose, Heart, Eyes, Eardrops, Mantle, Shoes,
Crown, Hand, Fingers, Pincushion, Tears, Sword of Sorrow, Milkdrops,
Tresses, Bedstraw, Balm, Gold, Ladder, Keys, Candle, etc..
I recall how Ed loved to compose small bouquets of Mary-Flowers
according to their symbolisms, as Bonnie did later with Dish Mary
Gardens.
In viewing the bed of snowdrops across the street here in
Boston - now beginning their bell-blooms - I sensed:
- the awe of Mary's presence with the clump
- the immaculate "whiteness" of Mary's purity
- the candles of Candlemas, and church
- the presentation at the Temple of the Nativity
glories back to God
- Christ as light to the gentiles and the glory of
his people
- The piercing of Mary's soul with a Sword of Sorrow
that many hearts may be revealed
Since, as Father Juergens proposes, Mary is present to us by
her action ( "and never was it known that anyone . . . was left
unaided"), she becomes present with particular plants as we lift our
hearts to her in meditation, prayer or contemplation through them -
and not with every plant, all the time - just as she becomes present
when we pray our Rosary beads.
The lore about St. Francis' care not to step on the least
wayside flower because of its symbolism of Mary might be extended to
encompass the thought that the least wayside flower can also be a
place where Mary becomes present to us if we pray to her though its
symbolism.
I find that with the new extension of the inland (24/495)
highway from Boston to the Cap Cod Canal bridge to the Falmouth/
Woods Hole highway (28), the drive is much more harmonious and about
ten minutes shorter than the highway (3) closer to the shore - just
enough to change the drive from a chore to a relaxation (an hour and
30 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes) - so maybe during this period
when I am not able to spend extended time in Woods Hole I may be
able to make more frequent day trips.
In any case, Brother, the sense of what is happening with the
Garden of Our Lady and Angelus Tower is very important to me, as I
am sure is the case with Knock for you.
While at the house in Woods Hole I looked through the 100 or so
books some from Bonnie's library that her sister, Faye Coates sent
me, preparatory to cataloging them. There are many real treasures,
most of which I didn't have previously. It is so wonderful going
through Bonnie's loving notes and notebooks. I also looked for the
master paste-ups of some of the article reprints for the Tower, but
wasn't able to find them in the organized files there. They must be
in some unorganized file boxes I took down from Boston subsequently,
so will have to continue the search next trip.
I haven't heard from Father Charest yet about the March-April
QUEEN use of "Paradise of Our Lady", but hope that no news is good
news.
In anticipation of this year's bloom sequence of Out Lady's
Flowers, I remain, as always,
Sincerely your in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
March 19, 1988
St. Joseph
Dear Brother Seàn,
Yesterday I airmailed you a copy of my letter of St. Patrick's
to Fr. Byrne in Australia, enclosing the listed articles and plans,
and sharing with him my current view of our ever-developing Mary's
Gardens work.
This is characteristic of the letters I used to send to other
serious new Mary-Gardeners through the early years, until Bonnie
took on this work; but it has been a long time now and this is
perhaps the such first letter I have written in 20 years (other than
the major review I made for Jane for the Woods Hole
Centennial/Jubilee).
I thank you for the opportunity. It took a lot of thought
deciding what to send him just now. Now that I am "tuned up" for
this, I should be able to write to any other new "Mary Garden
Missionaries" you might designate, who may come to us through the
Knock Mary Garden and your booklet.
Let us pray that a vigorous extension of the Mary Garden
Movement takes root in Australia through Father's initiative, your
inspiration, and Mary's guidance.
On St. Patrick's Day the local TV channels all had Irish
"specials". Channel 5 had a half-hour video overview of, the
Connamira terrain, briefly, and then, if I understood the name
correctly, of the village of Claremorris, which I see from the atlas
is close by Ballinrobe.
First they showed the parish church and interviewed pastor; and
then visited a family, where the children were digging and carting
peet, and the father was cultivating his vegetable garden: "Anyone
who pays money for vegetables in town is crazy". The soil looked
black and rich. Next, two industries: a seaweed processing plant,
and a brewery: "I'm lucky to have a job, to support my family. Many
of us have had to spend most of our lives on the dole". Then, two
men building a house; and finally Saturday evening at the pub: "with
dancing for the body; music for the soul; and ale for the spirit."
Young people interviewed spoke of the bleak job prospects, and of
their desire to relocate in the city, or to emmigrate.
If this is representative of your area, it gives me a better
sense of the poverty and simplicity of life. Perhaps some of the
children I saw were your students.
As environs of Knock, it also gives me a sense of those whom
Our Lady especially loves, and I understand the wisdom of
establishing the Knock cultural museum so that fast in-and-out
pilgrims can better see the conditions where Mary chose to appear
with the heavenly tableau.
The harsh conditions of bare survival are so elemental that
those subject to them who do have a strong faith perceive it in life
imagery of the greatest simplicity and clarity - like that of little
children - which may be why God so loves the poor, and Our Lady
appears to them.
Such evidently were the faithful who perpetuated the view of
the Flowers of Our Lady in Europe, as also were the new faithful of
Latin America, who received it from the missionaries.
This raises the question of the perception of flowers in the
eyes of faith of today's rural poor.
I would appreciate knowing your perceptions here, Brother, as
one who has been living with, participating in the life of, and
teaching the rural poor.
Does the hope of getting away from harsh rural life through
relocation in the city, or emmigration, lead to an alienating view
of nature, as a limitation and prison? It seems to me there may be
a difference from medieval times, when village and rural life were
accepted as the locus of one's existence from birth to death, with
no concrete locational alternatives - so that one's love was focused
on heaven and one's surroundings, rather than on relocation.
In his "Village on the Valcleuse" Laurence Wylie speaks of how
in rural France, the old faith and customs are dying, with the
dissemination of secular city values through modern communications,
transportation and property ownership.
The striking thing about the Flowers of Our Lady is that -
thanks to the field work of botanists and folklorists, as catalogued
by lexicographers - they are a direct heritage from the medieval
rural poor.
We read that life everywhere in those times had its legends of
visits from Our Lady. Surely this contributed to popular support
for building of the huge cathedrals, dedicated to Mary, in such
small towns.
What we experience of Mary's presence with us through her
flowers is only a glimpse of the fuller all-pervasivenes of her
presence in the medieval life of faith. Where the earthly means of
transportation were limited, Mary did the traveling. In our era, in
which we are able to travel more easily, Mary comes to a few special
places, which have become her shrines. Special holy places instead
of an all-pervasive holiness. This is why Our Lady's shrines are
especially important today to the perpetuation of the popular
religious tradition of the Flowers of Our Lady, with their
providential supports to faith. As the circulation of secular city
values eroded the faith of rural areas, so can the circulation of
religious values from Mary's shrines restore it, extending also to
the cities themselves - just as there are flowers and the Tree of
Life in the Heavenly Jerusalem.
From reflection on the sensed all-pervasiveness of Mary's
presence in medieval rural faith, I have also come to have a better
appreciation of such flowers as Our Lady by-the-Gate, Our Lady of
the Meadow, and Our Lady of the Lake, - as also of Our Lady's
Resting Place, Virgin's Bower, Mary's Pinch Mary's Bite, and Our
Lady's Mint.
One consequence of a heightened sense of Mary's presence,
through flowers - especially near at hand in bouquets - is that we
have to "adjust" our use of prayer phrases such as "Hail, Mary" and
"we fly unto thee", which we have associated with a certain distance
from Our Lady.
The Angel Gabriel exclaimed "Hail" when he had come the
distance from as yet unreopened heaven to earth; and "flying" to
Mary implies that we on earth envisage ourselves before her in
heaven.
From the viewpoint of the a sense of Mary's presence with us,
through her action as Distributrix of Grace, we discover that she is
not always with us just by herself. She teaches us this at Knock,
where she visibly brought with her, or was accompanied by, the
Heavenly Lamb, St. Joseph, St. John and encircling Angels. Always,
when she is with us on earth, she is at the same time surrounded by
the multitudes of the heavenly court - in the interpenetration of
time and space in eternity and infinity - so that even when she is
intimately close by us we can join with the everpresent heavenly
multitudes in proclaiming "Hail". This is one of the modes by which
we are to have Heaven on earth.
Instead of "flying" to Mary, we simply turn to her.
A few detailed thoughts as to flower symbolism I wanted to
share with you:
In speaking of different facets of the snowdrops, Candlemas
Bells, symbolism I neglected to mention the appropriateness of their
delicate "spear" foliage as symbols of Mary's Sword of Sorrow
(pointed out to me byh Nan Sears of Annapolis) - much more fitting,
I submit, than the large spear blades of Iris and Gladeola foliage;
and also more liturgically timely through their leafing and blooming
at Candlemas.
Also, we have been using spherical, clear glass "rose bowls"
for anemone (Palestine "Flowers of the Field") bouquets, such that
one sees the individual anemone stems extending radially, as it
were, from the large reservoir of water - symbolizing to me Mary's
distributions of many particular graces from the overall reservoir
of grace of the Second Heaven. This is very real as a group of us
sit around talking.
I expect, Brother, that this will reach you before Easter, so
let it be my special prayerful best wishes to you for the fullness
of Easter's resurrectional joys.
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
March 27, 1988
Palm Sunday
Dear Brother Seán,
Several days ago the March-April issue of QUEEN magazine
arrived with a five page article on Knock, "Was I Really there" by
Mary Eileen Foley, RGS, of which I enclose a photo copy.
As I wrote previously, Father Charest tells me he will publish
"Paradise of Our Lady" in the April-May issue, and he hopes some
sort of article on the Knock Mary Garden will be forthcoming after
his April visit to Knock, and his meeting with you.
I don't know yet whether they have enough subscriptions to make
the pilgrimage definite, but one hopes this would be so, especially
since it is a Marian Year pilgrimage. I'll let you know for sure in
a week or so.
According to the announcement the pilgramage is April 17-30,
with the first stop in Dublin. "After touring Dublin...we'll motor
to Knock for Mass." So it sounds like April 18th, 19th or 20th.
They then go on to Paris, Nevers and six days at Lourdes.
In re-reading Father Neubert's "Life of Union with Mary", I
realize that when I mentioned this book in my letter of February
21st, in connection with my recently heightned sense of Mary's
presence, I should have also included the following quotes (in
addition to those from pp 191, 192):
"In the beatific vision and through the natural
faculties of her glorified body Mary knows us, sees
our needs, and hears our prayers. (And) in virtue of
her intercession and even by direct physical actions
she assists us. Surely we can say, then that the
events of our life happen as if she were quite near to
us. We are certainly closer to reality if we represent
our heavenly mother before us or at our side, though
hidden from our eyes, than if we imagine her in a heaven
infinitely beyond the stars. Those who love to remember
her by glancing at her picture or statue are right in
addressing her as if she were at the place where the
picture hangs or the statuestands. . . because Mary sees
them, hears them, helps them as if she actually stands
very close to them.
"The manner of living in the presence of Mary must
necessarily vary with the character and the experience
of each individual."
(pp 45, 46)
From our viewpoint and experience of flowers as especially
suited for quickening our sense of Mary's presence, the following
excerpt Fr. Neubert then quotes from one individual is especially
interesting:
"'Formerly I would place a beautiful picture of the
Blessed Virgin on my desk and from time to time I would
look at it to renew myself in the thought of my Mother
in heaven. This helped me for a while, but soon left me
rather cold. Then I would replace this picture with
another, but after a time this one, too, lost its
power to recall. After all, these pictures, even the
most artistic of them, were so poor in comparison with
the beauty which must have adorned the real Virgin. . . .
(p. 46)
This testimony as to the diminishing effectivness of pictures
and statues, as such, in recalling a direct sense of Mary's
presence, whether in heaven or at our side, serves to emphasize the
importance of the freshness and variety of flowers to this end -
whether of themselves in field, roadside, garden or bouquet, or when
placed before Mary's picture or statue.
But I perceive an even deeper truth and correspondence here,
Brother.
From the story that those present when a certain holy person
was praying the Rosary observed subtle flowers rising up from his
lips with each Ave, we are instructed as to the transport of our
prayers through subtle flower-pneums.
(Perhaps this is why we are taught always to move our lips as
we pray our oral prayers, even when praying by ourselves.) "Grace
is spread abroad from thy lips" (Canticles). In this same vein,
Pope Pius XII said in his 1954(?) Rome address to rose growers, "The
Rosary is an entire garden of roses offered to Mary". The offering
of spiritual bouquets is a much more than a figure of speech.
Similarly, Mary, too, assumed body and soul into heaven,
generates flower pneums in her Immaculate Heart - as, for her part,
she acts spiritually to intercede for us with the Holy Trinity, and
to mediate and distribute grace, light, wisdom and power to us - as
we know in a general way from Guadalupe; from St. Therese's promise
to spend her heaven showering roses of love and grace on earth; and
from numerous reported miraculous showers of roses.
Our beholding of earthly flowers attunes our interior spiritual
sense for our reception of the heavenly flower-pneums distributed to
us by Mary. Since they provide both the predisposition and the
vehicle for this distribution, these earthly flowers also become for
us vehicles of the sense of Mary's presence as she makes these
distributions.
I received the clue to this when, on raising my thoughts to
Bonnie and Frances Lillie as to the best way for awakening for all
the sense of Mary's presence through her flowers and gardens, the
words camr to me:
"Look to the flowers in Mary's Heart.
"As we behold Mary's Flowers, or pray the Rosary,
Mary, in love, generates in her heart and soul flower
pneums of grace, light, wisdom and power, which she
distributes to us through these flowers, or our Rosary
beads, with an accompanying sense of her presence."
Further - as St. Louis de Montfort tells us - Mary, our
Mediatrix, receives our (enflowered) prayers, adorns them,
embellishes them, and then presents them to her Divine Son in heaven
- receiving and transmitting to us in return the spiritual pneums of
love originating from his flowering Sacred Heart.
Herein must lie the reason why the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts
are characteristically portrayed as encircled with flowers.
In time our recourse to flowers becomes so affective that they
serve both as habitual signs of Mary's presence and as continuous
fonts of outpouring grace, whether we are making oral or even mental
prayerful acts, or not.
Further, they quicken us from time to time to the sense of her
presence according to her various attributes.
As Pope Pius XII points out, in the address to rose growers
mentioned above, Mary herself has made use of flowers to this end in
her appearances to us: as, for exsmple, when she appeared to
Bernadette by the speckled rose bush in the grotto at Lourdes: "In
this way she manifested to a poor and artless child the delicacy of
her graces and the beauty of her goodness." (I quote from memory
here, and perhaps don't remember the Pope's words precisely, as I
sent my last article copy immediately at hand containing this quote
to Fr. Byrne in Australia).
In this Holy Week I will make my annual re-reading of "The Way
of Divine Love" - so full of unction for me - which contains the
beautiful salutation to Mary given to Sr. Josepha by Jesus,
containing the words"
"'O incomparable Virgin! Immaculate Virgin! Delight
of the Blessed Trinity, admiration of all angels and
saints, you are the joy of heaven.
'Morning Star, Rose blossoming in springtime, Immaculate
Lily, tall and graceful Iris, sweet-smelling Violet,
Garden enclosed kept for the delight of the King of heaven
. . . I salute you and rejoice at the sight of the gifts
bestowed on you
'by the Almighty, and of the prerogatives with which He
has crowned you!'"
As always, the sense of Mary's constant presence - as mediatrix
of our prayers, and distributrix of the graces, for our needs and
opportunities of each moment - affords us a providential way for
optimizing the instrumentality of our ongoing acts and works of
mercy, praise, salvation and kingdom.
With continuing prayers for the effective presentation of the
Knock Mary Garden to pilgrims in this light, I remain, as always,
Brother,
Sincerely yours in Jesus and Mary,
P.S. - In the light of these ongoing clarifications of Our Lady's
flower and garden presence, I propose to change the attribution for
St. Rose of Lima in the Mary Garden Prayer to:
"St. Rose of Lima, who conversed in the garden with the
Boy Jesus and his Mother."
and to place this after St. Fiacre and before St. Isidore. J.
+
Boston, MA
March 30, 1988
Wednesday in Holy Week
Dear Brother Seàn,
This is a continution, while it is fresh in my mind, of the
thoughts of my letter to you of March 27th - which go back to my
letters of March 17th and February 21st - regarding the
experiencing of a heightened sense of Mary's presence through her
gardens and flowers.
Together with this heightened sense of Mary's presence, I sense
an issuing of the actual graces she mediates through her blest
flowers, mindful of the statement of the Catholic Encyclopedia,
that:
"Blessings...are sacramentals and, as such, produce
the...following specific effects: excitation of pious
emotions and affections of the heart;...freedom from
the power of evil spirits;...(and) various other
benefits, temporal or spiritual...."
"Blessings", Catholic Encyclopedia (1912)
and the affirmation of the Second Vatican Council Constitution on
the Sacred Liturgy (par. 62) which states:
"The liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals
sanctifies almost every event in [our] lives . . .
There is hardly any proper use of material things which
cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of
men and the praise of God."
The The Rural Life Prayer Book (1956) of the U.S. National
Catholic Rural Life Conference observes that today such sacramental
blessings are "riches of the Church which have been long unknown
and unused like a treasure hidden under our very doorstep".
With this we evidently experience a degree of participation
(however small ) in Mary's fullness of grace, which, with an
accompanying participation in her overshadowing by the Holy Spirit,
we are to direct, through, with and for her, for the salvation of
souls and the building of God's Kingdom of love and justice.
This is clearly a gift of gratuitous actual graces for our
inspiration and prompting, as distinct from the gift of sanctifying
graces received through the sacraments.
The fullness of the outpouring of grace seems to emanate from
the heavenlike texture of the open flowers; imparting to us a sense
of the guiding overshadowing of the Holy Spirit from the opened
flower petals surrounding the centers. (I wrote last fall of my
discernment of this symbolism in the bracts surrounding the blooms
of Nigella damascena, "Our Lady-in-the-Shade" - Our Lady in the
shadow of the Holy Spirit - which especially impart this sense at
the Garden of Our Lady in Woods Hole).
There is one Spirit but many flowers and many souls. We see
each flower as a beautiful and unique spiritual tracing and
emanation of the overshadowing matrixing of the Holy Spirit.
We thus go forth from the Garden, with Mary, to act in the
world with this inspiration and prmpting of grace. I pray this
comes to be experienced and acted upon at the Knock Shrine Mary
Garden.
As Lliam Brophy expressed it poetically:
"(The flowers of) the glad abounding earth
still gush the Holy Spirit's primal mirth
In endlessly renewed diversities."
How fittingly Chaucer saw Mary as the "Flower of flowers".
Actually, we receive particular graces to distribute, from the
sea of grace surrounding Mary, through the flowers of our hearts
opened in love, into which angels direct these graces by the
wafting of their wings - like the wind blowing up whitecaps and
spray from ocean waves - as Mary, Mediatix of all Grace, for her
part receives them from the heavenly reservoirs of Grace.
Similarly we receive the luminous overshadowing of the Holy
Spirit into the aura of our souls through transmitting angels of
light.
These thoughts have been in response to the question which
arises as to what is one to "do" with the experienced profuse,
unceasing, outpouring of grace which can accompany our spiritual
quickening through flowers as instruments of Mary's presence - and
as to how is one to do it. But how are we to become enlightened as
to our practical instrumentality of the Holy Spirit in this?
Here we can learn from St. Louis de Montfort's love of and
prayer to Mary as "Star of the Sea" - Mary as both the sea of grace
and the star of guidance through this sea - which I haven't
so appreciated until now.
It is to Mary, now ever present at our side, to whom we are to
turn - as Seat of Wisdom and Mother of Good Counsel - for the
needed wisdom and counsel.
Thus, not only do we now have a sense of Mary's presence at our
side, so we can turn to her for the general needs and opportunities
of our lives, but also she is present to provide the wisdom and
counsel we need for our missionary, apostolic, salvational and
kingdomal use of the gratuitous gifts of participation in her
fullness of grace and in her overshadowing by the Holy Spirit, which
can accompany this sense of her presence with us.
Who better than Mary can counsel us in the channeling of the
fullness of grace according to the spirating, circulating,
matrixing of the overshadowing Holy Spirit?
Mary's good counsel directs and leads us in the opening up -
through acts of love and mercy; and through words of wisdom and
counsel - of the natural receptivities of others to and for the
supernatural grace and spirit, which we are now to participate in
focusing and distributing with her, as "other Marys".
In this it is helpful to understand that Mary's fullness of
grace was not required for her sanctification, nor was it the
"product" of it, but it was gratuitously infused, in the first
instance, in her Immaculate Conception, that she might in turn
"distribute" it to the Christ Child as an integral part of her
nurturing of him in his true humanity, as he grew "in wisdom and
age and grace before God and men" (Luke, 2, 52).
Thus, Mary was the Mediatrix of All Grace, first as the Mother
of the growing Christ Child (and then, as Mother of the mature
Christ, as at Cana); but then also as Mother of the Church, of the
Mystical Body of Christ, until the end of time.
This would seem, Brother, to be a culmination of the
earthly/heavenly journey of first discovering and experiencing the
beautiful symbolism of Our Lady's Flowers; then discovering these
flowers as supports for meditation; then discovering them, (blest),
as sacramentals of grace; and, finally, discovering them as
conveyors of the sense of Mary's presence with us - both in the
Garden, and as we go forth from the Garden to the World in the work
of Mercy, Salvation and Kingdom.
In the hope that you will find some merit in these thoughts,
which I make bold to share with you, I remain, as ever, sincerely
your friend, in the communion of Jesus, Mary and the Garden Saints,
+
Boston, MA
May 2, 1988
Athanasius
Dear Brother Sean,
What a joy to learn from your letter of April 20th that you
were indeed able to meet with Fr. Charest and his pilgrim party at
Knock!
I can see that your opportunity to lead their tour of the
Shrine and Garden personally after joining them for Mass at the
Apparition Chapel was a rare spiritual treat for them which will be
long remembered.
I'm sure Bonnie was with you. It was her tours of her
Hagerman Mary Garden with visitors which were the heart of her
communication of the Mary Garden idea, love and spirit. Also, the
hospitality and sociability afterwards - as with your tea and
cakes. Bonnie also always provided a small gift of a flower,
leaflet or memento that visitors could take with them - your
booklet being so important in this respect at Knock.
I recall that Mrs. Goffin, who lived across the street from
the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady, told me how Frances Lillie used
to sit in the garden regularly, reading (from the beautiful library
she established there in the base of the Angelus Tower), so that
she could be there to personally convey her appreciation of the
Mary Flowers to visitors. (As I write, I now realize that Mrs.
Lillie established the Tower library for herself as well as for
casual visitors. But, always in a spirit of sharing, as I recall
there was a sign saying that visitors could take books with them
for as long as they liked, so long as they eventually returned
them. And they did, as in the early 1950's I catalogued the fifty
or so original books still in the library after 20 years -
hurricanes and all - and I think I included this list with the
archive materials I assembled for Jane in 1981.)
So, Brother, the tour you conducted was in the high tradition
of the Mary Garden. I wish I could have been a "fly on the
(garden) wall", or had thought to ask Father Charest to take along
a pocket tape recorder. I gave Bonnie many tours of my
Philadelphia Mary Garden via tape recorder - reporting new blooms,
symbolism discoveries, meditative insights, etc.. And I had the
one opportunity to conduct her through my Garden in 1962, as she
did to conduct me through hers in 1968. Also, I taped her numerous
times from Woods Hole. I think she said you sent her a tape once.
If so, I's sure I'll find it in her archives and papers her sister,
Faye, sent me. (How I long for an opportunity to go through those
archives in minute detail. Every, even quickly jotted, note is
such a treasure.)
The important thing is that your direct, personal,
communication of the Mary Garden idea, love and spirit to Father
Charest probably conveyed far more to him than have my 30 years of
correspondence and articles - although these were a good background
and preparation for the "big moment".
The Mary Garden tradition is first and foremost a popular oral
tradition handed down in countryside and garden; and all our
articles and books are ultimately a support for this (although I do
dearly hope I will be blest with the opportunity - for I which I
ask your constant prayers - to develop, with Marion's help and
while helping her in her graphics work, full and beautiful
electronic supports for this tradition through video and computers,
as I have written before.
I do hope Father Charest will now write an article about the
Knock Mary Garden and his visit himself, capturing the opportunity
for fuller appreciation afforded to him.
Your ability to get away from your other duties to spend these
important moments with Fr. Charest and his group is so
providentially wonderful. There comes to mind the mystical reports
of the saints in heaven eagerly nurturing and waiting for great
moments of sacred history on earth, and I do hope this is one of
them, (and on such a beautiful day, as you report).
I will make sure, as you request, to ask that he emphasize
that Knock is the first and only national Marian Shrine to have an
outdoor Mary Garden, and that the booklet exists and is obtainable
from the Knock Shrine office.
At this point I will await some word from him (the "Paradise
of Our Lady" article should be appearing soon, in his May-June
issue), but if I don't hear from him in a week or so, I will
contact him. Your follow-up letter to him, giving information and
quotes for his article will be most important. Let me know
anything else I can do.
I will pass on your kindest regards to Jane McLaughlin, as you
request, and I thank you for the best wishes conveyed from Tom
Neary.
With all prayerful best wishes, and with ever-increasing joy
over our work together for the deepening and spread of the Mary
Garden movement, I remain, as always,
Sincerely, your friend, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
April 19, 1988
Dear Brother Sean,
I am very conscious that today is the "big day" for Mary's
Gardens, (and hopefully the world) with the 2:30 scheduled arrival
of Fr. Charest's pilgrimage group at Knock coming up in two hours,
as I write at 7:30 this morning (assuming that Ireland is on summer
time, 5 hours ahead of our eastern daylight saving time).
I do hope that their plans are going according to schedule,
and that you and others are able to meet with them (however
briefly).
As you well know, the planting of the Knock Mary Garden
represented to Bonnie the culmination of her life's work, and I of
course raised my hopes for this occasion to her in prayer:
"Mary will be with them all, and will make her
presence known miraculously"
I do indeed hope for a miracle of grace here.
Shortly afterwards I received a strong sense that the Mary
Garden Prayer should invoke:
"St. Rose of Lima, to whom the Boy Jesus and his
Mother were present in the garden"
So, I petitioned St. Rose specially, also:
"Jesus and Mary will touch their hearts in the Garden."
I recall so well reading in one of my books or pamphlets that
after a commission of Jesuit inquisitors had extensively examinened
St. Rose, they concluded that Jesus and Mary had indeed been present
to her - some details with which she perceived that presence, such
as playing cards with the boy Jesus, of course coming from her own
heart and imagination.
Yes, I did indeed receive your St. Patrick's Day card, in good
time for the feast, and I thank you very much for it. I wasn't
previously aware of "St. Patrick's Fires" of Spring - although I
knew of St. John's Fires of Summer, and of equinoxial and
solsticial fires generally. This is such a dramatic instance of
St. Patrick's sanctification of nature and nature customs, and in a
way has the force of a greater specificity of time and place than
the legend of the Shamrock.
I note your concern that while the Knock Mary Garden beds and
plantings are being cared for, some of the agreed to symbolical
plants still have not been included this spring. After thirty
years of a similar concern at Woods Hole - from the time Ed and I
first met with Wilfred Wheeler and Dorothea Harrison there about
restoring the planting according to plan, to the time Jane
McLaughlin actually carried forward the restoration - I am able to
empathize with you quite poignantly over this.
I had come to be so resigned about the planting at Woods
Hole, that Jane even had to persuade me, as it were, to join her in
going for the fullest possible retoration. I remember well the
conversation I had on first meeting her, after Mass at St. Joseph's
one Sunday in 1981 when I told her how "sanguine" I had become
about ever seeing the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady planting
restored.
The lesson I learned from this, and from other public Mary
Gardens, was that it isn't so much a matter of having a Mary Garden
which is faithful to its planting plan, but of of having a Mary
Gardener, or a Mary Garden person, Committee or Society working
with professional gardeners or caretakers, with personal commitment
and inspiration for having a faithfully executed and maintained
Mary Garden.
Generally, professional gardeners and horticuluralists are so
committed to meeting secular expectations as to the appearance of a
garden and grounds; are so pressed for time; and are so influenced
by the prevaling viewpoint of their horticultural peers and of
secular horticultural literature that plant symbolism, including
religious plant symbolism, is simple interesting plant "lore", that
they simply don't sense the importance of fidelity of the planting
plan of a Mary Garden.
I recall this was similarly the case, secularly, of the
planting of the medieval garden at The Cloisters in New York City.
The original plan - prepared, I believe in the 1930's - by the
Curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (then or later) called
for a magnificent variety of medieval plants, which were perhaps 80
percent there in the early 50's when Ed and I first visited the
garden and photographed it and its plants. Then a few years later,
as we prepared extensive lists of the Mary-names of the plants from
the plan, less and less of the plants were actually refreshed each
spring, and finally, about ten years ago, I read a series of
magazine articles about the Cloisters garden stating that there was
now a new gardener, and how exciting it was that she had come up
with a new vastly simplified plan, with only about 10% of the
orginal plant materials. I wrote her an extensive letter, but
never received a reply.
Ultimately, as I have come to see more clearly just recently,
it is the sensed reality of Mary's presence through the Flowers of
Our Lady that sustained the popular religious tradition of these
flowers through the centuries - which sense we pray will sustain the
planting and maintenance of Mary Gardens in the present and future.
It is in this that I hope and pray for at Knock.
It is now 8:30 AM here, so I will close this letter and focus
my vision and prayers fully on the hoped for immediately upcoming
events at Knock.
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
May 2, 1988
Athanasius
Dear Brother Seàn,
What a joy to learn from your letter of April 20th that you
were indeed able to meet with Fr. Charest and his pilgrim party at
Knock!
I can see that your opportunity to lead their tour of the
Shrine and Garden personally after joining them for Mass at the
Apparition Chapel was a rare spiritual treat for them which will be
long remembered.
I'm sure Bonnie was with you. It was her tours of her
Hagerman Mary Garden with visitors which were the heart of her
communication of the Mary Garden idea, love and spirit. Also, the
hospitality and sociability afterwards - as with your tea and
cakes. Bonnie also always provided a small gift of a flower,
leaflet or memento that visitors could take with them - your
booklet being so important in this respect at Knock.
I recall that Mrs. Goffin, who lived across the street from
the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady, told me how Frances Lillie used
to sit in the garden regularly, reading (from the beautiful library
she established there in the base of the Angelus Tower), so that
she could be there to personally convey her appreciation of the
Mary Flowers to visitors. (As I write, I now realize that Mrs.
Lillie established the Tower library for herself as well as for
casual visitors. But, always in a spirit of sharing, as I recall
there was a sign saying that visitors could take books with them
for as long as they liked, so long as they eventually returned
them. And they did, as in the early 1950's I catalogued the fifty
or so original books still in the library after 20 years -
hurricanes and all - and I think I included this list with the
archive materials I assembled for Jane in 1981.)
So, Brother, the tour you conducted was in the high tradition
of the Mary Garden. I wish I could have been a "fly on the
(garden) wall", or had thought to ask Father Charest to take along
a pocket tape recorder.
I gave Bonnie many tours of my Philadelphia Mary Garden via tape
recorder - reporting new blooms, symbolism discoveries, meditative
insights, etc.. And I had the one opportunity to conduct her
through my Garden in 1962, as she did to conduct me through hers in
1968. Also, I taped her numerous times from Woods Hole. I think
she said you sent her a tape once. If so, I's sure I'll find it in
her archives and papers her sister, Faye, sent me. (How I long for
an opportunity to go through those archives in minute detail.
Every, even quickly jotted, note is such a treasure.)
The important thing is that your direct, personal,
communication of the Mary Garden idea, love and spirit to Father
Charest probably conveyed far more to him than have my 30 years of
correspondence and articles - although these were a good background
and preparation for the "big moment".
The Mary Garden tradition is first and foremost a popular oral
tradition handed down in countryside and garden; and all our
articles and books are ultimately a support for this (although I do
dearly hope I will be blest with the opportunity - for I which I ask
your constant prayers - to develop full and beautiful electronic
supports for this tradition through video and computers, as I have
written before.
I do hope Father Charest will now write an article about the
Knock Mary Garden and his visit himself, capturing the opportunity
for fuller appreciation afforded to him.
Your ability to get away from your other duties to spend these
important moments with Fr. Charest and his group is so
providentially wonderful. There comes to mind the mystical reports
of the saints in heaven eagerly nurturing and waiting for great
moments of sacred history on earth, and I do hope this is one of
them, (and on such a beautiful day, as you report).
I will make sure, as you request, to ask that he emphasize
that Knock is the first and only national Marian Shrine to have an
outdoor Mary Garden, and that the booklet exists and is obtainable
from the Knock Shrine office.
At this point I will await some word from him (the "Paradise
of Our Lady" article should be appearing soon, in his May-June
issue), but if I don't hear from him in a week or so, I will
contact him. Your follow-up letter to him, giving information and
quotes for his article will be most important. Let me know
anything else I can do.
I will pass on your kindest regards to Jane McLaughlin, as you
request, and I thank you for the best wishes conveyed from Tom
Neary.
With all prayerful best wishes, and with ever-increasing joy
over our work together for the deepening and spread of the Mary
Garden movement, I remain, as always,
Sincerely, your friend, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
July 4, 1988
Dear Brother Seàn,
Since last writing to you on May 2 I have endeavored to keep
you abreast of my Mary's Gardens activities and thinking through
copies of my letters to Fr. Byrne (May 22), Fr. Charest (May 31 &
June 11), Anne Hopkins (June 11), and to two people who inquired
about the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens after reading
"Paradise of Our Lady" in QUEEN magazine.
I forwarded the last two to share with you how I am responding
to inquiries, as with the copies of my letters to Fr. Byrne in
Australia, written at your suggestion. I think the last previous
inquiry I answered directly ( other than a few people I wrote at
Bonnie's request) prior to these was my first letter to you, in
1972, because Bonnie had been writing all the replies.
As distinct from the form letters we sent out by the 1000's in
the 1950's, these are written individually - setting forth the Mary
Garden idea and movement in considerable detail for the particular
person - keeping in mind that what we need now are people of the
deepest motivation, who might undertake a commitment to carry
forward this work themselves, as in the case of Fr. Byrne.
I also wrote to Father Greely, P.P., in response to a note I
recived from him thanking me for a 2nd contribution I had made to
the Knock "Mary Garden Publications Fund" a while back, mindful of
the fortcoming second printing of your Booklet.
I don't think it is proper to send you a copy of my full
letter to him, but I enclose a slightly edited copy of a major
portion of it in which I wrote of the Knock Mary Garden in the
context of the development of the Mary Garden idea and movement -
so you will know of my direct input, as, for example, in regard to
the desirability of the second Mhuire Garden, etc..
Last Sunday, June 26th, I drove to Woods Hole for the day to
open up our house in preparation for the possibility of spending
some time in Woods Hole this summer. Due to a heavy thunder storm
and electric power failure, we weren't able to see very well
indoors, or to operate our vacuum cleaner, so we didn't accomplish
much along these lines. However, this gave me some time to go
through the Mary's Gardens files (near the light from a window) and
to find the paste-up copies for the "Lillie Tower" and "Cape Cod
Shrine" articles about the Garden of Our Lady, as well as some
reprints left over of the QUEEN "Mary Garden Jubilee"(#3) article.
After we had some lunch at a local favorite restaurant on the
waterfront, we went back to the house, and just then - about 2:45
PM - as we were stepping out of the car we heard the Angelus Bells
ring out, loud and clear (2-3/4 hours late due to the set-back of
the control clock by the power failure).
Recognizing this as a special summons, I went to the Garden
where, happily, I came upon Jane working to distribute some extra
humus (left by the professional garden caretakers) to the side
beds. We had a joyful reunion of sorts, and brought each other up
to date about much of what has been happening.
We of course spoke of you and of Knock, and I told her about
my occasion to write to Fr. Grealy. The Garden looked just fine
and I told her I would be sending copies of the article reprints in
a few days from Boston - including, also, reprints of the
"Paradise" article. I can see that it is best to have available
for visitors articles specifically relating to the Garden of Our
Lady, which they are actually visiting - just as your Booklet ties
in directly with a visit to the Knock Mary Garden. I also am
sending to her copies of the list of 200 Flowers of Our Lady, so
that those who might want to start Mary Gardens of their own will
have a larger variety of plant materials to choose from.
I will also check with her to see if there is any possibility
your booklet could be sold at one or more of the local stores, or
otherwise made available through a sample and notice at the Angelus
Tower, etc..
As for the Garden itself, in addition to the overall groomed
and healthy appearance, there were a number of particulars of happy
refinement. Among these were the growth and bloom of the climbing
rose at the post for the planting list and plan shelter; very fine
growth in the right rear corner bed with profuse rose blossoms and
several handsome "Candles"; beginning climbing and blooms of the
Morning Glories and Clematis at the restored rear bed trellis;
several large Nigella plants (nurtured by Fred in his back-up home
nursery beds); and tall stalks from Bonnie's three Madonna Lilies
in the right front corner bed, and also a fourth in the central
cross-shaped bed, next to the statue of Our Lady.
I took some slide photos (it had been so long since I used my
camera that I wasted some slides getting my memory back as how to
operate it). I got good representative photos of the Garden, and
also a very nice one of Jane - of which I will send a copy.
Among the things Jane told me was that she has been in
correspondence for some time with a woman who has been active in
the preparation and furnishing of the historic Carroll House in our
state of Maryland - for which a Mary Garden is planned. I'm a
little "rusty" in my memory of the historical details, but the
Carroll family was prominent in the "Catholic" colony and, now,
state of Maryland. I believe one of the Carroll's was a signer of
our U.S. Declaration of Independence (celebrated today), and
another the first bishop of the first U. S. diocese, of Baltimore.
So, this house is a most important historic monument, and the Mary
Garden will add much to the interest, as well as remind people that
Maryland is Mary's Land. The planting of Mary Gardens at historic
monuments, as well as shrines, is a new and important dimension of
our work, and I am thankful to Jane for following through with this
opportunity. More on this when Jane sends me further details, or
perhaphs she may write you about it. Eventually there should be
photos and some sort of printed mention.
I am receiving some further insights about our work - beyond
the "Paradise" and "Our Lady in Her Garden" facets - which I will
share with you in due time as they ripen.
I will be interested to learn of your assignment for next year
- whether you will be continuing at Ballinrobe, etc. From your
year nearby, I would appreciate having your assessment of the Knock
Garden and its further development and incorporation in the life of
the Shrine. In our early years, Ed McTague used to say, "Mary's
Gardens has been founded, and after five years we can say that it
has been established". I am mindful that now the Knock Mary Garden
has been established for five years.
From my correspondence with Anne Thomas, Tom Neary, Fr.
Charest and Fr. Grealy, on top of all our letters, as well as from
your Booklet, I feel in closer communion with Knock, and see it,
along with Woods Hole, as a sort of twin base for the spread of
Mary Gardening throughout the world.
The Carroll House Mary Garden could also be of major
importance, because as a historic monument the House provides a
context for focusing on the historic fact of the Flowers of Our
Lady - which, in a way, was the first focus of Mary's Gardens of
Philadelphia.
Personal, home, Mary Gardens are of special importance
because, like Bonnie's (in a predominently non-Catholic community),
they provide a mode for a personal, apostolic, demonstration,
"statement", or "confession" of love and devotion deeper than
discursive apologetics and argument. But, since individuals come
and go, as do parish, school and monastery Mary Gardens, we need
more enduring anchors such as angelus towers, shrines, historic
monuments - and also books and CD ROMS - from which individual Mary
Gardens can be inspired over and over again and again.
In the hope that this finds you well, and with prayerful best
wishes for a good summer, and a culminative close of the Marian
Year on the Feast of the Assumption, I remain, as always, your
friend,
Sincerely in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
July 11, 1988
St. Benedict
Dear Brother Sean,
After half of year of intensive thought and writing about the
significance of the Knock Mary Garden, I once again feel a need to
make an overall review of our work in global terms.
As always, the challenge is how to communicate appreciation of
the riches and meanings of the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens
as an effective motivation to others. I have been endeavoring to
do this as well possible for each person to whom I write; and each
attempt spurs me to try to discern how to do it better the next
time. Then comes the moment, such as now, when I take a look at
all these attempts, and re-read all the articles from through the
years, and then endeavor to make a more definitive articulation of
overall meaning and purpose.
In the broader sense we are always endeavoring to move
ourselves and to inspire others ever more fully towards Conversion,
Church, Salvation, Kingdom and Heaven - in a world which is so full
of poverty, indifference, injustice, oppression, exploitation,
illness, addiction, violence, crime and war, etc..
Secular gratification, pride, superiority, possessions and
power all have their allurements and motivations, but how pale and
passing these are in comparison to the love of Soul, Christ,
Spirit, Creator, Mary, Kingdom and Heaven, once they are
experienced. Ultimately faith is a divine gift, but surely we,
like Mary, can be instrumental for this giving. One of the lessons
of Mary's Intercession, Mediation and Distribution is that Divine
Grace can indeed be humanly interceded for, and mediated and
distributed. Also we know that "grace builds on nature (and art)"
and "glory builds on grace", so that all objects of nature and all
artifacts can and are to be employed for purification, conversion,
sanctification and Kingdom. All of which can be summed up in the
truth that "The fullness of Heaven is to be built on earth".
If all creation has its place in the divine plan of
redemption, as St. Paul says; if all creation is potentially
instrumental of grace - and of glory, as St Louis de Montfort says;
and if God's power can be found everywhere in nature, as St.
Patrick teaches us - then it is incumbant upon us that this endowed
instrumental potential be actualized, through Mary, Queen of
redeemed nature.
It seems to me that the old catechism statement that "We were
created to know, love and serve God in this world and to be happy
with him forever in heaven" doesn't motivate people adequately any
more. I think the reason is that it is perceived to focus on the
earthly "Valley of Tears" and heavenly "Pie in the Sky" in a way
which, while appropriate to the "static" world of the ancient and
medieval periods, doesn't adequately take into consideration the
created, and continuously discovered and co-created, good of the
modern, scientific world. Modern secular communications, graphic
arts, manufactured goods, conveniences, transportation, scientific
inquiry and innovation have so much more to offer than the ordinary
life of earlier periods, that they are mistakenly sought as a
substitute for, rather than as a more striking likeness of and
means to, the fullness of supernatural life and heavenly riches.
Yet there are always earthly lack, diminishment and death, no
matter how marvellous the wonders of the modern world, and I think
Teilhard de Chardin was correct in his discernment that we in fact
build heaven eternally as we build earth temporally, so that
despite the death that we all - healthy and sick, rich and poor,
must experience - everything is preserved and nothing is lost.
In one of his books he distilled his perception of this
developmental truth in a little diagram something like this:
Heaven
^ _.Omega Point (Christ)
l /!
l /
l /
l /
l /
l /
l /
l /
l /
l /
l /
l/___________> Earth
I think that the "Omega Point" is still a little too "Pie in
the sky" or abstract; and that what is to be perceived and
emphasized, is that as through our grace-inspired action on earth
we build God's Kingdom here and now, "on the horizontal axis", so
are we at the same time building the Heavenly Jerusalem, for
descending eternal transfiguration of the Earthly Kingdom on the
Lat Day - with the General Resurrection, and nothing ultimately
lost through diminishment and death.
Scientific transformation of the globe, properly seen, imparts
this sense, even though it is all too often only seen as material
and temporal. The ever-present threat from science itself - in
the short term by pollution and potential nuclear, biological or
chemical destruction; and in the long term by depletion of natural
resources and the "greenhouse effect", etc. - should remind us
always to see it as a foretaste of, rather than a substitute for,
heaven.
The beautiful consequence of the perception that, in the truth
of the Cross, we build heaven on earth ("Thy Kingdom come, on earth
as it is in heaven") through immolation and reparation, as well as
through stewardship, development and transformation, is the
perception that nothing is lost, despite all these dire,
apocalyptic, threats . Everything we do - to develop and conserve
("dress and keep") Creation for and with the creating Father; to
offer up diminishments, loss, suffering and death immolatively and
reparationally for and with the redeeming Son; and to renew the
face of the earth for and with the regenerating, transfiguring and
transforming Holy Spirit - contributes to the building of heaven on
earth, to the building of the eternal New heaven and the New Earth,
which ultimately will be one.
There are always "tares among the wheat", and, "sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof", so that heaven is never fully
achieved on earth while the building process is going on - yet in
the end, in the pleuroma, the Heavenly Jerusale is indeed built
through our earthly labors of grace, light, wisdom and power, and
descends to make the culminating transformation of the new earth;
and everything, whether of preservation, immolation or
transformation, contributes to this.
Once this is effectively perveived, we then see that our
historical goal, and the goal of the saints, awaiting the
resurrection of their bodies, in heaven still being built, is to
hope and work for the fullness of our building heaven through
earth, so that although the earth is never fully built, from it may
come the new heaven, from which, in turn, as it descends, will come
"in a flash" the general resurrection and new earth.
We are to see the "purpose" of the descending Pentacostal Holy
Spirit as the building of heaven on earth towards the end of time
and the General Resurrection - as prefigured in Mary's Assumption,
and in the offering at the altar of Assumption bundles of plants to
symbolize the ultimate resurrectional, assumptional incorporation
of all creation in the new heaven and earth.
Thus, instead of stating that the purpose of our creation is
"to know, love and serve God in this world, and to be happy with
him forever in the next", I propose that it be re-perceived and
re-stated as something like (long form) "to know, and love God, and
to be his faithful instruments and coworkers in the task for which
we were created, of building heaven through the promptings of grace
in our lives on earth - that this world may be brought to its
culmination, and all may be resurrected to live with him eternally,
in the new heaven and new earth."
Thus, our work, in love, for truth, justice, freedom, mercy
and peace is undertaken not just out of secular humanism, but for
the building of heaven, where we are to find the ultimate human
fulfillment of all as beholders and sharers of God's goodness and
eternal life. And morality has its ultimate foundation in the
restraints we accept of earthly fulfillment that we may further the
coming of this heavenly fulfillment - that instead of endeavoring
to make the earth infinite we view it, properly, as a means to the
Infinity of Heaven.
The beauty and awesomeness of flowers and gardens and their
care lie in their heavenly likeness, which, by extension and
analogy, enable us to see the likeness to, and movement towards,
heaven of all creation, work and art. So that all flowers and
gardens are, in fact, Flowers and Gardens of Our Lady, who - "fair
as the moon, bright as the sun and terrible as an army set in
battle array" - is mediatrix and distributrix of all divine grace,
light, wisdom and power.
In the "realism" of heaven, our work for the Flowers of Our
Lady and Mary Gardens, then, is not some sort of peripheral
delicacy of the material world, but a focal pointer of the way to
heaven. I believe this was Frances Lillie's vision in founding the
Garden of Our Lady.
Brother, I'll no doubt be attempting to re-state this ever
more clearly, and communicably, as long as I live, but I hope this
present attempt, which I share with you in the communion of our
work, may be of some usefulness.
As ever, I remain sincerely your friend, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
August 1, 1988
Alphonsus Liguori
Dear Brother Sean,
Thank you for your letter of June 29th, telling of your
several recent visits to Knock and of the heightened activity
there.
I was especially interested in your mention that Fr. Gobbi was
addressing members of the Marian Movement of Priests in the
Basilica while you were there on the 29th. The last edition of his
Marian locutions I have is the 6th - August 29, 1973 through Apri1
24, 1980 - and I must get the most recent edition from the United
States Director of the movement, with whom I last corresponded five
or six years ago. I feel much rapport with Fr. Gobbi's locutional
closeness to Our Lady, and have been much enriched by them.
Certain little things have meant a lot to me, like the emphasis on
the "Yes" of Our Lady's co- redemptive "Fiat". And there is some
excellent flower and garden imagery, e.g.:
"Soon the desert will blossom and all creation will
become that marvellous garden, created for man, to
reflect in a perfect manner the greatest glory of God"
- November 28, 1979
I wonder if he has had any locutions amplifying the
interpretation Mary's appearance at Knock.
The Marian Movement of Priests offers me much encouragement,
especially when I feel alone, in my immediate environment, in my
sense of Mary's communication and presence, which I so much wish to
share directly with others, or at least be assured that others
share somewhere.
At the same time there seems to be less devotion to Our Lady
in parish life and at the "bookstore and statuary level", I sense
that there is a regeneration of this devotion at a much deeper and
personal level (as with the Marian Movement of Priests) which
people are somewhat reluctant to be too vocal about, except with
each other.
In Heaven we will be in direct communication with God, Mary,
the angels and the saints, so that as Heaven is built on earth,
this should be increasingly so here also - ordinary rather than
extraordinary - even though "through a glass darkly, rather than
face to face."
Fr. Gobbi's continuing locutions from Our Lady are instructive
to us as to how this may become "ordinary" (with all the prudent
and necessary safeguards of doctrinal fidelity and hierarchical
watchfulness), and as to how our lives of Salvation and
Kingdom-building can indeed be enhanced by locutions, visions,
consolations and elections.
It can be said, even as it is said regarding Our Lady's
authenticated appearances and public messages, that the deposit of
faith and teaching of the Church are sufficient, so "we don't need
this". However, faith needs to be quickened in ever fresh, direct
and immediate ways; and when it comes to building God's earthly
Kingdom, we are in much need of support for our wisdom and counsel
as we meet ever new obstacles and opportunities. This is one of
the things I treasure about the ever-fresh, ever-new,
ever-variagating flower and garden symbolism of Our Lady.
In a genaral way, the broad acceptance of Fr. Gobbi's Marian
locutions by the Marian Movement of Priests better disposes all for
the acceptance of the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens as one
of the available vehicles for the experience of Our Lady's
communication and presence. I hope this will be specifically so
for those responsible for the Knock Shrine.
It is wonderful that Fr. Gobbi's Marian locutions are accepted
"second hand", but why not experience Mary's presence and
communication first hand - as with the help of the Garden?
I am happy for you that the time of year has once again come
when you are able to spend some time in your native Clare.
I will write to Fr. Charest shortly, after I receive his
July-August issue in which I hope he will make some mention of his
visit to Knock. I have indicated to him several times my hope that
he will make specific mention of your booklet - and have given him
the precise price and order address information. In this letter I
will order a copies of the list of Marian Shrines in the U.S.A. and
Canada for you, as you request, and also for myself.
For my part, I have been fortunate in having just spent a week
in Woods Hole - speaking with Fr. Dalzell after Mass on July 24th
and encountering Jane again in the Garden of Our Lady, on the 26th.
I gave them two additional copies of your booklet, so one can be
placed in the Angelus Tower room, that people may know about it and
know where they can obtain it - and there will be a "back-up" if
the first one disappears. Jane said she will make a plastic cover
for it, as has been done for the book of poems, in the Tower, for
Alpheo Faggi's sculptures of the Stations - which has remained in
the Tower for some years. Jane mentioned that she had also ordered
some additional copies of your Booklet.
I neglected to mention, in writing you of my previous visit
with Jane, that an inquiry was received from an Italian author,
writing a book on Alfeo Faggi, asking to verify that he had done
the metal bas relief on the Tower door of scenes from the life of
St. Joseph. In addition to giving this verification, Jane was able
to tell him of the metal bas relief he did for the private grave of
one of Mrs. Lillie's adopted sons, on the Lillie Woods Hole
property. I was shown this perhaps twenty years ago by Mrs.
Lillie's cousin, Mrs. Florence Gigger, who was trust custodian of
the Tower and Garden for a period - and have a color photo of it.
I also neglected to mention the nice new white plant name tags
in the Garden of Our Lady. These were designed by Jane's friend,
co-parishioner and helper with the Garden , Fred Luts, who also
constructed the restored "wayside shrine" shelter for the Garden
plant list and plan, and the new rear trellis, and grows some
plants for the Garden in his home garden beds.
The labels are the familiar plastic planting labels about 3
inches long and pointed at one end, in which Fred has ingeniously
cut two slits into which the top 2 inches, bent at a right angle,
of 8 inch or so long 1/8" wire supports are inserted, so that the
labels are up a bit and can be read horizontally. I had used the
standard low horizontal plastic labels, with supporting pointed
plastic column "stake", at the OMC Mary Garden in Chestnut Hill,
but they were much lower, and thus less easy read. These and other
contributions of Fred, working with Jane, have been very important
to the quality of the restoration of the Garden of Our Lady.
In one of my daily visits to the Garden, I met an artist who
was making a water color painting of it, and I was able to tell her
that the prominent 6 ft. red Lythrum plants she had just painted,
while not in the planting plan, were appropriate to the Garden as
"Christ's Blood Drops". When I mentioned this to Jane, she said
the Lythrum had been planted by the professional nurseyman
caretaker at the time of the restoration as a substitute for the
Veronica called for on the plan, and has been left as an
augmentation of the terminal focal point, complementing the
beautiful tall, rose-like, reddish pink Hollyhock of the rear bed
(of which several people have asked Jane for seed - it is so
beautiful), even though the Veronica has now been added.
In general, the Garden was in good mid-summer bloom,
including, additionally, the Thyme, Teucrium, Monkshood, Petunias,
Marigolds, Chrysanthemum balsamita and Melissa (both tiny blooms),
Campanula, Morning Glory, Clematis, Pansies (Johnny-Jump-Ups),
Lily, Nigella and perhaps others I don't recall as I write. Also,
of course, there is the ever-present fragrance of the RoseMary and
Spearmint.
Frances Lillie evidently, like Bonnie, was especially fond of
the fragrant Herbs of Our Lady, and I am reminded of one of Wilfred
Wheeler's nurserymen ( Joseph Dias?) who cared for the Garden for
many years from its inception and who told me he personally
prepared for and placed in Mrs. Lillie's burial casket a little
bouquet of "her favorite fragrant herbs". I should have asked him
of his conversations with her in the Garden.
Providentially, the restoration of the trellis in the center
of the rear bed, the profusion of red roses, hollyhock and lythrum
at either side of it ( and even some blue morning glory climbing
the trellis, which turned out to be red - as though to tell us
something), and the opening up of the area about the same size as
the Garden, behind the trellis, and now filled with masses of
Golden Jerusalem (Black-Eyed Susan) blooms, provide a new "in
depth" replication of Heaven.
Thus, the Angelus Tower, represents the Heavenly City of the
First, Empyrean, Heaven; the Garden of Our Lady the Heavenly
Paradise of the Second Heaven; the red roses, hollyhock and lythrum
at the trellis, the Heavenly Rose of the Third Heaven; and then the
rear, inner court the storehouses (of which St. Louis de Montfort
speaks) of the Power, Pneuma, Grace and Light, progressively, of
the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Heavens, which Mary mediates
to us.
There are also some white flowers (daisies?) and some green
foliage and ground cover in the inner court; and to articulate the
symbolism of the upper four Heavens a little further, some blue
flowers (Chicory, "Heavenly Way"?), white (daisies, Queen Anne's
Lace?) and green shrubs (there is already some privit hedge) could
be added to the inner court in appropriately composed masses of the
Yellow/Gold of Light, the Blue of Grace, the White of Pneuma, and
the Green of Power (the power of green plant growth being the
garden symbol of heavenly Power - "Consider the lilies, see how
they grow"). The inner court was opened up by clearing away a
privit thicket, at the suggestion of Fr. Dalzell.
These symbolized created heavens are all of course distinct
from the uncreated heaven of the interior of the Trinity, in which
we participate through Holy Communion at Mass in St. Joseph's
Church across the street.
Interesting how, providentally, as I said, the establishment
of the St. Joseph's, Nazareth Garden at the west side of the Tower
and Garden plot, and now the Heavenly Storehouse Garden at the east
end - each established for more immediate considerations - serve to
round out a fuller overall symbolical composition.
Prominent among the wayside and field flowers in mid-summer
bloom around Woods Hole are St. Johnswort, Black-Eyed Susan, Beach
Roses - red and white, Butter & Eggs, Chicory, Lythrum, Queen
Anne's Lace, Paint Brush, Morning Glory (white) and Day Lilies.
During this recent visit I was much more appreciative of the
ringing of the Angelus bells. The Angelus prayer is a remarkable
distillation of the essence of our faith - for as much as we may
lovingly care for God's Creation, and prayerfully work for its
heavenly transfiguration and transformation, we are ultimately to
live, in this life, according to the truth of the aspiration that
we may be brought to the glory of Christ's Ressurection by the
uniting of our diminishments, suffering and death with his Passion
and Cross.
The first two patron saints of gardening, Phocas and Dorothy,
were both martyrs - who embraced their martyrdom in anticipation of
their entrance into the flowering heavenly paradise.
Later, St Martin de Tours was beseeched by his earthly
associates to defer his immanent rise to heaven in order that they
might receive from him further ministery to their spiritual needs
on earth.
Now that we better understand that it is God's will that his
Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven ("Why are you looking
up?"), we look more and more to the conversion of others for the
transformation of the earth, as well as foir their salvation.
In searching for the means best to instrument this, we can
turn for advantage to what St. Louis de Montfort refers to as
"imprecatory prayer": a prayerful quickening and alertness - of
both forgiveness and of a deep desire for conversion and Kingdom -
to offer up each and every tresspass, offense, diminishment and
injury, large or small, we experience at the hands of others,
immediately and directly for the grace that will convert them,
specifically, away from such trespasses to attitudes and acts of
love, justice, mercy and spiritual creativity and building.
I learned in prayer, from St. Louis de Montfort, that
imprecatory prayer "mediates the Cross of Christ" - the Cross from
which our Savior prayed for the conversion of those who persecuted
him, and for the whole world.
It is to this that I felt especially quickened by the ringing
of the Angelus last week, "that we . . . by his Passion and Cross,
may be brought to the glory (on earth as well as in Heaven) of his
Resurrection. We all too often forget the glorious period between
Christ's Resurrection and his Ascension.
Interestingly the Faggi bas relief Stations of the Cross in
the interior of the Tower room place the Angelus Prayer in further
spacial perspective. As we move from the Joyful "Nazareth Garden"
of St. Joseph at the west of the Tower and through the "St. Joseph
Door" to the interior of the Tower, where we pray the Sorrowful
Stations, we indeed pray that we "may, by his Passion and Cross, be
brought to the glory of his Resurrection" - of the seven glorious
heavens of the Tower and of the Garden of Our Lady and Heavenly
Court to the East.
I hope that one day this progression can be formalized or
regularized (as "St. Joseph's Stations"?), just as one "makes the
stations" at Knock, etc..
I'm sort of leaping ahead of myself here, Brother, but you can
see that my week in Woods Hole was blest with some spiritual
insights and illuminations.
It was wonderful to hear that some 10,000 people were present
at Knock for the recent all-night vigil in the Basilica, and that
generally it looks as though more people will visit the shrine this
year than ever before. I do hope more and more people are coming
across the Mary Garden as they circulate around the Shrine grounds,
and that their eyes will be caught by the beautiful cover of your
booklet in the gift shop.
With thanks, again, Brother, for your joyful letter, and
looking forward to hearing from you further, I remain, your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
August 1, 1988
Alphonsus Liguori
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of June 29th, telling of your
several recent visits to Knock and of the heightened activity
there.
I was especially interested in your mention that Fr. Gobbi was
addressing members of the Marian Movement of Priests in the
Basilica while you were there on the 29th. The last edition of his
Marian locutions I have is the 6th - August 29, 1973 through Apri1
24, 1980 - and I must get the most recent edition from the United
States Director of the movement, with whom I last corresponded five
or six years ago. I feel much rapport with Fr. Gobbi's locutional
closeness to Our Lady, and have been much enriched by them.
Certain little things have meant a lot to me, like the emphasis on
the "Yes" of Our Lady's co- redemptive "Fiat". And there is some
excellent flower and garden imagery, e.g.:
"Soon the desert will blossom and all creation will
become that marvellous garden, created for man, to
reflect in a perfect manner the greatest glory of God"
- November 28, 1979
I wonder if he has had any locutions amplifying the
interpretation Mary's appearance at Knock.
The Marian Movement of Priests offers me much encouragement,
especially when I feel alone, in my immediate environment, in my
sense of Mary's communication and presence, which I so much wish to
share directly with others, or at least be assured that others
share somewhere.
At the same time there seems to be less devotion to Our Lady
in parish life and at the "bookstore and statuary level", I sense
that there is a regeneration of this devotion at a much deeper and
personal level (as with the Marian Movement of Priests) which
people are somewhat reluctant to be too vocal about, except with
each other.
In Heaven we will be in direct communication with God, Mary,
the angels and the saints, so that as Heaven is built on earth,
this should be increasingly so here also - ordinary rather than
extraordinary - even though "through a glass darkly, rather than
face to face."
Fr. Gobbi's continuing locutions from Our Lady are instructive
to us as to how this may become "ordinary" (with all the prudent
and necessary safeguards of doctrinal fidelity and hierarchical
watchfulness), and as to how our lives of Salvation and
Kingdom-building can indeed be enhanced by locutions, visions,
consolations and elections.
It can be said, even as it is said regarding Our Lady's
authenticated appearances and public messages, that the deposit of
faith and teaching of the Church are sufficient, so "we don't need
this". However, faith needs to be quickened in ever fresh, direct
and immediate ways; and when it comes to building God's earthly
Kingdom, we are in much need of support for our wisdom and counsel
as we meet ever new obstacles and opportunities. This is one of
the things I treasure about the ever-fresh, ever-new,
ever-variagating flower and garden symbolism of Our Lady.
In a genaral way, the broad acceptance of Fr. Gobbi's Marian
locutions by the Marian Movement of Priests better disposes all for
the acceptance of the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens as one
of the available vehicles for the experience of Our Lady's
communication and presence. I hope this will be specifically so
for those responsible for the Knock Shrine.
It is wonderful that Fr. Gobbi's Marian locutions are accepted
"second hand", but why not experience Mary's presence and
communication first hand - as with the help of the Garden?
I am happy for you that the time of year has once again come
when you are able to spend some time in your native Clare.
I will write to Fr. Charest shortly, after I receive his
July-August issue in which I hope he will make some mention of his
visit to Knock. I have indicated to him several times my hope that
he will make specific mention of your booklet - and have given him
the precise price and order address information. In this letter I
will order a copies of the list of Marian Shrines in the U.S.A. and
Canada for you, as you request, and also for myself.
For my part, I have been fortunate in having just spent a week
in Woods Hole - speaking with Fr. Dalzell after Mass on July 24th
and encountering Jane again in the Garden of Our Lady, on the 26th.
I gave them two additional copies of your booklet, so one can be
placed in the Angelus Tower room, that people may know about it and
know where they can obtain it - and there will be a "back-up" if
the first one disappears. Jane said she will make a plastic cover
for it, as has been done for the book of poems, in the Tower, for
Alpheo Faggi's sculptures of the Stations - which has remained in
the Tower for some years. Jane mentioned that she had also ordered
some additional copies of your Booklet.
I neglected to mention, in writing you of my previous visit
with Jane, that an inquiry was received from an Italian author,
writing a book on Alfeo Faggi, asking to verify that he had done
the metal bas relief on the Tower door of scenes from the life of
St. Joseph. In addition to giving this verification, Jane was able
to tell him of the metal bas relief he did for the private grave of
one of Mrs. Lillie's adopted sons, on the Lillie Woods Hole
property. I was shown this perhaps twenty years ago by Mrs.
Lillie's cousin, Mrs. Florence Gigger, who was trust custodian of
the Tower and Garden for a period - and have a color photo of it.
I also neglected to mention the nice new white plant name tags
in the Garden of Our Lady. These were designed by Jane's friend,
co-parishioner and helper with the Garden , Fred Luts, who also
constructed the restored "wayside shrine" shelter for the Garden
plant list and plan, and the new rear trellis, and grows some
plants for the Garden in his home garden beds.
The labels are the familiar plastic planting labels about 3
inches long and pointed at one end, in which Fred has ingeniously
cut two slits into which the top 2 inches, bent at a right angle,
of 8 inch or so long 1/8" wire supports are inserted, so that the
labels are up a bit and can be read horizontally. I had used the
standard low horizontal plastic labels, with supporting pointed
plastic column "stake", at the OMC Mary Garden in Chestnut Hill,
but they were much lower, and thus less easy read. These and other
contributions of Fred, working with Jane, have been very important
to the quality of the restoration of the Garden of Our Lady.
In one of my daily visits to the Garden, I met an artist who
was making a water color painting of it, and I was able to tell her
that the prominent 6 ft. red Lythrum plants she had just painted,
while not in the planting plan, were appropriate to the Garden as
"Christ's Blood Drops". When I mentioned this to Jane, she said
the Lythrum had been planted by the professional nurseyman
caretaker at the time of the restoration as a substitute for the
Veronica called for on the plan, and has been left as an
augmentation of the terminal focal point, complementing the
beautiful tall, rose-like, reddish pink Hollyhock of the rear bed
(of which several people have asked Jane for seed - it is so
beautiful), even though the Veronica has now been added.
In general, the Garden was in good mid-summer bloom,
including, additionally, the Thyme, Teucrium, Monkshood, Petunias,
Marigolds, Chrysanthemum balsamita and Melissa (both tiny blooms),
Campanula, Morning Glory, Clematis, Pansies (Johnny-Jump-Ups),
Lily, Nigella and perhaps others I don't recall as I write. Also,
of course, there is the ever-present fragrance of the RoseMary and
Spearmint.
Frances Lillie evidently, like Bonnie, was especially fond of
the fragrant Herbs of Our Lady, and I am reminded of one of Wilfred
Wheeler's nurserymen ( Joseph Dias?) who cared for the Garden for
many years from its inception and who told me he personally
prepared for and placed in Mrs. Lillie's burial casket a little
bouquet of "her favorite fragrant herbs". I should have asked him
of his conversations with her in the Garden.
Providentially, the restoration of the trellis in the center
of the rear bed, the profusion of red roses, hollyhock and lythrum
at either side of it ( and even some blue morning glory climbing
the trellis, which turned out to be red - as though to tell us
something), and the opening up of the area about the same size as
the Garden, behind the trellis, and now filled with masses of
Golden Jerusalem (Black-Eyed Susan) blooms, provide a new "in
depth" replication of Heaven.
Thus, the Angelus Tower, represents the Heavenly City of the
First, Empyrean, Heaven; the Garden of Our Lady the Heavenly
Paradise of the Second Heaven; the red roses, hollyhock and lythrum
at the trellis, the Heavenly Rose of the Third Heaven; and then the
rear, inner court the storehouses (of which St. Louis de Montfort
speaks) of the Power, Pneuma, Grace and Light, progressively, of
the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Heavens, which Mary mediates
to us.
There are also some white flowers (daisies?) and some green
foliage and ground cover in the inner court; and to articulate the
symbolism of the upper four Heavens a little further, some blue
flowers (Chicory, "Heavenly Way"?), white (daisies, Queen Anne's
Lace?) and green shrubs (there is already some privit hedge) could
be added to the inner court in appropriately composed masses of the
Yellow/Gold of Light, the Blue of Grace, the White of Pneuma, and
the Green of Power (the power of green plant growth being the
garden symbol of heavenly Power - "Consider the lilies, see how
they grow"). The inner court was opened up by clearing away a
privit thicket, at the suggestion of Fr. Dalzell.
These symbolized created heavens are all of course distinct
from the uncreated heaven of the interior of the Trinity, in which
we participate through Holy Communion at Mass in St. Joseph's
Church across the street.
Interesting how, providentally, as I said, the establishment
of the St. Joseph's, Nazareth Garden at the west side of the Tower
and Garden plot, and now the Heavenly Storehouse Garden at the east
end - each established for more immediate considerations - serve to
round out a fuller overall symbolical composition.
Prominent among the wayside and field flowers in mid-summer
bloom around Woods Hole are St. Johnswort, Black-Eyed Susan, Beach
Roses - red and white, Butter & Eggs, Chicory, Lythrum, Queen
Anne's Lace, Paint Brush, Morning Glory (white) and Day Lilies.
During this recent visit I was much more appreciative of the
ringing of the Angelus bells. The Angelus prayer is a remarkable
distillation of the essence of our faith - for as much as we may
lovingly care for God's Creation, and prayerfully work for its
heavenly transfiguration and transformation, we are ultimately to
live, in this life, according to the truth of the aspiration that
we may be brought to the glory of Christ's Ressurection by the
uniting of our diminishments, suffering and death with his Passion
and Cross.
The first two patron saints of gardening, Phocas and Dorothy,
were both martyrs - who embraced their martyrdom in anticipation of
their entrance into the flowering heavenly paradise.
Later, St Martin de Tours was beseeched by his earthly
associates to defer his immanent rise to heaven in order that they
might receive from him further ministery to their spiritual needs
on earth.
Now that we better understand that it is God's will that his
Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven ("Why are you looking
up?"), we look more and more to the conversion of others for the
transformation of the earth, as well as foir their salvation.
In searching for the means best to instrument this, we can
turn for advantage to what St. Louis de Montfort refers to as
"imprecatory prayer": a prayerful quickening and alertness - of
both forgiveness and of a deep desire for conversion and Kingdom -
to offer up each and every tresspass, offense, diminishment and
injury, large or small, we experience at the hands of others,
immediately and directly for the grace that will convert them,
specifically, away from such trespasses to attitudes and acts of
love, justice, mercy and spiritual creativity and building.
I learned in prayer, from St. Louis de Montfort, that
imprecatory prayer "mediates the Cross of Christ" - the Cross from
which our Savior prayed for the conversion of those who persecuted
him, and for the whole world.
It is to this that I felt especially quickened by the ringing
of the Angelus last week, "that we . . . by his Passion and Cross,
may be brought to the glory (on earth as well as in Heaven) of his
Resurrection". We all too often forget the glorious period between
Christ's Resurrection and his Ascension.
Interestingly the Faggi bas relief Stations of the Cross in
the interior of the Tower room place the Angelus Prayer in further
spacial perspective. As we move from the Joyful "Nazareth Garden"
of St. Joseph at the west of the Tower and through the "St. Joseph
Door" to the interior of the Tower, where we pray the Sorrowful
Stations, we indeed pray that we "may, by his Passion and Cross, be
brought to the glory of his Resurrection" - of the seven glorious
heavens of the Tower and of the Garden of Our Lady and Heavenly
Court to the East.
I hope that one day this progression can be formalized or
regularized (as "St. Joseph's Stations"?), just as one "makes the
stations" at Knock, etc..
I'm sort of leaping ahead of myself here, Brother, but you can
see that my week in Woods Hole was blest with some spiritual
insights and illuminations.
It was wonderful to hear that some 10,000 people were present
at Knock for the recent all-night vigil in the Basilica, and that
generally it looks as though more people will visit the shrine this
year than ever before. I do hope more and more people are coming
across the Mary Garden as they circulate around the Shrine grounds,
and that their eyes will be caught by the beautiful cover of your
booklet in the gift shop.
With thanks, again, Brother, for your joyful letter, and
looking forward to hearing from you further, I remain, your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
November 15, 1988
Dear Brother Sean,
Than you for your letter of October 10th, telling of your
start of your second year at Ballinrobe, and mentioning that you
are still waiting to hear from Fr. Charest.
I went through the May/June, July/August and September/October
issues of QUEEN "from cover to cover" and didn't find any mention
at all of Father's spring pilgrimmage - to Knock, or to Paris,
Lourdes, etc..
As of today I have written him asking whether he has exchanged
any letters with you (a reply to your letter may have been lost in
the mail), and asking how I can be of any assistance with a
possible article on the Knock Mary Garden, per our discussions of
last spring.
I also placed an order with him for a copy of the Marian
Shrines book, as you requested awhile back, to be sent directly to
you, and also one for myself.
Following my preoccupation with Mary's presence, through her
flowers and gardens, about which I wrote you extensively last
spring, I find that I am now focusing on visual, pictorial, means
of inspiring love of the Flowers of Our Lady.
What I am hoping to do is to build libraries of digitized
(computerized ) line drawings and color photographs of the Flowers
of Our Lady for use in "illuminating" written materials.
I believe one of the reasons religious manuscripts were
originally illuminated was to strengthen the link between the
concreteness of the material reality which was familiar to all and
the "new" written words representing it, about which many felt
uneasy, due to the general illiteracy. In the restoration of the
Mary names of flowers we are going the other way, so to speak -
drawing on the original symbolic vision of material reality now
preserved in written words, and restoring it once again as a key,
in oral and visual tradition, to the vision of material reality
from which it originally came.
I see illuminative line drawings as a visionary step, so to
speak, between the verbal symbolism and the full concrete material
symbolism of the flowers themselves (or between words and then
photographs, as another step between the Mary names and the actual
flowers as they grow). Just as the branches of trees after their
leaves have fallen show their "naked truth", so do line drawings
convey the essence of flowers in a special way.
Your Knock Mary Garden booklet was much enhanced by the little
line drawings of plants, and I think that publications can be
further enhanced by line drawings accompanied by the Mary names.
How to make the Flowers of Our Lady real for more people is a
particular elective mode of our general apostolic task of how to
assist in obtaining a universal embrace of the truths of our Faith
(from which the religious flower names are derived) - or how on the
natural level to assist others in becoming more open and disposed
to the reception of the supernatural grace of conversion to these
truths - which God, through Mary's mediation, is ever "eager" to
infuse.
Repeatedly, as I watch TV or read the news - whether about
events, or personal problems - I am freshly struck by the
overwhelming secularity of our times.
It seems so clear and simple to the eyes of faith that we are
to work in our lives for the fullness of Heaven, the earthly
Peaceable Kingdom, and the New Heaven and Earth - caring for and
extending Creation with the Father; making reparational,
redemptive, use of frustration, pain, sickness and death with the
Son; and working for transfiguration, transformation and the
lifting up of all things with the Holy Spirit - whichever we are
called to at any given moment or period - that I am appalled at how
all personal and social "problems" seem to stem from the absence of
this perspective of faith, and how so many are futily attempting to
solve them by discursive psychological and social initiatives and
manipulations (endlessly, in books, consultations and "talk
shows").
Then, so many who believe seem to believe in heaven only as
some vague place of light (a proper early step, of course, in the
actual experiencing of heaven) and not a spiritually concrete
transfiguration and transformation of Creation and also of the
artifacts of our co-creating - of nature, crafts, architecture,
production and technology - as a whole.
God did not place our First Parents in the earthly paradise of
Eden to have Eden somehow disappear as they found the "light", but
as a place which they were to "dress and keep", as they/we
increased and multiplied, so that the earthly paradise would be
progressively transformed into the earthly/heavenly paradise and
city, as a continuum - in the primordial, original integrity of
Creation, with no sin, suffering, sickness and death.
The resurrection of our bodies, in which we believe, carries
with it the resurrection or transformation of the totality of
creation and co-creation which goes with our bodies - the
body-as-a-whole-in-its-environment - so that our belief in eternal
life is to be extended to everything spiritually and materially
good in our daily lives, as making everyone infinitely precious and
awesome.
One of the unfortunate consequences of the necessary
"defensive" counter-reformational focus on the Seven Sacraments
was that the sacramental character of just about everything else
was almost universally diminished, if not lost altogether, and the
practice of sustaining this universal sacramentality of nature and
artifacts through ritual blessings (sign of the Cross, sprinkling
of holy water, etc) was also all but lost, or reduced to a
"superstitious" device for protection, or enhancement of luck. (I
recall that at the time of my conversion in 1946, a Catholic
co-worker in Brooklyn, whom I told about it, said, "Oh, now you
will be more lucky").
The (U.S.) National Catholic Rural Life Conference "Rural Life
Prayer Book" (1956) speaks of ritual blessings as "riches of the
Church which have long been unknown and unused, like a treasure
under our very doorstep".
In this respect, I find I am coming back in the Mary Garden
Prayer to the wording:
"St Patrick, sanctifier of all nature as wellspring
of God's power".
St. Patrick not only saw the sacramental character of all
nature and drew upon it, but he imparted this vision to the pagan
Celts, and sacramentally blessed the naturural environmemt to
redeem it from its secularity, superstition and nature-worship.
St. Patrick comes to have ever-increasing importance for me as
a patron of the sanctifying dimension of Mary's Gardens; along with
St. Joseph as patron of the its working and building dimension, as
we move towards the Earthly and Heavenly Kingdoms.
Flowers and plants, like all creatures in our earthly lives
take on an infinite and eternal importance because we will live
with them forever after the General Resurrection.
"Heaven in a wildflower, and infinity in a grain of sand."
and
"I will teach you of life and of life eternal."
And once we live fully in our faith in the General
Resurrection and in Life Eternal, we see clearly that our tasks in
life are to work to the fullest extent of our providential and
graced opportunities (1) for the stewardship, redemption and
transformation of the fallen earth toward the earliest coming of
this fullness of the new heaven and new earth, and (2) in acts of
mercy for all those who are unbelieving, and suffering - until this
fullness of eternal life comes.
Our acts of mercy of course include prayers and sacrifices for
conversion; and our works of transformation include works for a
sufficiency of material goods for all, a just social order, and
equal opportunity for the development of endowed personal potential
by one and all - this social ordering augmenting the generation of
the pneumatic matrix or "noosphere" of the "world soul", which
plays an integral, "efficient", part in the ultimate heavenly
transformation of the world (so that work for social justice is
seen as heaven- building as well as an "earthly" humanistic
undertaking - just as the discovery of theological, philosophical,
scientific, social and psychological truths contributes to the
renewing, recreating, earth-transforming pneumatic matrix).
With all prayerful bet wishes for yourself, your associates,
your students, and your work, Brother, I remain as ever,
Sincerely yours in Jesus and Mary,
+
Boston, MA
December 8, 1988
Immaculate Conception
Dear Brother Sean,
I received a latter from Father Chareat dated November 21, in
which he stated:
"No, I have not heard from Brother Sean. He would have
to write about his work. I really don't have the time
nor the knowledge of his work with the Mary Garden in
Knock. I'm sure he must have some interesting insights.
So, you'll have to go to Knock yourself! That wouldn't
be a bad idea, would it!"
Thus, it looks as though he never received your latter you
mentioned sanding him .
My suggestion at this point, for vour consideration. is that
we might write a joint article (as I did with Bonnie for The
Herbarist).
It could have two parts:
A first part under your signature, describing the Knock Mary Garden
as the beginning of the fulfillment of your vision of a National
Irish Mary Garden - the first-time ever national Mary Garden (with
reference to Muire Mhater and the Knock Mary Garden Booklet), and
A second part, under my signature, on the significance of the Knock
Mary Garden as the first Mary Garden at a major Marian shrine -
along the lines developed in my letters of last spring.
If you think well of this approach (since Father Charest is
clearly not going to be able to write anything around his
pilgrimage visit) I would be glad to put the two parts together,
and I could suggest to Father that he at least write a little
introductory Editor's Note, along some lines which I would suggest.
If you are pressed for time. and would want to send me a copy
of what you sent Father Charest, I could edit it a bit and send
it back to you for your final approval or revision - along with my
part of the article. Or. it could be one article under both our
signatures - although I think the two part format would be better.
What would ba most helpful would be several really "dramatic"
photos. We could probably use the ones he took (black and white
photo - copies enclosed), but good as they are, some alternate good
views might have been taken by others. at other seasons, etc. -
which Tom Nearv or Anne Hopkins might have.
Let me know what you think.
Father's suggestion about a visit to Knock by myself is a
happy one, but not a practical possibility at present.
With prayerful best wishes to you, Brother. for a Holy
Christmas and a fruitful New Year, I remain, as ever, your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
December 12, 1988
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of November 14th, received just after
writing my letter of December Sth.
I have been well, thank God, but I appreciate your concern
after not hearing from me for several months. While I never stop
thinking and caring about you, Mary's Gardens and Knock; on the
level of everyday thought and communication I have a rather
"one-track" mind which focuses intensely and totally on one
"project" at a time. Thus, the summer and fall were devoted to
furthering my skiIIs with computers, together with an attempt to
reorganize space, tools, archives and time for a period of more
productive writing and publication.
I have been described as the type of person who is "seemingly
the most superficial of all people, in general; and the most intense
of all people, in particular". These inclinations create problems
for my friendships and communications. But there is the positive
side of being effectively able to persevere in accomplishing
concrete things one thing at a time, even in the midst of great
pressure and chaos. I recall there is a proverb along these lines,
about dealing with problems one at a time, in China .
In this respect, we are renovating the attic of our Woods Hole
house, finally to have a proper, efficient, setting for the Mary's
Gardens materials and archives. These things do "take time", and I
pray that I may be granted the providential opportunity for a
culminative period for my Mary's Gardens work now that I am in the
"October" of my life. I think of how beautifully Bonnie's Work was
culminated, which she understood and in which she rejoiced, in in
Our Lady's Solar Greenhouse, the Woods Hole Mary Garden Jubilee, and
the founding of the Knock Mary Garden.
We made a day trip to Woods Hole just after I last wrote vou,
and found a magnificent large red December rose blooming in the
Garden of Our Lady, for Immaculate Conception time. The Garden was
beautifully cleaned for the winter, with evergreen branches in
place as cover for the central bed. Then, another tryp today.
The Rose-Mary plants grew beautifully this year. A fine one
has been left, uncovered, directly in front of the statue of Our
Lady, and provides an exquisite focus for the sense of Our Lady's
presence at this time of year (as the rose, to the left front of the
statue, now slightly cold-damaged, did in my Immaculate Conception
visit last week).
We had a beautiful Fall here in New England, and Bonnie's two
Madonna Lily plants had magnificent September-October-November
foliage growth - strengthening their bulb and root systems for
next year's blooms. I marvel at the fine growth of these Madonna
Lilies in the right front bed, as compared with the difficulty of
sustaining those in the central bed - as experienced both by
Dorothea Harrison over 50 years go, and by Jane currently. These
lilies make such an excellent display in the central bed, as in
the 1983 photo used with my "Paradise" article. They evidently
have to be renewed each year to sustain this in that location, in a
sort of two-year cycle for each plant. Perhaps the dryness of the
exposed central bed, as compared with the greater moisture and
partial shade of the right front bed, makes the difference.
I believe there were several Rose-Mary plants this post
season, and I hope the others were removed indoors winter keeping.
and setting out again in the spring. It was very appropriate to
leave the one plant in the garden, "for Christmas", but I hope
it, too. can be removed for preservation for next year, before the
January freezing sets in. It's such a beautiful specimen, and
after several years' growth it would be magnificent, It may be
too late, however, since there was an unseasonably severe cold
wave here yesterday, in which the Boston temperatures went down
close to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
When I brought my Rose-Mary plants indoors in mid-November
each year in Philadelphia, kept them dry for several weeks, and then
watered them very heavily in mid-December, they "thought" the
Mediterranean wet season had arrived, and bloomed profusely for
Christmas, in a sunny exposure. They never seem to bloom outdoors
in our climate. "Botanically, freezing is the equivalent of
dryness" - but only if the plants survive the freezing, as do
other Mediterranean plants such as crocuses, daffodils and Madonna
Lilies. A constant reminder of how many of our Mary Garden plants
are native to the region of the Holy Land, and were brought to
Europe by returning Crusaders, etc..
The Rose-Mary and other central bed herbs give a special
character to the Garden of Our Lady at this time of year after
the general bloom period is over.
The February Daphne - not yet restored - of the central bed is
the first plant of the Garden (plan) to bloom each year. I seem to
recall that mine bloomed in March in Philadelphia; maybe April. I
have the records somewhere. Dorothea Harrison included snowdrops in
one of the intermediate Woods Hole planting plans (1934?), and it
might be well to restore these, to advance the Spring "action" in
the Garden. As I have written through the years, there is about a
one out of three chance for Candlemas snowdrop bloom - which you
enjoy in Knock, as in Philadelphia and Boston, but March is probably
the earliest we could hope for in Woods Hole, due to the
winter-prolongingly modifying influence of the sea. However, with a
protected sunny southern exposure to the sun . . . ?
The figure of St. Joseph is securely in its beautiful wooden
enclosure.
Although I was in Woods Hole at noon, I was so preoccupied
with other matters that I missed the ringing of the Angelus, but
assume all is well after last winter's repairs to the bells.
In viewing the Angelus Tower across the "pond" (inlet) from
the town side, I noticed that a large white Christmas Star has been
placed on it. I'm not sure whether this lights up at night.
I have had a meditative insight for this Advent/Christmas
season. I wrote you some time ago about how, when I was in the
"ascent" phase of my mystical development, I experienced the 6th
(thomistic) hierarchy of angels, the Dominations as drawing us
upwards with heavenly light, once we have received sufficient
spiritual strengthening from the Sth hierarchy, the Virtues, to be
less dependent upon earthly support. and thus freer to rise.
Now, in filling out mv return "descent" more fully, I see -
mindful of the Christmas angels - that they also draw us
illuminatively and transfiguringly towards the building of the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and to heavenly/earthly adoration of God
with the Thrones (and Cherubim and Seraphim).
Perhaps this Christmas thought will reach you by Christmas, and I
renew my communication to you, Brother, with my best wishes for
Christmas and the New Year.
Sincerely, your friend. in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
December 19, 1988
Flower of Jesse
Dear Brother Seàn,
Yesterday I was blest with one of those marvelous insights into
a Flower of Our Lady which are sort of "benchmarks" of love in my
Mary Gardening.
Having become fairly proficient in setting the thresholds for
computer digital scans of line-art flower drawings, I was
'perfecting' the setting for contrast, brightness and half-tone
patterns for black-and-white scans of water color flowers and was
working with an illustration of Centauria cyannis - cornflower,
bachelor's buttons...Mary's Crown (one of the Knock Mary Garden
Flowers of Our Lady).
In my 1962 "Ten Flower Meditations" I had spoken of
Christians through the centuries seeing these tooth-edged flowers
as reminders of the crown of Our Lady, "Queen of Heaven and
Earth", but until yesterday I missed the full clarity of this
symbolism.
From the illustration 1 was scanning - which showed buds and
blooms in several stages of opening - I suddenly realized that the
crown symbolism clearly comes from the characteristic of this plant
that as each flower head begins to open in bloom. the first
flowerets unfold in a sort of wreath or crown which encircles the
edges of the flower head as a whole - before the head opens all the
way, with its full hemisphere of flowerets.
Perhaps the basis of this symbolism has been obvious to you and
Bonnie all along, but my personal discovery of it brought a great
rush of love in my heart, which I hasten to share with you here.
With prayerful best wishes for your Christmas love of Jesus,
Brother, 1 remain,
Sincerely yours in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
March 17, 1989
St. Patrick
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thanks for your St. Patrick's Day card.
I'm pleased you think well of my editing of your article.
Fr. Charest phoned on the 12th saying he was pleased with the
articles - still scheduled for the May-June issue of QUEEN.
He asked that I condense my MS to 8 or 9 pages, which I have
done, per the enclosed revision - sent to him on the 15th. It looks
as though he will use 6 pages of QUEEN.
He is prepared to use his own photos he took last year, but
would like to have some fuller views of the Garden if available. He
would need them by his deadline at the end of this month.
I will order some reprints to be made at the time the whole
issue is printed, and ask that the negatives be saved in case we
want additional reprints at some future date.
I will write to Tom Neary regarding the availability of your
booklets, and will mention again the need for photos.
Father Charest is conducting another group pilgrimage in late
April - to France, this year.
My Lent has been enriched by three large (3 ft.) potted cactus
plants placed before the altar at St. Francis Chapel here, "to help
us keep in mind Christ's 40 days of fasting in the desert".
Due to a very cold February and early March, the snowdrops,
which bloomed for two days at Candlemas here, have just now opened
again.
With all prayerful best wishes, Brother, for a joyous Easter, I
remain, as always, your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
June 15, 1989
Dear Brother Seàn,
In case you have not already recived one from Fr. Charest,
here is a copy of the May-June QUEEN magazine containing our Knock
articles.
I like the layout of the title pages of the articles facing
each other, in such a way that it is clear yours should be read
first and that mine goes along with it.
I think they did an especially nice job on the page layout of
your article, and I hope you like it.
Fr. Charest sent two boxes of about 100 magazines each, one of
which I will send to you. I will send it by air so you won't have
to wait "forever" for it to arrive. Can you let me know where to
send it, where someone can receive it for you if you are travelling
etc. at the time it arrives?
I made a trial 4 page paste-up, eliminating the photos on
pages 26 and 37, for use in making reduced size reprints (which
will be of better quality than this home-made preliminary version).
A photo-copy of this is also enclosed. Let me know how many of
these you would like to have.
Things are a little rushed here, so I will write further later
on.
I hope you have a good summer, Brother.
It is a joy finally to have this material in print.!
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
June 24, 1989
"St. John of Summer"
Dear Brother Seàn,
By now you no doubt received my letter of June 15 and the
enclosed copy of the May-June QUEEN containing our articles.
Also, I expect that Fr. Charest sent you a few "author's
copies".
The "payment" for our articles will be the 200 additional
copies sent to me, half of which I told him I would send to you.
As with each of my Mary Garden articles, I read it through 100
times or so between acceptance and publication - sending in a few
revisions (one of which got messed up, in the first paragraph of p.
27, adjusted in my reduced-size photo-copy - I should have sent them
a whole re-written page, rather than just a note about my
post-submission change).
As usually happens after actual publication, I regret that a
number of subsequent insights couldn't have been included, but these
than become the seed for the "next" article.
Foremost among these is further clarification of the pivotal
importance of Mary's traditionally held prerogative and title of
"Mediatrix of All Grace" - that regardless of whether or not we
mystically, subjectively, experience Mary's presence before us, with
us, or at our side, etc., she, as Mediatrix of All Grace, building
on nature, must necessarily be present with and to us, objectively
and personally - whether through her beatific vision of God in
heaven, or physically in her body assumed into heaven through which
she now returns to earth - in order that she may know "first hand"
the nature, or natural conditions of our soul and faculties and
circumstances into which grace is to be infused, within which it is
to operate, and upon which it is to build, that she may more
effectively mediate it, in love.
The importance of this is that if Mary is Mediatrix of ALL
Grace, she must be present through her discernment and action at
EVERY PLACE grace is distributed - whether through the Eucharist and
other sacraments as primary channels, or through the least
sacramentally blest object, such as a flower.
The beauty of this is that by sacramentally blessing any
flower, or bouquet, strewing, planting, clump, garden, colony or
field of flowers - with Holy Water and/or the Sign of the Cross, or
through liturgical or priestly blessing ritual - we have "created"
new blest objects or channels of grace, such that Mary, as Mediatrix
of All Grace, must necessarily become present to us as we have
recourse to them as such objects in praise and thanksgiving, or in
our needs for sanctifying and actual grace.
This sanctification of objects as channels of grace, through
sacramental blessing, has almost fallen into neglect with the
contemporary focus on blessing them as a means of "protection" or
"luck". We are called upon to restore and extend the "positive",
sanctifying, use of sacramental blessings from the use holy water in
entrance fonts and processions, and of blest Rosary beads, to
objects in general - for which flowers and gardens are a fitting
beginning. The sanctification dimension of our Mary's Gardens
Apostolate.
We regard and bless flowers and gardens as religious objects
and places that, in emulation of Mary, we may become (more) filled
with and moved by grace; and that we may heighten our sense of her
grace-mediating presence.
A beautiful instance of the fullness of such sacramentality is
Mary's appearence to the shepherd children at La Salette at the very
place where they had arranged some picked wildflowers, with some
stones (of the heavenly city), as a little "parardise".
From pondering this I have come to have a better appreciation
of the deeper significance of such flower symbols as "Eyes of Mary",
"Our Lady's Mantle" and "Mary's Hand of Pity", etc.; and also of her
titles of "Our Lady of Good Counsel", "Our Lady of Perpetual Help",
"Our Mother of Consolation" - all of which presume her presence with
us, and dispose us to believe in, and perhaps receive the gift of
experiencing, this presence, with consequent heightened recourse to
her for nurturing, counsel, intercession and mediation, with
resulting heightened infusion of grace into the world for salvation,
the Peacable and Just Kingdom, and the pleuromic, eternal, New
Heaven and New Earth. (I should have included Mary's titles also of
Counselor and Helper at the end of my article.)
It seems to me it is not generally appreciated that if there
had been no original (and subsequent) sin, all our philosophy,
culture, science, technology and cities would have been developed as
a continual, direct, building of Heaven ON Earth, in a
world-expanded Eden - instead of the post-Fall "parallel",
invisible, building of a separated Heaven, through our spiritual
intentions and acts, for eventual descending reunion with and
transformation of earth. Through our building of earthly cities, air
and space travel, TV sets, computers, etc. we do have imperfect
mirrorings of what is being built in heaven, which gives us hope,
and reassures us in our faith in the culminative New Heaven and New
Earth, for which we pray "Thy Kingdom Come".
I would therefore hope for the early dogmatic definition of
Mary by the Church as "Mediatrix of All Grace", which I believe Pope
Pius XII, at the time of the definition of Mary's Assumption Body
and Soul into Heaven (1950?), stated "was not yet ripe in the mind
of the Church", although solidly rooted in ancient Tradition.
Clearly, Mary's bodily existence in heaven, and her therefore
"real" ( rather than visionary, as in the case of angels and saints)
appearances on earth, serve to dispose us more readily to accept
rationally, and therefore actually through grace, her presence with
us, including her immediacy of presence through our recourse to
sacramentally blest flowers and other religious objects.
The other day it struck me how for so many years I turned to
blest flowers as a means towards rising spiritually to heaven, and
now I look to them most fervently as religious means for effectively
beseeching Mary's heightened mediation and distribution of
sanctifying, transforming, grace on earth. "Through Mary, through
her flowers".
A major impediment to acceptance of Mary's prerogative of
Mediatrix of All Grace is the widespread, secular, non-acceptance of
grace itself, nor of the existence of God, and therefore of its
mediation or distribution by any means or person, including Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. It's only when we believe in God, in the
Trinity, in the Incarnation and in Grace, and search scripture,
history and reason for how God distributes grace, that we come to
understand that God has deigned to distribute it all through Mary,
and that this distribution is heightened through our recourse to
Mary, Mediatrix, in accordance with, and in honor of, His Divine
Plan.
And, always, we have Paul's reassurance that (even in this
secular age), "Where sin abounds, there also does grace even more
abound."
Brother,
Could you give me some idea of what is going on with the Knock
Mary Garden?
I have not received any copies of the second printing of "The
Knock Mary Garden", which Tom Neary wrote to me over a year ago he
was revising to reprint, and towards which I made a second financial
contribution. I wrote Tom directly about this a couple of months
ago, mentioning that an article was about to be published and that
people might be writing for copies of the booklet, but I haven't
heard from him yet. I of course appreciate the magnitude of his
many responsiblilites as Chief Steward of Knock, but I dearly hope
the reprinting will come about in good time. I hope a photo of the
new statue, and the tubs of plants at it, will be included in place
of the older photo. I have not sent any copies of the May-June
QUEEN to Knock, leaving the mode of distribution in Ireland and at
Knock up to you. (To this end, could you comfirm where I should
have the quantity of QUEEN issues sent to you at this time?)
On June 22nd we made a day trip to Woods Hole, during which I
had an opportunity to pay a visit to the Garden of Our Lady. I
found it excellently groomed. Notable flowers in bloom were the
climbing rose around the pole supporting the planting plan shelter,
huge clematis blooms at the arbor (I wonder if they will continue
through the summer as the accompanying morning glories come into
bloom), and a beautiful rose bush at the figure of St. Joseph in the
south garden. Bonnie's Madonna Lilies were in good growth and
should bloom within the next several weeks. At noon I prayed the
Angelus on hearing the Tower bells from our house. The Garden takes
on added dignity now - enhanced by your article - as the "Mother
garden", for Knock.
With all best wishes, Brother, for a healthy and fruitful
summer, I remain, as always, with joy in the joint publication of
our articles, your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
July 31, 1989
Ignatius of Loyola
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of July 5th from Clare, telling of
your enjoyable time there, visiting relations and friends. I hope
those close to you have a just appreciation of your Mary Garden work
and the Knock Mary Garden, and that you are to have the resulting
spiritial communion with them in this regard.
Even though Ed and Bonnie, and many others who contributed
profoundly, have passed on, R.I.P., there are still a number of
persons around from the earlier days of Mary's Gardens who have a
good appreciation of this work, along with you and Jane - which is
highly important to me in terms of our longing for spiritual
communion on earth, even though there may not be regular actual
communication and visits.
I have checked with the post office regarding the air shipment
of the box of "100" QUEENS to you in Ballinrobe, and find that there
are no requirements of customs declarations or other formalities,
and I expect to get them off to you in the next day or so.
I will also send two dozen copies of the original reduced-size
leaflet, like the one I sent you. This was a "rough" original
paste-up for size, and I hope to have more professional copies later
- but this may be much later, due to pressures etc..
I hope these will reach you in time for your stay at Knock from
the 15th to the 22nd of August for the National Novena. (I still
haven't heard from Tom Neary as to the status of the reprints of
your booklet, or received a copy of the most recent Knock Shrine
Annual which I requested).
I am pleased you think well of your QUEEN article, in published
format. It always takes me several months and a hundred readings or
so of my own articles before I can "unwind" enough to emulate some
sort of objectivity about them; but the "dust has settled" now
around my "Presence" article, as published - foreshortenings, errors
and all - and I am beginning to have a peaceful and joyous feeling
about it. I hope the two articles will make a significant
contribution to the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Garden movement
generally; to extended appreciation of the Knock National Irish Mary
Garden; and to world Marian spirituality - for Salvation and
Kingdom.
We recently watched a re-broadcast of the british TV
documentary film, Madonna of Medjugorge, and I am pained about all
the associated controversy.
"Only a wicked and faithless age requires a sign"; and even
then only the test of time can discern what is a true sign.
As St. Louis de Montfort points out, true devotion to Mary is
interior. Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, is present to us everywhere,
wherever grace is distributed. A spiritual beauty of the Flowers of
Our Lady and Mary Gardens is that our very perception of the
religious meanings, names and symbolisms of flowers leads to our
having them sacramental blessed as religious objects by a priest -
with Holy Water of them and the Sign of the Cross. Thus blest as
objects or means of actual graces, they, as it were, call Mary down
to them and us as Mediatrix of these graces - as she came to the
little rock and flower "Paradise" created by the child shepherds of
La Salette.
I have become much more aware of which words of our traditional
Marian prayers address Mary in Heaven, and which address her at our
side.
It is because true Mary Garden devotion is interior that we
discover ever new symbolisms, meanings and significances
"exteriorly" of her flowers.
You may recall that in our original, 1951, two-fold leaflet
enclosed with "Our Lady's Garden" seed kit, Ed McTague wrote, under
"Inspiration":
"Our Lady's Garden' (seed kit)...is an appeal to the
heart. May it be that within your interior life the
garden blossoms spiritually...."
Even a visit to a shrine of Our Lady can become an exterior
devotion; but the continuity of a Mary Garden requires sustenance
from an interior devotion of which it is the expression. May there
be interior Mary Gardeners at Knock - and throughout the face of the
earth - until the end of time!
Pressures have prevented me from spending any time in Woods
Hole in July, and the outlook isn't much better for August -
although the attic of our house is now repaired and painted in
readiness for the proper organization of the stored Mary's Gardens
archives and materials for working access. So my own Mary Gardening
has been very much interiorly contained.
Today is the 59th anniversary of the original blessing of St.
Joseph's Angelus Tower - two years before Mrs. Lillie planted the
initial Mary Garden.
I do hope, Brother, that your coming novena visit to Knock will
afford an opportunity for you to have inspirational contacts with
others at the Garden. The national character of the Garden has a
special concreteness to it which I hope will contribute to broader
knowledge of it - in turn leading to deeper interior appreciation of
its spiritual riches.
With all prayerful best wishes, I remain, Brother, as always,
your friend,
Sincerely, in Jesus and Mary,
+
Boston, MA
September 7, 1989
Dear Brother Seàn,
This letter is started as I have a few free moments after
packing for an air trip to Philadelphia for a week this afternoon.
I received your letter of August 26th stating that the copies
of QUEEN had arrived OK, and I'm glad you had them at hand for the
time of the Assumption novena at Knock.
Also, the copy of the Knock Annual and the summer Bulletin, for
which I thank you. I was especially pleased to see the mention of
the Mary Garden in the Bulletin, as an indication that the "new
management" is "behind" the Garden. The mention of contributions of
plants made to the Garden has a sort of new dimension to it - sort
of like lighting a candle for Our Lady. Perhaps friends and
pilgrims from the various counties will in time take on the project
of contributing sustaining and improvement plants native to their
counties. I recall that in my own Mary Gardens through the years I
was always on the lookout for magnificent specimens which I could
add to the garden. One of the joys was checking over the garden
when the spring growth each year to see what plants were coming up
OK and which ones needed replacing.
I hope, Brother, that some time you can send me some little
anecdotes about the Knock Mary Garden : the "little" things that
happen, and special things people have said, etc.. Perhaps you
could ruminate over these things with a tape recorder some time.
I think I'll close this letter now, rather than add to it
later.
With prayerful best wished for the fall season, I remain, as
always,
Sincerely yours, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
December 20, 1989
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thanks for you letter and Christmas greetings of November 24th
which I picked up in Boston last week.
I am writing from my home in Pennsylvania, where we expect to
be spending Christmas. We have had some trouble with the heat here,
which I am attending to today, and I am taking this opportunity,
while the work is going on, to write you - as it has been a very
busy Fall and I just haven't had the time for the uninterrupted
recollection which I like to put into a letter.
I just finished the one hour drive up from Philadelphia, with a
clear, bright December sun glistening from the light snow cover of
the countryside - which put me in reflective mode.
The Mary Garden Prayer continues to have much unction for me -
summing up, as it does, my life and work, in religious context.
Since the changes I made a year ago, I have made only one further
revision, adding "re-" to the salutation to St. Fiacre:
"St. Fiacre, re-opener of the world to the outpouring of Divine
love through gardens and gardening".
This, for me, quickens recollection that in the primordial
original Creation, grace flowed to Adam and Eve, through Nature, the
Garden of Eden, so that St. Fiacre's work was actually one of
restoration, rather than some sort of innovation - now that in the
Redemptive ordering of things grace re-flows through all Nature
again, by way of the Cross and Sacraments.
My own mode is increasingly one of living in Heaven on earth.
Not only when reflecting on flower symbols, but when, for example,
tasting the flavors of foods, etc., I am ever appreciative that this
is a manifestation and sharing of God's goodness. "Taste of the
Lord, for he is sweet", applies not only to the Eucharistic species
but to all foods (although of course in a different and
participatory mode). All Creation is our interface with God. With
the faithful in the Caribbean I peal my breakfast banana in four
peals, praying, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit."
Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square is my current focal symbol or
reality of Heaven. My view of Boston is a mile or so from the
center of the city, and I typically see it as I cross one of the
bridges to Cambridge, or approach it driving in on the elevated
turnpike - so that it represents, as it were, the Heavenly City
gleaming in the setting sun "over there". But my sense of
Rittenhouse Square is more that I am within the interior of the
Heavenly City, in a "New Paradise of Eden" - a special sort of
"Garden Enclosed", surrounded by 30-story buildings on all sides (in
one of which is our Philadelphia home).
This is within several blocks of where my parents were living,
on Delancey Place, when I was born; and my first impressions as an
infant no doubt included the town houses of the area, with their
many trees along the streets. Some months later my parents moved to
the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia (a "suburb within the
city"), and while I was drawn to that area in 1948, establishing my
home there, it wasn't until many years later that my mother told me
she and my father had lived in Chestnut Hill, also, after Delancey
Place. Subsequently they moved to a 20 acre farm, "Spring Valley
Farm", in the suburb of Huntingdon Valley, where I grew up and which
was my home for some 25 years - where I spent much of my time as a
boy around the ponds and stream: catching frogs, building little
stone and earth dams etc..
I have been looking for some misplaced documents regarding my
mother's parents and grandparents, and when we were discussing this
the other day with our daughter, she said she recalled when reading
them that my Mother's Grandfather emigrated to the United States
from your County Clare. The family name was Gallagher. (This is my
daughter who delivered some Flowers of Our Lady color slides to
Dublin for you back around 1972 or 1973.)
Sincerely, in Our Lady
And, what's new at Knock?
+
Boston, MA
January 10, 1990
Dear Brother Seàn,
Further, with respect to "heaven on earth", I have recently
come to a better understanding of the importance of appreciation.
While we can reason that things must have been created, and that
there must have been a First Cause and Prime Mover - as an
"argument" for the existence of God - it is through direct
experience and appreciation of the goodness, beauty and truth of
things that we come to have experience of God, and his Goodness,
Beauty and Truth.
We are drawn to flowers initially by their beauty as God's
creatures, showing forth and sharing his beauty, through which we
are drawn affectively to love of the beauty of God in heaven. Then
in reflecting in the Mary Garden on the flower symbols of the
revealed truths of Mary's life and mysteries, we we are drawn
contemplatively, and through mystical lllumination, to union with
God, and thus to responiveness to his graced promptings for
redemptive and kingdomal action.
Thus, I have come to understand more fully the distinction
between the initial experience of the beauty of flowers, which first
draws the beholder to them and to the beauty of God; and then their
illuminative symbolism which leads to unitive embrace of the divine
truths of revelation.
Sincerely in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
March 17, 1990
St. Patrick
Dear Brother Sean,
Brother, now here it is, March, and St. Patrick's day. My
prayerful St. Patrick's Day greetings to you.
I've lost the particular continuity of the thoughts I was
endeavoring to share with you, so I'll pick up from the present
time.
I was in Boston for Candlemas and gave my accustomed close
scrutiny of the neighborhood snowdrop patch. Although there was an
unseasonably warm January in the East Coast, as there was an
unseasonably cold December, the moisture was only average, once
again they "almost made it" - displaying "drops" buds for Candlemas,
for bloom a few days later. The snowdrops in front of our house in
Pennsylvania receive little sun, and always bloom in March. I
finally discovered some snowdrop plantings in Center City
Philadelphia, on the grounds of an Episcopal church, but I only
found them - in bloom - in late February, so I don't know how they
did for Candlemas. If I'm in Philadelphia around Candlemas next
year, God willing, I'll check them closely.
Mid-March has been truly extraordinaru in the U.S. East coast,
with a number of days in the 80's - bringing out fruit blossoms
almost a month early.
An effort has been made to restore the grounds of Rittenhouse
Square in Philadelphia - new walks, grass and flower beds - thus
enhancing this current symbol, for me, of the earthly-heavenly
Paradise. Also, a new florist opened here with the name, most
appropriate to our work, of "Thoughts in Bloom". The original idea
was to have little paper messages inserted in the buds, like a
Chinese fortune cookie, which would pop out when they bloomed, but
the concept soon changed from this gimmick to the deeper concept of
the symbolical expression by flowers of thoughts and feelings. This
is my little providential "surprise" for the current period.
Speaking of "surprises", the little "Blesser" icon at the head
of this letter is the graphic interface for a utility program I
recently came across and have been using on the Macintosh computer.
Graphic interfaces were popularly introduced into computing in
1985 with the advent of the Apple Macintosh. (We attended the
public introduction in Boston, and were able to obtain a low serial
number "100 hour Mac" - within 100 hours of the original press
announcement in San Francisco - from a dealer prior to this
introduction, and have been "growing" with the Mac ever since.)
The graphical interface, initially developed by the Xerox
Corporation, permits the general control of a computer, and the
opening and closing of programs, through the use of a little hand
roller device, or "mouse", which when moved on the desk or table on
which the computer rests causes a little arrow "cursor" to move
vertically and horizontally on the computer screen. When the
pointer is positioned over the icon for a computer program or
utility and a button on the mouse is pressed this activates the
related program or function in the computer memory - instead of
activation, as previously, by entry of an alphanumeric code sequence
using the computer keyboard.
The controling program for a computer, which manages all the
other programs, utilities and files, is called the "Operating
System". With the rapid advancement of technology, computer
operation can be updated through the installation of new Operating
Systems from time to time (rather than having to obtain a new
computer each time). This introduces the need to have several
operating system versions available in computer "memory" so you can
move back and forth between them, according the the needs of the
various "application" programs you are using (word processors,
numerical spreadsheets, data bases, graphics programs, etc.). So
Apple Computer introduced the concept of calling the activated
operating system the "blest" system. The "Blesser" program enables
you, after you click on its icon, to select which operating system
is "blest" at any given time.
Obviously, the above icon also serves as a reminder or
quickener for the prayerful offering of one's computing work, like
entering the sign of the cross at the top of a page, etc. Anyway,
I thought I'd put it at the head of this letter, as I have
previously used flower symbols, in case you were't familiar with it.
Sincerely, in Our Lady
+
Boston, MA
March 25, 1990
Annunciation
Dear Brother Seàn,
Here it is, that so-beloved Mary's Gardens anniversary of Ed's
Birthday, and of the dedication and blessing of Bonnie's Mary's
Solar Greenhouse.
The Annunciation, as always, remains for me "the" key Marian
Feast.
What seems to be needed today is a fuller understanding and
appreciation that our ultimate, historical, religious task and
calling are for the renewal of the face of the earth, and the
particlar, unique, ordained, potential contributions of each and
every one of us to this as instruments of the renewing Holy Spirit -
whether of stewardship, reparation or re-creation.
Traditionally the Church has ever prayed for "Thy Kingdom
Come...", "Come, Holy Spirit...", etc., and the essence of the
Ignation renewal was electional spiritual discernment for our
Kingdomal actions; yet there is such massive excitement in secular
and preternatural religious worlds about the "discovery" of
spiritual "channeling" etc.. The Sacraments and sacramentals of the
Church, and ascetical openness to the Holy Spirit have been so
widely recognized as the true, divinely established channels of
grace; yet this is disregarded, and all sorts of bizarre channels
are sought instead, and reported with excitement in lecture hall,
books, TV, etc. - as in the much publicized instance in the U. S.,
for example, of movie actress Shirley McClain.
Then there are all the people who say they accept the
institution of the Church, except that it really hasn't been
properly understood up until now, and the real truth about the
Church is such and such.
To me there is a big difference between (1) those who are
seeking the truth, and, while they haven't received the grace of
conversion to the Church, are open to it and discover all sorts of
particular truths which enrich the understanding and mission of the
Universal Church, and (2) those who are ex- or anti-Catholic and
come up with supposed "truths" which maintain explicitly or
implicitly that the Church and its tradition are in error or are in
erroneous perception of the "real" Catholic truth.
An instance of the latter which recently came to my attention
was a book on the Secret of Fatima, which barely mentioned the basic
Fatima call to reparation, devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart,
fidelity to the duties of one's state of life, praying the Rosary
for world peace, etc.; and instead, dwelt on supposed "inside"
information as to the contents of the secret "messages" received
following the Fatima appearance.
All of Mary's appearances have, I believe, involved some sort
of private or "secret" message - showing Mary's motherly concern,
for the particular person she was appearing to, as Mother of each
one of us as well as of all of us and the Church; for the spiritual
needs of the particular person or persons to whom she is appearing,
or to their bishop or to the Pope, etc.. But this has always
augmented her general message, which is what is important for us
all.
(Among the further objectionable assertions of the book was one
that it wasn't really Mary who appeared at Fatima, and elsewhere,
but the "angel of Mary", "Mary's angel of light" - implicitly
refuting the Assumption and Mary's motherly presence with us, etc.,
and thus, gnostically, the divine importance of Creation, and Mary's
Queenship of earth)
This disregard for Mary's basic message of return to morality
and to the sacraments, and of reparation, praying the Rosary etc. -
for conversion, Church and Kingdom - has led also, at least in my
perception (and I follow the media pretty regularly and closely), to
an utter lack of appreciation, or at least of secular public
acknowledgement, of the connection between the marvellous spiritual
changes which have taken place in recent months in the Soviet Union,
eastern Europe and elsewhere (which are clearly incapable of merely
social, political, economic or psychological explanation and
understanding, although these factors are, of course, involved) and
the prayers and reparations of the Church for world conversion and
peace, keynoted by Our Lady's message at Fatima.
More than this, I believe that renewed appreciation of openness
to the graced electional consolations, promptings and callings of
the Holy Spirit as the unique and only true means to world peace
(and prosperity and conversion) will move many to seek for guidance
and a "role model" for such openness and responsiveness; and that
this in turn will lead to renewed appreciation and embrace of Mary.
Once openness, attunement and response to divine grace for its
fruitful electional channeling and instrumentation is sought, we
gain a renewed appreciation of the utter immaculateness and purity
of Mary as precondition for her own openness, attunement and full
obedient responsiveness to the calling and grace of the divine
maternity.
If we are to be open, attuned, elective and responsive to our
own callings in grace and providence to the work of the Kingdom, we
come to be appreciative of Mary's fullness of sanctifying and actual
grace as our inspiration, example and model for emulation. We who
are to be instruments of grace turn to Mary, full of grace.
Also, just as we become converted to the Church because we
recognize that a loving, purposeful, creating and providing heavenly
Father would not leave us without ready access to a universally
available source of truth, moral law and grace - which the Church
uniquely claims to be and is - so do we become converted to Mary out
of the derivative recognition that as provider of actional
electional graces, God would not leave us without an ever-present,
universal, mediator, distributor and channel of these graces - which
is uniquely Mary, our Mother of Perpetual Help, our Mother of Good
Counsel, our Mother of Consolation, and the Seat of Wisdom - who not
only mediates and counsels but intercedes for us, as well.
While we are able to find salvation and heaven through the
truth, moral/ascetic teaching and sacramental grace of the Church,
we need the presence and immediatacy of Mary for our attunement to
and channeling and instrumentation of the actual graces of earthly
renewal. We can go to the library for Catholic truth, and to the
local parish priest for instruction and the sacraments, but it is
Mary who is with us "on location" in our life in our life and work
in the world, interceding for and mediating the needed graces and
counseling the actions of renewal for each moment.
Mary, full of grace, is not only the treasury and storehouse of
grace; she is also their distributrix who, as they pass through her
hands, discerns them and thus is able to counsel us in full openess
and responsiveness to them.
Thus, Mary as unique petitioner, intercessor, mediatrix,
distributrix and counselor of the actual graces through the
channeling and instrumentation of which we are to carry forward the
renewal of the face of the earth, and thus the coming of the New
Heaven and Earth, is uniquely the Queen of Earth, as she is the
Queen of Heaven.
Perhaps I will be able to clarify these thoughts in a article
soon, Brother, but here they are in their raw spontaniety - arising
from my continuous ruminatation on ways of better setting forth the
warrant of our Mary's Gardens work, which I feel so intuitively.
St Louis de Montfort in writing his "True Devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary" wrote at a time of declining devotion to Mary,
so that he focused on "false" devotion to Mary, which was
"exterior", "inconstant", "interested", etc., as distinguished from
"true" devotion, which was "interior", "simple", "tender", etc.,
such that "of Mary there is never enough" exteriorly, and thus she
is sought everywhere as in flowers etc.
In our era there is little false devotion to Mary - just false
interpretation and no devotion at all in so many domains. However,
once the importance to the Peaceable Kingdom and to the New Heaven
and New Earth of Mary's universal mediation and distribution of
grace is re-appreciated (and a dogmatic definiion of Mary as
Mediatrix of All Grace is proclaimed - now "not yet ripe in the mind
of the Church" as Pope Pius XII said in 1950 (?) in proclaiming the
dogma of the Assumption), then Mary will be re-embraced interiorly
and once again sought everywhere universally, as in flowers. I see
as an important part of our work the preservation of the rich
medieval tradition of the Flowers of Our Lady, to have them in
readiness when this new era dawns.
With all prayerful best wishes to you, Brother, for the Easter
glories, and in the hope this finds you well, I remain, as always,
Sincerely yours in Jesus and Mary,
P.S.
Marvellous news about the monastic Mary Garden in the shape of
Ireland.
I'm happy you were able to find persons responsive to carrying
out your concept of the Irish Mary Garden more fully.
I hope you can obtain some photos for me.
+
Boston, MA
May 13, 1990
Dear Brother Seàn,
This Spring I am able to tell you of two new public Mary Garden
projects in the U.S.
One is at Carroll House at St. Mary's Church, Annapolis,
Maryland, where a parishioner, Nan Sears has, with her pastor's
approval, formed a Mary Garden Society to plant a Mary Garden on a
beautiful quadrangle adjacent to this 'Historic Landmark'.
She has been Mary-Gardening since 1959, when she designed her
first home Mary Garden, in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She moved to
Annapolis two years ago.
Jane McLaughlin has been in correspondence with her for several
years about the proposed Carroll House Mary Garden which now, this
year, has become a reality. The initial planting has been made, and
a focal figure of the Blessed Mother and Child is being carved of
Laurentian pink granite in Vermont.
At Jane's suggestion she has written to me requesting further
printed matter beyond the article reprints and plans Jane has at
hand in Woods Hole.
She writes, "How I wish you could visit us sometime and see the
results - of love, faith, a great deal of help and inspiration from
the Blessed Mother, and hard work! Our Garden is very special - we
even have a mother duck sitting on her eggs in the crotch of a crepe
myrtle tree! . . . You have probably sensed my enthusiasm and love
for this devotion to Mary . . ."
Her spirit and letter are very reminescent of those of Bonnie,
and it is a profound joy to learn of her love and work, and of her
Carroll House initiative - for which she appears preeminently
suited. Join with me in praying for a marvellous fruition of her
work. I of course sent her a copy of your Knock Mary Garden
booklet, and told her about the Garden at Ballintubber Abbey -
suggesting that she consider the Carroll House Garden as a potential
U.S. National Mary Garden. As you know, Bishop Carroll was the
first U.S. Catholic bishop, and thus a founding father of the U.S.
Church. In a book Bonnie sent me, "Mary, U.S.A.", there are
extensive references to Bishop Carroll, making prominent mention of
his constant recourse to Mary in his founding work.
I have suggested to Nan Sears that I could write a
photo-illustrated article about the Bishop Carroll Mary Garden -
similar to the articles I have written about Bonnie's, your and
Jane's work. This would provide an opportunity to develop the
concept of a U.S. National Mary Garden, and also to make note of
Bishop Carroll's recourse to Mary - hence the appropriateness of the
Mary Garden at his landmark.
I also told her about the mother rabbit who raised two babies
in a nest under some thyme Bonnie had sent me, next to the Seat of
Wisdom statue in my second home Mary Garden; and about the birds who
wove a nest around the white Hummel Madonna and Child in the wayside
shrine by the pool of my first.
The other project is one under consideration by Father Tom
Flynn, of St. Clarence Church, N. Olmstead, Ohio, who wishes to
plant a Mary Garden around the "Mass Rock" placed on the grounds of
this new church. He was encouraged in this by Martin Henry, of
Rockland, Massachusetts, who just recently read our Knock Mary
Garden articles in the May-June, 1989 QUEEN.
Actually this is the only direct response I have had personally
to these articles, as the indicated action would be to write to
Knock. Father and John were eager to get going quickly, so they
went to some lengths to locate my phone number. I'll let you know
if this project actually materializes. In any case, here is a
concrete instance of the Knock Garden inspiring a parish Mary Garden
in the U.S..
Nan Sears' letter has served to requicken my appreciation of
the simple, childlike, tender, constant, interior devotion to Mary
which St. Louis de Montfort discerns to be at the heart of true
devotion to Our Lady - as distinct from the devotional practices
which arise from, express and are sustained by interior devotion,
but which without the sustenance of this interior devotion may
regress to a devotion which is "external", "scrupulous", "critical",
"inconstant" and/or "hypocritical", etc...
This was the "state of the faith" in St. Louis de Montfort's
era, when there were still a Catholic culture, and many external
practices of devotion to Mary. In our era it's more a question of
secular humanism and atheism which question any sort of faith; or of
"cultural Catholicism" - so that our faith itself is in question,
rather than the mode of devotion to Our Lady. And so many writings
about Our Lady are "psychological" studies which endeavor to account
for (and dismiss) the devotion to Mary which formerly existed, as
psychological rather than spiritual.
However, the observations of St. Louis de Montfort have
certainly been corroborated with respect to Mary-Gardening, as an
"external" Marian devotion. Through the years there have been so
many instances where there has been enthusiasm about the external
idea of a Mary Garden, but a lack of the tender internal devotion to
Mary to sustain it. Or there has been no particular interest in the
Mary Garden because Marian devotion is "defined" in terms of several
current exterior Marian devotional pracices.
This was made clear to us early in our work by the persons who
said to Ed McTague, of the Mary Garden, "Where did you get this
stuff?"; "I don't need this" etc.. On the other hand, as St. Louis
points out, where there is a vital interior devotion to Mary, then
"of Mary there is never enough", externally - so that there can't be
enough Marian churches, cathedrals, cities, poems, paintings,
gardens, flowers, etc..
Looking back I can see that while I had the gift of an utter
interior devotion to Mary from the time of my conversion, and while
for me "of Mary there was never enough" so that I eagerly responded
to the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady, I incorrectly believed that
others could be persuaded to start Mary Gardens through "arguments"
from the logic of theology and tradition, rather than understanding
that what was to be sought out and appealed to were those who had a
tender, loving, interior devotion to Mary, who would find in the
Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens a beautiful and fresh way of
expressing it. This of course was Bonnie's way of spreading the
Mary Garden which, as we have corresponded about before, shone
through her shortest letters and almost her very handwriting.
On the other hand, we are to be "wise as serpents" as well as
"gentle as doves", so that the theological, historical and research
aspects of our work are of integral importance. True devotion to
Mary stems from its interior roots, but is culminated in its
external expression. "God created the world to show forth and share
his goodness." We are not to rest with faith and salvation, but are
to act and work for the building of God's Kingdom. Somebody proposed
that, in terms of its founding and building, Ed was the soul of
Mary's Gardens, I was its mind, and Bonnie was its heart.
I am awed by Ed McTague's lines in the leaflet of our original,
1951, Garden of Our Lady seed kit:
"Mindful of Tradition and the teaching, Mary's Gardens
is an act of faith. In the first sense of the term 'Our
Lady's Garden', as we employ it, the package which you
receive of the postman is meant. That 'Garden' is an
appeal to the heart. May it be that within your interior
life the garden blossoms spiritually. Foliage, buds,
blooms come of God's creatures, the seeds - these come
of Him, and the steward's tending, in due season and
according to His established order."
Ed used to say that those who responded to the Mary Garden idea
were "those who have a sense for these things". This was true for
certain non-Catholics who had an appreciation for our work, but I
think it is helpful to go further and to discern the full motivation
which arises spontaneously from interior devotion to Mary.
In terms of my own devotion, I have experienced some further
insights I would like to share with you, Brother.
These have to do with the Rosary, the recitation of which has
come to have deeper significance for me with respect to Mary's
ubiquitous presence with us as Mediatrix of All Grace, and in
particular with respect to the sense of this presence as quickened
by her flowers - about which I wrote in QUEEN.
Formerly when I prayed "The Lord is with thee", "Blessed is the
fruit of thy womb, Jesus", and "Pray for us sinners now . . ." I
used to envisage Mary remotely as she was at the Annunciation, or as
she is in Heaven.
The other evening as I was filled with a sense of Mary's
presence within the locus of some sacamentally blest palm fronds in
our living room, and as the prayers of the Rosary came to my lips, I
had the further sense of Jesus' presence there with her in the room,
so that I was praying to her there, with Jesus, just as she and
Jesus were present together, for example, at the Marriage Feast of
Cana, ministering to the immediate personal human needs of the time
and place.
Cana illustrates Mary's motherly initiative in discerning and
interceding for our needs, including material and spiritual needs we
may not as yet be aware of ourselves. Also, Mary's words to the
wine stewards, "Do whatever he tells you" remind us that we are to
be ever attentive to the word of of God which may come to us each
time she intercedes for us.
I rejoiced at the inclusion in the Mary Garden Prayer of the
invocation to:
"St. Rose of Lima to whom the boy Jesus and his Mother
were present in the garden."
It is instructive that the commission of the Inquisition which
investigated St. Rose of Lima concluded that Jesus was indeed
especially present to St. Rose, although the various modes in which
she perceived him to be present (e.g. playing cards with her) were
often given specificity through her faculties (as it is by the
faculties of others).
I recall that in the Catechism, or other instruction in
Catholic faith, mention is made of various ways in which Christ is
with us: in the Sacraments; in Scripture; indwelling in our hearts;
as the Vine onto which we are engrafted as branches; through his
priests; etc.. He is also with us with Mary, Mediatrix and
Distributrix of All Grace - "The Lord is with thee."
Mary is the way in which Jesus came to us originally, at the
Annunciation, and she is (to borrow a word from computer
terminology) the "default" way in which he comes to us now, in the
world, by way of her presence with us.
In one of my articles I made reference to the fact that in
praying the mysteries of the Rosary we saw and meditated on the the
life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary. I now see that in addition
to our going to Jesus through Mary, as she was in Nazarth, etc.,
Jesus comes to us through Mary, as she is present to us at each
moment now. And we testify to this presence of Mary and Jesus with
us, celebrate it, and evoke it in praying the Rosary - "The Lord is
with thee."
Brother, I am mindful that this is your beloved month of May.
May you receive the fullness of its graces through Jesus and Mary -
through whom I remain, as ever,
Sincerely, your friend,
+
Boston, MA
July 8, 1990
Dear Brother Seàn,
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of May 2nd - which arrived after I
wrote you on May 13th.
Yes, I do hope and pray with you for the revision of the Knock
Mary Garden planting according to the full lists and Irish National
Mary Garden plans in the booklet, which you developed at the request
of the late Msgr. Horan.
In writing to Nan Sears about the completion of the St. Mary's
Church and Carroll House Mary Garden in Annapolis I have endeavored
to review for her the essential supports for a well-cared-for and
enduring public Mary Garden, as we have come to understand them
from our forty years of experience.
Among these I included:
- Initially at least one dedicated Mary Gardener with a deep
inner piety an d love for God, Our Lady, the Church and the building
of God's Kingdom - which h e or she wishes to express and share with
others in the special way afforded by the Flowers of Our Lady and
Mary-Gardening.
- A garden site with a prominent focal sculpture, grotto,
walled raised bed(s), or other "monumental" object (e.g. a fountain,
the Woods Hole Angelus Tower, a "Mass rock", etc.) which gives
substance and permanence to the garden site above and beyond its
location at Shrine, church, school, hospital, etc.
- Freedom (permission of administrative authorities),
responsibility, and available time, means and assistance to make
the initial garden design, plant selection and procurement, and
practical digging, soil preparation and planting according to Mary
Garden practice - and to undertake faithful ongoing watering,
trimming, edging and other tasks of garden stewardship.
- Solicitation of contributions of plants, funds and work
materially necess ary for the Garden planting and maintenance, and,
for the long run, establishment of some sort of fund or trust to
which contributions can be made.
- Attractive plant markers; a plant list and plan for the
Garden for use by visitors as a guide and a momento; and a supply of
leaflets, reprints, booklets , etc. at or nearby the Garden,
providing general background information - with address where people
can write for information and assistance in starting home Mary
Gardens, etc..
- Primary responsibility for perfoming and providing for
ongoing plant and bed watering, cleaning and other maintenance.
- Inspiration and instruction in underlying Marian piety and
doctrine, and the fundamentals of gardening.
- Founding of a self-perpetuating Mary-Garden Society or Guild
of persons to carry on into the immediate and distant future -
rather than relying on instit utional grounds care maintenance; and
who are present at the garden when visitors are likely to come, to
tell them about the Garden personally.
- Provision of a visitors' book for names, addresses, comments,
requests for information, etc.
- Use of the Mary Garden as a setting for special occasions,
such as praying the Rosary, flower ceremonies celebrating Marian
Feast Days, and visits after weddings and baptisms, etc.
- Inclusion of the Mary Garden in garden tours, and in listings
of places to visit in visitors guidebooks, etc.
- Provisions for a log, journal and archives of notes, plans,
articles,book s, photos, tapes, etc. to preserve the details of the
founding, care and events of the Mary Garden, for future
generations. (Teilhard de Chardin notes how the p recise details of
the origins of most things have been lost to this world.)
Even with all the glories of the Knock Mary Garden, the delay
in revising the planting according the final plans serves to
re-emphasize the importance of having the funding and care of
institutional Mary Gardens under the responsibility of a
self-sustaining Guild guild which does not have to "compete" for
institutional budgeting and scheduling. Is there any sort of Mary
Garden Guild, Society or Committee at Knock? I'm sure that with the
magnificence of the Garden and the inspiration of the booklet and
your personal presence, there must be a number of persons living in
the area who would come forward to participate in such a guild. And
I'm sure it would be a relief to the Shrine administration and
stewards to have this responsibility taken up by others.
The "guidelines" for an institutional Mary Garden are just as
important at a world-class shrine as at the smallest parish.
I'll have to write someone in the Philippines to see if any of
those 1954 Marian Year Mary Gardens, of which we have such great
photos, are still being carried forward 36 years later.
Then, "the other side of the coin", as I've also been writing
to Nan, is that of sustaining and deepening the Marian piety and
commitment, of which the Mary Garden is an expression.
What has become increasingly clear to me recently, in this
respect, is the importance - for the world, first of all - of a
full, true devotion to Mary for her divinely ordained and lovingly
undertaken role in the carrying forward of the divine plan of Church
and Kingdom, through her motherly mediation of all graces etc., as
well as for her personal virtues and excellences. And in this we
come to see that Mary Gardening is a microcosim of Creation,
Salvation and Kingdom.
"What is good for Mary-Gardening is good for the world."
This should not be surprising to me, since, as you know, Mary's
Gardens was in fact first conceived and undertaken by Ed McTague and
myself, in our discussions after class, at St. Joseph's College
Institute of Industrial Relations in Philadelphia, precisely as a
microcosim of Church and world.
In fully developed Marian piety - to which we are all called -
our initial grace-inspired love of Mary as person is to be
culminated with a deep love and appreciation of and recourse to her
for her loving acceptance and performance - through her
supernaturally endowed prerogatives - of her divinely established
role, as motherly Counselor, Consoler, Intercessor, and Mediatrix of
all Graces, sa nctifying and actual, in the carring forward of the
Divine Plan of Salvation and Kingdom.
While our sense of Mary's presence with us is beautifully
heightened - simply and directly - by our work with her Flowers and
Garden, it is given further substance by reflection on her
association in Tradition with the Created Wisdom, and by
consideration of the practical implications of the theology of
Heaven, as well as by the fact of her major appearences on earth.
Thus, like the Created Wisdom, we can consider of Mary that, as
in the passage from Proverbs incorporated in the Liturgy of the
Hours for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception:
"The Lord begot me, the firstborn of his ways . . .
When he established the heavens I was there . . .
When he fixed fast the foundations of the earth . . .
Then was I beside him as his craftsman . . .
And I found delight in the sons of men." (8, 22-31)
Similarly, we have the lesson from the liturgy for the Feast of
the Queenship of Our Lady which describes her fervent zeal when in
heaven to be with her children on earth, and her equally fervent
zeal when on earth to be back with God in heaven, such that she
continuously "rushes" back and forth between the two (I don't have
the passage immediately at hand).
From these we are better enabled to appreciate practically and
logistically how Mary, from the eternity and infinity of heaven,
where "a thousand years is but a day", is able to be personally
present, instantly and simultaneously, as it were, in limitless
numbers of places - to each one of us and to the entire Church - as
Mother, Helper, Consoler, Intercessor and Mediatrix.
I recall that in the Summa, St. Thomas examines in detail the
attributes of the angels and souls in heaven in terms something like
"agility", "alacrity", "passibility", etc.; and these of course
apply to Mary's heavenly assumed body as well as to her soul. (The
dogma of the Assumption was proclaimed just as Ed and I were in the
process of founding Mary's Gardens. How I long for the dogmatic
definition of the traditioal doctrine of Mary's Mediation of All
Grace, that Mary's role in the Divine Plan may be more fully
proclaimed, examined and acted upon!)
And while Mary goes many places because she sees that it is
God's directive will, she also goes out of her own loving volition
and of her limitless capacity of being present to us, so that she
comes to us, and wants to come to us, and does come to us, at the
least turning of our hearts towards her in love, spiritual
aspiration and supplication. "Never was it known that anyone who
fled to (her) protection was left unaided." Out of pious love of
Mary comes the fullest recourse to her intercession and mediation
for the building of the Church and God's Kingdom. She comes to us
as Mother for our salvation and perfection, and as Queen and for
God's Kingdom.
In sum, the full expression of our Marian piety, is to
proclaim to the world, in love, the indispensability of turning to
Mary's mediation of the actual graces needed for the renewal of the
face of the earth and the building of the Peaceable Kingdom - for
which our natural and scientific knowledge and love are not enough.
This vision was central to Frances Lillie's original Mary
Garden motivation, as I have endeavored to point out in my articles
about the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady.
(How vividly I remember my one visit with Mrs. Lillie in, 1954!
She had given us her blessing when I spoke to her by phone in 1950
(the call got "past" her sickroom nurses because the long distance
call from Philadelphia was assumed to be from one of her daughters,
who lived in the Philadelphia area), but I had never been able to
visit her when I was in Woods Hole, because of her illness. Then,
in late August of 1954, during one of my Woods Hole visits, Father
Stapleton, Pastor of St. Joseph's at that time, and most supportive
of our work, phoned me and said that the next day was Mrs. Lillie's
birthday, and her daughters thought a visit might cheer her up a bit
- so, would I be able to join them for tea?
I quoted a few things Mrs. Lillie said, in my article, "Mary's
Gardens Research - A Progress Report", but the high point of the
afternoon was when I gave her a little birthday gift of a Swiss
postcard I had just picked up in a local drugstore with a photograph
of a bleeding heart plant, with the european titles of "Coeur de
Marie" and "Frauenhertz". In her humility she replied, "This is for
me?")
In terms of Mary's universal mediation in the building of God's
Kingdom, our plumbing of the depths and ascending to the heights of
the meaning and significance of the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary
Gardens will never be completed until the end of the world. I
recall ten years or so ago running into a family friend I hadn't
seen for a number of years - an artist and scholar who had spent
much time in the Orient - who asked what I was doing. When I told
him I was working on a book on mysticism, he exclaimed, "Mysticim?
What more is there to say about that?" I replied, "There is always
something more to say until the completion of God's Kingdom, until
the mystics complete their work here on earth"; and for that reason
I'm thinking of calling it, "Mystics With Hands" (after a line from
a Daniel Berrigan poem). And for the same reason I feel there is
always something more to be said and done about the Flowers of Our
Lady and Mary Gardens. "Of Mary there is never enough." To Mary
there is never recourse enough.
Practicing what I was preaching, I resumed my full commitment
to Mary's Gardens around that time (1980), as you know - working
closely with Bonnie again, with you, and then with Jane. As a
matter of fact this was necessary to the (hoped for) completion of
the book.
Brother, I hope you are having a relaxed and regenerative
summer after your year's hard work at school. The reinterpretation
of our faith, espcially for the young, is such a task in this
rapidly changing world.
I hope you can give me more particulars about the Ballintrope
Abbey Mary Garden, as this sounds like perhaps the first Mary Garden
of enduring substance at a major monastery, at least to my
knowledge. Obviously the summation I have made, above, of the
necessary supports for a continuing Mary Garden would have a
different application in monastic circumstances, but from the few
historical records we have in any detail of monastic gardens and
gardening (Strabo, St. Gall, etc.) there's clearly some room for
thought and planning here.
We are now into the hot summer period in the northeastern U.S.,
and as always there is so much to do and seemingly so little time in
which to do it. However, my Spring was "made" by Nan's Annapolis
Carroll House Mary Garden initiative - which I consider very special
to the whole sweep of our work, so with that and the Ballintubber
Abbey, I have much to rejoice.
And, as ever, I rejoice at our special communion and
friendship, remaining,
Sincerely yours in Our Lady,
P.S. Much that I have written here distills what I wrote in more
emerging and rambling fashion to Nan, so I am taking the
liberty of sending her a copy of this letter. J.
Could you send me a copy of the 1990 "Knock Shrine Annual"?
+
+
Boston, MA
February 2, 1991
Candlemas
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of December 3rd. I am pleased to
hear you are happy in your new location, and delighted to learn of
the monthly magazine column you will be writing about Mary Gardens.
I hope you will be able to send me copies of the columns, as they
are published.
Yes, the lapse in correspondence has been mine - for which I
apologize. "Where did all the time go?" In your previous letter of
July 18th you mentioned I would be receiving a booklet on the trees,
shrubs etc. at Ballintubber Abbey, to be printed shortly, and I
guess I was kind of waiting for this. Was this perhaps lost in the
mails, or is it still to be printed? I am eager to learn of the
particulars about the Ballintubber Mary Garden, with its planting
plan in the form of a map of Ireland, etc.. This seems to me to be
a major Mary Garden, and perhaps you or I can write something about
for publication with photos in a U.S. magazine. Please send me the
pertinent details so I can have a try at it. Who were the
prime-movers behind the Garden, etc.?
During the Summer and Fall of last year I focused my attention
intently on the Mary Garden at Carroll House, St. Mary's Parish,
Annapolis, Maryland and wrote extenively to Mrs. Nanette Sears who's
initiative in planting it, with the encouragement and assistance
Jane McLaughlin, stimulated a flood of new and deeper insights for
me. It is so providential that Jane is able to sustain the Garden
of Our Lady in Woods Hole, and to answer requests for information -
especially those from Knock and Annapolis! I gave Nan your new
address, in case she might be able to write to you. I believe
writing is difficult for her due to an arthritic hand. I think I
wrote you that she planted her first Mary - Garden in 1957, after
learning of the devotion from Mrs. Nanette Strayer of the Herb
Society of America.
As I wrote you earlier, inspired by Nan's initiative I reviewed
much more exhaustively, for her and her parish committee, the
essentials for sustaining a major Mary Garden through the years; and
also examined in greater theological depth the importance and many
ramifications of the sacramental blessing of garden, flowers and
statuary. I enclose copies of some leaflets and a news article
relative to the Garden. We have made contributions towards the
"Mary of Nazareth" central sculpture, which should be executed about
now, in memorium of Ed and Bonnie as U. S. Mary Garden pioneers. It
is my hope that this garden, adjacent to historic Carroll House,
will come to be regarded as a U. S. National Mary Garden.
I recall that you hoped to explore - during your August visit
for the annual Novena - the possibility of the formation of some
sort of Mary Garden Society at Knock for broader participation in
the support and activities of the Mary Garden and perpetuation of
the popular religious tradition and lore behind it - mindful of the
folklore museum etc. Did any special opportunities open up for you?
Did any new persons come forward? The challenge is how to inspire a
committed interest in the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens among
the young, and successive generations, as you, Jane, Nan and I are
all in our 60s and 70's.
I hope you will keep this in mind in your current column.
I see from the copy of last year's Knock Shrine Annual you
kindly sent me that Anne and her co-workers have planted an
extensive carpet of flowers throughout the entire grounds. This is
an awesome development. Could you tell me something about it?
Also, I see from the change in Anne's last name that she has
evidently married. Could you confirm this for me? I will write to
her again, expressing appreciation for the grounds planting. I
assume you gave her copies of out QUEEN articles. Could you arrange
for me to receive a copy of this year's Knock Shrine Annual?
With the rapid passing of time for me this winter, it seems
only yesterday that I was rejoicing in some Immaculate Conception
rose blooms; and now today Snow Drop spears have appeared (but no
blooms or drops), as another Mary Garden sequence of blooms begins.
I am sure the snowdrops are in bloom at Knock - and also probably at
Annapolis, which is warmer than Philadelphia or Boston - although
perhaps a little "behind", due to the influence of the sea, as at
Woods Hole, and lacking the spring warmth of the Gulf Stream enjoyed
by Ireland.
With all preyerful best wishes for the new year and for your new
work, I remain, as ever,
Sincerely yours, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
March 17, 1991
St. Patrick
Dear Brother Sean,
St. Patrick's Day greetings to you, and thanks for your valued
letter of May 15th, with its answers to my various questions.
I look forward to receiving a copy of the Ballintubber Abbey
plantings booklet when it appears.
Thanks for the information about Ann Hopkins Lavin's marriage,
and about her daughter, Clare. I will write to her in due time
about the general planting, and also send her a copy of the
article, "In Mary's Garden", I wrote about my daughter and the
Flowers of Our Lady.
I enclose a copy of the plant list and planting plan for the
Carroll House Mary Garden which one of the Mary Garden Society
members, Laura Van Geffer, made from the 1988 original. A number
of plants have been added subsequently, such as spring flowering
bulbs. I thought these might have been excluded because of an
initial fidelity to the St. Joseph's Garden of Our Lady planting,
which is and was a summer garden, without spring bulbs, but Nan
explained to me that the plan just showed those plants of the
original spring planting in 1988, and the bulbs planted the
following fall were not included. The plant list for the garden
was developed from the Garden of Our Lady list and Mariana I sent
by Jane in response to Nan's initial inquiry, but is being
continually enlarged. Nan asked me for additional lists of plants
when she first wrote to me a year ago at Jane's suggestion, and the
lists I sent her included copies of your Knock Mary Garden booklet
and our 200 plants list.
Quite a few plants are being added this spring, I believe, and
I will see if I can obtain an updated plan.
Nan wrote me that the 4 ft. focal Garden statue of "Mary of
Nazareth", being hand carved from pink Laurentian granite at a
Vermont stone carving studio, in replication of a casting from the
original 17" model made by the Washington artist, Leo Ferrera, is
expected to be finished this month. Everyone loves the model and
hopes for its faithful reproduction in granite. I have asked for
photos as soon as it is received, and will see that you receive
some. Also, I have requested photos of the Garden with statue, to
use as illustrations for an article I hope to write. Nan has sent
me some photos of individual plant clumps, with their attractive
hand-crafted wooden markers, but I do not have any broader or
over-all garden vistas.
Another member of the parish Mary Garden Society, and an old
friend of Nan's, Anne Duffy, visited Jane and the Garden of Our
Lady this past summer, and the three of them sent me a postcard on
the occasion.
It turns out that Anne Duffy's brother is a priest, Fr. Jim
Duffy, who has been in residence, on and off, since his ordination
in 1960, at Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario, Canada - founded
by the late Eddie and Catherine Dehouke Dougherty.
Anne forwarded to Father Duffy a copy of one of my letters to
Nan in which I quoted from a letter we received from Catherine
Doherty in 1963 expressing appreciation for our work, mentioning
that it was reminiscent of the view of plants and nature she was
taught by her mother in her childhood, about which she wrote in her
book, My Russian Yesterdays. An issue of their magazine,
Restoration, around that time indicated that they were including
some Flowers of Our Lady in their Madonna House plantings, but I
don't know whether they had an actual Mary's Garden.
Father Duffy has now written to Nan asking her to ask me if we
have the original letter, as they would like a full copy for their
archives. It seems that an investigation is being made regarding
the possibility of initiating an examination of Catherine Doherty
as a candidate for sainthood.
From the copy of Father Duffy's letter forwarded to me by Nan,
I noted that he demonstrated an in-depth understanding of our work
as a dimension of the apostolate of the Church, and not just an
interesting custom, etc.. This is important as a corroboration of
what I have been writing to Nan, but it is even more important to
me in that we may gain another active priestly supporter.
Our original supporters such as Frs. Galvin, Dunne, Keane and
Matzuzuski, and also Sister Frances Rose, S.S.J. of Philadelphia,
from whom we have extensive letters, and the priests who were
supportive of Bonnie, have all passed on, and its now pretty much
us and Father Charest of QUEEN, who has been a "rock" throughout
most of our 40 years (March 7th, the old date of the feast of St.
Thomas Aquinas, was the fortieth anniversary of our public
founding, although Ed and I first started with the idea about a
year earlier.)
You appear to have good support from Father Fahey of
Ballintubber, and the priest-editor, Father F. Mac Namara, etc.,
whom you have mentioned, and I assume there are others. Are there
other Irish Mary's Gardens of public visibility, in addition to
Knock and Ballintubber, which have a prospect of perpetuating the
Mary Garden idea and movement in the future? For a long time the
St. Joseph's Garden of Our Lady was the sole such garden in the
U.S., but I now have great hopes for the Carroll House Mary Garden
also, as I have written.
I am currently mulling over some ideas for another article -
hopefully for inclusion in one about the Carroll House Mary's
Garden. Just as Jesus is an intrinsic way to the Trinity, and Mary
to Jesus, I am increasingly convinced that nature and flowers are
an intrinsic, ontological way to Mary. I hope to elucidate this
effectively in my future writings.
This brings you up to date with things here, Brother, and I
will let you know of anything new that develops. As I wrote
previously, I hope you will be able to send me copies of your new
articles.
With all prayerful best wishes for a joyous Easter, I remain,
as always,
Sincerely yours, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
July 22, 1991
Mary Magdalene
Dear Brother Sean,
Thank you for your recent letter, telling of your plans to
make the annual Novena at Knock next month and mentioning your
plans for another pilgrimage to Lourdes and Fatima.
Here, we continue in the mode of patient prayerful expectation
of the arrival and installation of the focal "Mary of Nazareth"
sculpture in the Carroll House Mary's Garden at Annapolis.
The sculpture has been finished in Vermont for some time, but
there have been important details to be worked out for the
transportation of this 5,000 pound granite statue. The concrete
foundation was poured and water piping installed for the fountain
and drain several weeks ago, but there have been problems finding a
rigging crane which can move the statue from the street to the
quadrangle and not crush the parking lot surface with its weight,
etc..
The dedication and blessing, originally scheduled for June
25th, the 125th anniversary of the Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
(St. Mary's is a Redemptorist parish), have now been moved back to
August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption - which is a historically
and liturgical most appropriate day. If this scheduling is kept, I
will write you c/o Knock so you can include some intentions for the
material and spiritial fruitfulness of the Garden and statue with
your other intentions for the Knock novena, starting the same day.
I continue to rejoice when I consider that the new, post
Vatican II, liturgical date for the Feast of the Queenship of Mary
was moved to the octave of the Assumption, August 22nd; and the
Feast of the Visitation to May 31st.
Nan is hoping to incorporate the ancient Assumption Mass and
Blessings for flowers etc. in the ceremony - with "Assumption
Bundles" of (Mary) flowers to be placed before the altar at Mass to
be blest and then taken home for reservation at religious objects.
Hopefully this Mass and blessing would be repeated each year as a
regular parish May's Garden event.
For your more specific information, I enclose a draft I
prepared, at Nan's request, for a leaflet or booklet to be
available for the Carroll House Mary's Garden dedication. I think
it's a little longer than she had in mind, so I don't know whether
they will want to use it all or not. If not, I can develop it
easily into an article, illustrated with photos taken of Mary of
Nazareth, when it is installed.
Bonnie was always especially fond of the native American
Flowers of Our Lady, as you are of the Gaelic Mhuire Flowers, and I
have suggested a focus on these to Nan, as appropriate for this
hopefully "National U.S. Mary's Garden" at Carroll House.
Nan's concept behind the "Garden of the Holy Innocents" was
that of a bed of Mary Flowers to be especially dedicated to the
souls of aborted babies. I suggested the name; that the intention
be enlarged to include all still-born and new-born babies as well;
and that the planting be based on various varieties of daisies "for
innocence". I also suggested that a "Rosary Walk" or "Way" be
established around the Garden (it's large enough), in addition to
"The Rosary" bed of various roses, so that people could walk
through the Garden praying the Stations of the Rosary - but this
was a little too ambitious for Nan's Committee this year, with
everything else that has to be done.
This reminds me to ask whether you were able to make any
headway towards the founding of a custodial Mary's Garden Committee
or Society at Knock - to move towards your revised planting plan
and to heighten interest and participation in and visiting of the
Garden generally. Maybe the Mass blessing of Assumption bundles
could be established as a part of the Novena events, along with a
Queenship crowning of the Garden statue. The Special Assumption
Mass is included in the Roman Rite, and there is a Servite rite for
blessing flowers to be used in crowning Mary's statue. (I enclose
copies of both).
I hope this finds you well, Brother, after the season of
adjustments to your new work.
With all prayerful best wishes, I remain, as always,
Sincerely yours, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
September 8, 1991
Birth of Mary
Dear Brother Seàn,
Since I wrote you on July 22nd, in reply to your letter of May
3lst, the "Mary of Nazareth" sculpture finally arrived, and was
installed, at the Carroll House Mary Garden - on August 1st.
As some time was required for adequate preparation (including
the planting some evergreens as a background), the date of the
dedication and blessing was changed from the feast of the
Assumption on August 15th to today, the feast of the Birth of Mary,
at 4:00 P.M. - from the beginning to the end of the "Lady Days".
I will not be able to attend, but Nan told me Jane may be able
to come down from Woods Hole to Annapolis.
Nan asked me if I could write a leaflet for the dedication,
which I did, per the enclosed 4 p. "Carroll House Mary Garden -
Mary of Nazareth". They have added an artist's drawing of the
statue on the front (which I haven't seen) and a list of donors on
the back.
Since they don't have much in the way of other written
materials specifically about this Garden, I have urged them to
prepare an updated copy of the planting plan and plant list; and
have written "Carroll House Mary Garden - An Historical Note", also
enclosed, of which I sent you an early draft previously, so they
will have something to give persons who want to know more about the
origins the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens. The final,
somewhat revised, version, with flower clip-art and a computer scan
I made from a photo of the model of the statue, is enclosed. I
will send copies to Anne and Tom at Knock and to another 100 people
or so. I also enclose some 1st generation reproduction proofs,
suitable for copying on a good (300 dots per inch resolution) photo
copy machine, in case you would want to have some additional copies
made.
(That reminds me, you mentioned that you might be writing some
articles this past year for the magazine of a priest friend. If
this came to pass, could you send me a set of copies?)
Together with the sculptor, Leo Irrera, Anne is preparing a
leaflet just on the "Mary of Nazareth" statue, of which I will send
you a copy - along with the plan, list, and final version of the
dedication leaflet, when I receive them fr om her.
This is clearly another "mountain peak" event for our Mary's
Garden work, Brother, and I wrote the "History" so that they can
take the immediate opportunity adequately to inform any persons
learning about the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens for the
first time as a result of the dedication, or as visitors through
the months and years.
There is a steady stream of visitors to historic Carroll House
- both Catholic visitors to the area, interested in the origins of
the U. S. Church, and als o general visitors to Annapolis, of which
Carroll House is an official U. S. "historic landmark". Nan wrote
some time ago that "Mary of Nazareth" will be one of the major
pieces of public sculpture in Annapolis, so it will be an
attraction in itself for visitors. The Garden will also be
included on the spring garden tour lists.
I am most pleased and thankful over this most providential
development, Brother, with which I'm sure Frances, Ed, Bonnie, and
all our other heavenly Mary-Gardeners and gardening saints have had
much to do.
The Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady has a historic uniqueness
and exquisite setting and quality which will always make a most
special place in history as it does in my heart. The Carroll House
Mary Garden has a more national setting and accessibility, and a
"built-in" traffic flow. Also, as you probably noted from the 1990
site and planting plan I sent you, it is right next to the Church,
Church Offices, School (both Elementary and High School, with some
1300 students) and Carroll House parking lot, so, while it is a
"Garden Enclosed" - by buildings - it is immediately seen by all
persons as they arrive, and not off to one side.
The school is run by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, whose
convent is near-by, assisted by many lay teachers; and the rectory
is also the location of a monastery residence of the Redemptorist
community, of which St. Mary's Pastor, Father John Murray, C.SS.R.,
is a member. It is the only Parish Church in Annapolis - which is
the location of the U.S. Naval Academy, with students (and
therefore visitors)from all 50 states of the U.S..
Furthermore, John Carroll, the founding bishop of the U. S.
Church had a great devotion to Mary, as I read in the book, "Mary,
U.S.A.", and the Mary Garden is a beautiful tribute to this, so the
Mary Garden ties in integrally with the historic landmark, and
isn't just landscaping or an adjunct.
I am most hopeful as to the contribution this Mary Garden will
make to the world-wide Mary Garden movement, and I have attempted
to put a distillation of all we have learned from other Mary
Gardens - especially from Woods Hole and Knock - into the "History"
leaflet. And the Carroll House Mary Garden should, in turn, create
additional interest in Woods Hole and Knock.
I was talking with Jane on the phone recently (after a
hurricain struck the Woods Hole area - a lot of trees down,
flooding, and power loss, but no major damage to the Garden of Our
Lady, or two our home there), and she told me, "the Garden had a
good year. It has never looked lovelier".
Furthermore the mention of Knock and of the Mhuire flowers,
should do much to interest Irish-Americans in the Flowers of Our
Lady from a historical viewpoint, and to "legitimize" and
"validate" the Carroll House Mary Garden for them. More than this,
I would say that the existence of the Mhuire flowers and the Knock
Mary Garden will be a key to the general acceptance of the Flowers
of Our Lady and Mary Gardens in the U. S..
Also, the words of the blessing ceremony, translated in
English in the Dedication leaflet, which will be given in both
English and Latin by the pastor, Father Murray, as part of the
blessing ceremony, will do much to heighten awareness of the
spiritual efficacy of liturgical blessing of the statue and garden.
I think we have reached, providentially, in the contemporary
Mary Garden Movement what is generally characterized as the "point
of critical mass".
The blessing ceremony will begin in the Church, with the
singing of hymns, etc., and will be attended, ecumenically, by the
clergy from some other Annapolis churches, including the Episcopal
Church. As indicated in the leaflets, the Garden will be formally
dedicated to the intention of Peace - with singing of the beautiful
hymn, "Let There Be Peace".
We have had a week of cooler weather, in the 70's and 80's,
Farenheit, and Nan told me yesterday by phone that the Garden is in
good bloom and has come back from the wilting effect of the summer
heat, from the many days in the 90's. Also, there has been ample
rain this year, so the Garden and ground have been well watered,
for the plants to take advantage of. She has promised to send me
lots of photos, of which I will send you some copies. Many more
parishioners will be present than there would have been during the
August summer vacation period.
Do pray, Brother, that the spiritual potential of this Mary
Garden will be fulfilled abundantly, until the end of time, and for
all eternity. I regard this as both a culmination, and a new
beginning. I have provided Nan with a full set of our literature,
including some copies of your Knock Mary Garden booklet, and have
encouraged her to make photo-copies of the articles for
availability to appropriate persons.
There may be a letter from you waiting for me in Boston (This
is written enroute), and if so I will have it in a few days, and
reply.
Filled with the joy of this special event, to which you and
your work at Knock have contributed so much, I remain, as always,
your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
August 22, 1992
Queenship
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of July 27th.
I was pleased to learn that will be able to complete the
planting of your Mary Garden at Artane this Fall.
Since I last wrote you on June 30th, I have continued in my
focus on rounding out my understanding of the elements necessary to
support the custom of planting Mary Gardens through the years and
centuries - until the end of the world.
In this I have learned much from Jane McLaughlin and Nan
Sears.
Jane will be sending you a copy of her illustrated 18 page
monograph "The Angelus Bell Tower and Mary Garden in Woods Hole",
from the 1992 "Spritsail", publication of the Woods Hole
Contributorship (Historical Society), when a second printing for
larger distribution to non-members is made available.
This in an exhaustive account and documentation of the Woods
Hole Tower and Garden, and represents the "official" public
historical record of this to be preserved for future years -
paralleling Jane's 1982 centennial "History of St.Joseph's Church",
your Irish review of which inspired Msgr. Horan to proceed with the
establishment of the Knock Mary Garden.
Woods Hole is unique in that the prominent and permanent
visibility of the Angelus Tower causes it to stand out in a very
special way. And added to this is the social and professional
prominence of its donor, Frances Crane Lillie and her husband, as
distinguished residents and in connection with the world renowned
Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratories,
Further, anyone who visits the Tower whether or not they have
any previous knowledge of it is made immediately aware of the
adjacent Garden of Our Lady. And the clearly visible "wayside
shrine² wooden shelter displaying the plant list and planting plan
at the entrance to the Garden, and the table of literature about
the Garden placed where you see it right away on entering the door
of the Tower both call attention to the Flowers of Our Lady. And
all of this is maintained by a special trust fund, which makes
possible the engagement a landscaper or gardener to take care of
the Garden professionally, independently of inspired parishioner
commitment to its care out of religious motivation.
During the 1940's, when Mrs. Lllie was invalided, it was
possible for the maintenance of the plants called for in the
planting plan to lapse because the wooden shelter for the Planting
Plan and List were washed away by a hurricane, and there was
insufficient public knowledge of the Plan, or dedicated individual
interest, to insure its restoration. This was the situation when
we first visited the Garden in 1949 or 1950.
In retrospect I can see that while our various attempts, as
"outsiders", to have the Garden restored from 1952 to 1981 met with
a measure of success, they were ultimately unsatisfactory because
we were in the position of attempting to "pursuade" someone else -
our desires vs theirs - to restore certain plants etc..
It was Jane who in 1981-82 saw that the local discovery of the
original planting plans plus the occasion of the 1982 St.Joseph's
Centennial/Mary Garden Jubilee, and her willingness to do the work,
provided the necessary weight of persuasion to make a full
historical restoration according to the original "final² 1937 plan
- as opposed to the previous landscape caretaker's or trust
administrator's ideas of what would be a pretty or minimum
maintenance garden.
Now the Plan and List have been re-published in the official
local historical magazine, serving to establish them for all time;
and at the same time, new garden beds have been established at the
East and West ends of the Tower grounds, permitting freedom to make
and revise plantings of additionally researched Flowers of Our
Lady.
While all this may sound like an interesting narrative,
actually it contains the discovery of necessary elements for the
perpetual survival and continity of a Mary Garden.
Likewise at Annapolis there are present and being developed
another combination of survival elements: a historical and vital
parish, St. Marys's, in the oldest U.S. Diocese of Baltimore;
adjacency to Carroll House of the first U.S. Bishop, and a Catholic
signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence; a college town of
the U.S. Naval Academy and St. John's College or University; an
outstanding original focal sculpture, which already has local
prominence and may achieve widespread acclaim; an initial garden
design by a renowned horticulturalist; an active Mary Garden
Committee, headed up by Nan Sears, a veteran Mary Gardener of some
35 years; and active integration of the Garden into Parish, School
and Family life.
It hasn't been clear to me whether their is an equivalent
combination of necessary survival elements for the Knock Mary
Garden. Knock is of course a renowned setting, and the new Blessed
Sacrament Chapel around which the planting has been made is very
special; the stone of which the Mary Garden Grotto and elevated bed
retaining walls are constructed has a particular significance and
permanence; that Msgr. Horan established it is important; your
renown as a leading contemporary Irish horticulturalist and
botanist is a noteworthy component; the designation of National
Irish Mary Garden, supported by Msgr. Horan, incorporating Flowers
of Our Lady from every county and featuring the Mhuire Flowers is
unique; your Booklet, edited by Tom Neary and available at the
Shrine gift shops, is a valuable ingredient; and the exhibit and
information at the Knock Folklore Museum you arranged for gives a
historical dimension. Also, there was the hope of the institution
of special liturgical celebrations at the Mary Garden, such as May
and October crownings of the focal Garden sculpture of Mary.
Certainly these all constitute a beautiful support for the
Garden continuity; but I would appreciate your giving me your
perception of the extent to which they have all come together
vitally so far. It took 50 years before there was a true
appreciation of the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady, even though it
was there in everyone's view for all that time; but I hope a proper
appreciation and support of the Knock Mary Garden is gaining
momentum each year. There has certainly been heroic input on your
part, which I'm sure will bear enduring fruit - even though without
Msgr, Horan, and notwithstanding your Mary-Gardening and historical
expertise, you are in the position of having to pursuade others in
a politic manner.
Also, could you arrange for someone to send me a copy of the
Knock Shrine Annual published this year? I recall reading in last
tear's Annual of Anne's extensuve planting of flower colonies
throughout the grounds, I hope there is some mention of the Mary
Garden this year - such as completing the "nationsl" planting
according to your plan, or perhaps a Mhuire bed.
It must be a joy to develop the Mary Garden behind the
Oratory at Artane, where I assume you have the freedom to
incorporate the plants you wish, in accordance with the design and
attention to details of your choosing. I hope the circumstances at
Artane are such that this Garden has the potential of permanance.
Is there another member of your Community, or someone else, who
takes care of the grounds? Are there others working with you in
establishing the Garden? Or is it a personal project, so to speak?
I am spiritually "keen" about your Artane Mary Garden because
I know it is infused with your lifetime of personal devotion, and
study of botany and horticulture, as well as your personal design
and artistry.
One of the circumstances I encountered at my parish of many
years in Philadelphia, Our Mother of Consolation, was that because
of my prominence in the Mary Garden movement, and my personal
making of the garden design and selection and procurment of the
statue and plants, the Mary Garden established at the school in
1965 was effectively regarded as "my² garden, even though it was
planted at the request of my pastor, in honor of the deceased
beloved nun-principal of the school for many years, with the
intention of forming a Committee; and though most of the digging
was done by the school children, and most of the actual planting
and maintenance was undertaken by the paid groundskeeper. Within a
year or two of my moving from the parish in the fall of 1972, the
garden beds were planted over with grass, leaving only the statue
and shrubs (boxwood), which are what you see today, with one or two
rose bushes.
If there is a prospect of permanance for your Artane Mary
Garden, I hope you will be able to develop the elements to sustain
this under your particular circumstances - especially as this
Garden will incorporate all the love, experience and wisdom of your
lifetime of gardening and research, and this will constitute a most
special tribute to Our Lady. Part of this would be a published
plan and plant list, the availability of backround literature and
books on Mary-Gardening and the Mary Garden Movement at the Artane
library, and hopefully a community or society of persons, lay and
religious, familiar with your work and its importance who would
sustain the garden as a vehicle of religious devotion.
So, at your convenience, Brother, do let me know what the
situation is in this regard, and in any case, do send me a copy of
the Plant List and Plan, and some photographs, at some point.
All our work is, of course, preserved for all eternity in the
heavenly Book of Life; but I see the vital temporal preservation of
devotional continuity at important contemporary Mary Gardens as
fundamental to the unique contribution the Mary Garden tradition
and movement have made and can increasingly continue to make to
sanctification, Kingdom and the greater glory of God.
In thinking about some recent suggestions I made to Nan Sears
regarding the praying of the Rosary by parish and family groups at
the Annapolis Mary Garden, I am coming to see some aspects of the
tradition of the Rosary which I believe the Mary Garden has a
potential for revitalizing.
In our Mary's Gardens work we could be said to be
participating in what has been called "the apostolate of the
restoration of tradition² - which seeks to rediscover and
revitalize the roots of popular, cultural, religious traditions of
which we still participate in the forms, so that we can once again
participate in these with the full vitality of their origins. St
Louis de Montfort of course calls for this in Marian devotion when
he speaks of true devotion to Mary as being interior and not
exterior.
With respect to the praying of the Rosary, I had always
treasured it as part of the liturgy, and without giving its origins
much thought, was satisfied with explanations of it such as that of
Pope Pius XII in his 1955 address to rose growers that "The Rosary
represents primarily a garden of roses offered to Mary; an
adornment of her image; and a symbol of her graces.² Also, I was
aware that while the impetus for its widespread adoption - in
popular devotion, and then in the Liturgy - was commonly attributed
to St. Dominic, there was no documented contemporary historical
evidence for this.
What is definitely documented is that the praying of Aves -
adding to the earlier practice of praying Pater Nosters, and as a
substitution for the earlier praying of the 150 Psalms - did appear
as a popular devotion in the 12th Century; and that it was widely
spread as a praying of the "Rosary² in the 15th by the Dominican,
Alan de Rupe (de la Roche), who formalized the meditation on the
fifteen mysteries, and attributed the origin of the Rosary to a
private revelation to St. Dominic by Our Lady that it should spread
as a popular focus for prayers for overcoming the Albeginsian
heresy. Then in the 16th century, the Feast of the Rosary was
officially established in the liturgical cycle, and the salutation,
"Queen of the Most Holy Rosary² was added to the Litany of Loreto -
following on the praying of the Rosary for the victory of
Christians at the battle of Lepanto.
However, it has seemed to me that notwithstanding the
questions about the origins of the Rosary, its universal spread
must have been because it was perceived as containing some special,
unique, intrinsic element filling a deep human and religious need.
It was only in the past year or so that I identified such an
element from an article on the Rosary in the 16 volume 1912
Catholic Encyclopedia. considered to be of the highest scholarship.
In speaking of the origins of the Rosary the article states:
"As regards the origin of the name, the word rosarius means a
garland or bouquet of roses, and was not infrequently used in a
figurative sense - e.g. as in the title of a book, to denote an
anthology or collection of extracts. An early legend which after
travelling all over Europe penetrated even to Abysinnia connected
the name with a story of Our Lady, who was seen to take rosebuds
from the lips of a young monk when he was reciting Hail Mary's and
to weave them into a garland which she placed on her head. A
German metrical version of this story is still extant dating from
the thirteenth century.²
I had read of this legend and seen it as part of the richness
of mediaval piety, but had not appreciated it as testimony to the
fact that the prayers from our lips form a flow of flower-like
subtle prayer vehicles rising to heaven. Likewise I was familiar
with the term, "Spiritual Bouquet², but had regarded this as a
poetic figure of a group of prayers offered together, and not as an
actual subtle form taken by prayers as they rise to heaven.
The fact of these subtle flower-vehicles of our prayers gives
a new, "tangible", dimension to spiritual reality, in keeping with
medieval spiritual "realism", and also enables us to form a
spiritually concrete image of how Mary receives and makes our
prayers her own, through incorporation in her crown, from which she
can then adorn them, embellish them and enhgance them, as St. Louis
de Montfort tells us, for the offering of them, as our Intercessor,
to the Trinity.
In our sensate, secular, age we have come to regard prayers as
pious thoughts and words existing existing only in our hearts and
heads; butm I had often wondered why we are taught that even when
we pray silently we should always pray with ourlips - which I now
see is to form he subtle flower vehicles which csrry our prayers
heavenward.
The observed spiritual fact (by "those who have eyes to see"
of these rising flower pneums as vehicles of our prayed Paters and
Aves imparts to us such a heightened sense of the reality of the
entire spiritual world that this provides an adequate explanation -
especially with its authoritative citing in the Catholic
Encyclopedia - for the widespread praying of the Rosary throughout
Church; even if this reason has been widely lost, although the
name, Rosary, persists, with figurative understanding.
For our Mary Garden work and prayer this presents us with the
beautiful created ontological correspondence between flowers -
nature's most delicate creatures - and the breathed flower-pneums
transporting our prayers. Flowers can thus be said to be "Earth's
Prayers" - the earth praying always - and we are reminded of Father
Galvin's treasured phrase, "My garden prays . . ." And as we are
moved to prayer by the flower symbols of Our Lady's life and
mysteries our breathed pneums are, as it were, (platonic) flower
souls spiritually peeled off from the flowers.
In this regard it is noteworthy and edifying that at Lourdes
Our Lady appeared to Bernadette beside the "speckled rose bush"
with a string of Rosary beads in her hands and with a heavenly rose
on each of her feet, proclaiming, as it were, the relationship
between the spiritual roses of our prayers and of heaven, and the
roses of nature. At La Salette she appeared adorned with three
rose garlands, and at Guadalupe she bestowed upon Juan Diego
heavnly roses empowered to impress her image on his cloak.
One of my treasures is a string of Rosary beeads Bonnie gave
me made of compressed rose petals and scented with rose oil.
While the Catholic Encyclopedia finds no corroborating
contemporary evidence in support of Alan de Rupe's preaching that
the Rosary was revealed by Our Lady to St. Dominic - implying that
it was of "human" origin, as a development of the previous practice
of praying Paters on beads - this is now academic since Our Lady
herself appeared at Lourde and Fatima, etc. with the Rosary in her
hands, and encouraged the practice of praying it. I'm not sure
whether it is adequately appreciated - in light of the scholarly
doubts raised about St.Dominic - that Lourdes and Fatima indeed
constitute a corroborating revelation, as it were, of the Rosary.
For my part I am disposed to perpetuate the pious tradition
(accepted by many popes, etc.) that the Rosary ws indeed reveale to
St. Dominin; and have accordingly incorporated the petition in the
Mary Garden Prayer, to "St. Dominic, Missionary of the Power of the
Rosary".
Also, the demise of Communism following upon Our Lady's
request at Fatima that rosaries of reparation be prayed for this
intention, with devotion to her Immaculate Heart. - as was
practiced extensively at Fatima itself and through the travels of
the devotional Pilgrim Virgins - provides contemporary evidence of
the social fruits of praying the Rosary, far surpassing in
magnitude the defeat of Albigensianism and the military victory at
Lepanto. The fruits of the Rosary are indeed social as well as
personal. In fact, the integrality of the subtly breathed rising
flower prayer pneums to our appreciation of the efficacy of the
Rosary, together with the historical revelation and demonstration
of the social im portance of Rosary prayers to Our Lady,
demonstrateds the relevance of our Mary Garden prayers, so
interlinked with the Rosary, to the building of God's earthly
social Kingdom. Interesting that flower symbols of Our Lady and
the praying of the Rosary both appeared at about the same time.
The spiritual reality of the rising of our prayed Aves and
Paters heavenward as subtle rose pneums also suggests to me a
conjecture regarding the large rose observed at the forehead of Our
Lady when she appeared at Knock. As a corollary of the envisioning
of Our Lady's receiving our Rosary Rose-bud prayer pneums and
placing them on her crown, we can envision, in terms of the
millions of Rosaries prayed, that this rose at her forehead,
immediately beneath her crown, is a sort of repository into which
she guides the rising rose prayers with her hands, and in which she
retains them for a while as she embellishing them for their
enhanced offering to the Trinity as both ours and hers. It seems
to me that such considertions might serve to incorporate the Mary
Garden more integrally in the devotions at Knock.
In addition to the elements for the perpetuation of Mary
Gardens and the Mary Garden movement and custom which I mentioned
at the beginning of this letter out of prudence (which I understand
as the application of spiritual principles to circumstances; the
response to providential opportunities; and the instrumentation of
spiritual grace, light wisdom and power in this world, towards
conversion, sanctification, reparation and kingdom), the "one thing
necessary² ultimately for this perpetuation is the establishment at
each public Mary Garden of vital, self-perpetuating, Mary Garden
committee, society or guild which keep alive the interior
dimensions of Mary-Gardening, the Mary Gardens of the heart.
This reminds me to inquire of you also as to the progress in
the formation of a Mary Garden Guild at Knock, as we discussed last
year.
Since a number of the thoughts developed in writing
this letter have pertinence for Woods Hole and Annapolis, I am
sending copies to Jane and Nan.
Brother, I hope this finds you well, and I offer you all my
special prayerful best wishes during this period when we are
bringing our work to cumination.
As always I remain most sincerely yours in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
February 2, 1994
Candlemas
Dear Brother Sean
Prior to receiving your letter of January 25 today I had
been reflecting on the naming of your garden as the Artane "Garden
of Remembrance" without realizing that the name came from its
planting on a Community burial plot.
Thus, as I wrote in my previous letter, the name brought to
mind firxt of all Bonnie's "Garden of Memories" herb nursery; and
then I was reminded of Ed McTague's first Mary Garden in 1951 in
the back yard of a West Philadelphia row house into which he and
his family had just moved.
Ed considered it would be imprudent at that time to put up
a statue or shrine of Our Lady before the gaze of perhaps 20 of
their new neighbors whose houses backed onto the common yard strip,
so his first Mary Garden consisted of some Marygolds and other
Flowers of Our Lady mixed in with tomato plants otc.
Actually, this reflects more closely than a Mary Garden the
medieval countryside, where the Flowers of Our Lady were
interspersed with others, and the nearest image of Our Lady was
perhaps a wayside shrine at some distance. I am reminded of the
distinction St. Bernard makes between the flowers of the field and
the flowers of the enclosure or garden.
From this viewpoint one clearly saw all flowers, trees,
shrubs and grasses first of all as God's Creatures, and then some
of them as specific symbols of Our Lady
From this viewpoint I saw your presentation of the Artane
Gordon in the leaflet draft as a garden of horticultural
excellence, which also, importantly, includes among Its plants a
number of those formerly named for Mary.
In such a garden a focal figure of Our Lady would not be
appropriate; rather a wayside or wall shrine or a smaller figure in
one of the Side beds.
I recall a garden I used to pass by each Summer in driving
through Wareham, Massachusetts (On the way from Rhode island to
Woods Hole} which had a large sign, "God's Garden", over the
entrance and a beautiful, large, but non-focal, standing figure of
Our lady (surrounded, I recall, by day lilies) within.
Thinking about those days brings to mind that the parish
church at Narragansett, Rhode island, near where I used to visit my
mother, had a nice Mary Garden beside it with Ade Bethone's Seat of
Wisdom sculpture as focal figure. I don't know if it is still
there (my mother died in 1977, R.I.P.). I also recall some
roadsides, and also a field, in Narragansett completely covered
with Galium verum; Our Lady's Bedstraw (and one of the Mhuire
flowers). In that period if was about all we could do to answer
inquiries and fill orders; and we didn't have much time to work
with people on the details of their gardens, or to follow up how
they were coming along.
Your choice of the name of "Garden of Remembrance" also
brought to mind St. John of the Cross's words on memory and
remembrance in "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel", that we are fittingly
reminded of God by creatures and symbols, but then are to dismiss
these from our minds, and even our perception of the attributes of
God of which they reminded us. so that we can wait on God in simple
hope. Thus, true remembrance is ultimately a forgetting.
February 9, 1994
Since writing the above I took another look at the photos
of the Artane garden you sent, and saw it from an entirely
different viewpoint, deriving from the perception of the blooming
plants as representing the heavenly flowering of the souls of those
buried in the plot - thanks to your superb attention to bloom
richness and continuity. I now see it as a possible prototype for
all burial plot or cemetary gardens.
This heightened my excitement about the garden and
immediately started a train of thought for a suggested introduction
for our leaflet, which I have now incorporated in it, along with
formatting it in computer typeface - per the enclosed draft.
There is free space on several of the pages, which will
permit me to incorporate maybe 6 color clips of Mary Flowers spread
through the text, as with the "An Historical Note" leaflet I
prepared for the AnnapolisMary Garden, of which I believe I sent
you a copy. Where applicable I will give both the Gaelic and
English names, as with the Mary's Gold illustration at the head of
this letter,
This is my supplementation and editing at a distance,
Brother, and I will of course produce the finsl version according
to your wishes - so make any changes you think appropriate, and let
me know.
It is a great joy, Brother, to know that you have a garden
of your own design to care for, and the time to spend in it.
Perhaps you can send me a copy of the present planting plan (I
assume that you will be able eventually to fill the entire plot),
and we can develop a larger leaflet or booklet, with a fuller list
and more illustrations.
I enjoyed hearing about the start of your bloom year with
such a variety of flowers. In Boston there was a foot of snow on
Candlemas, and no prior showing of even the tiny green snowdrops
"swords of sorrow" spears, as Nan Sears sees them, of Candlemas
Bells, recalling Simeon's prophecy at the Presentation of the Christ
Child in the Temple. And now we have another foot of snow.
February 20, 1994
After writing the above, I saw that I wanted to make a few
more revisions to our leaflet draft, and then came some
interruptions. I have now completed the draft, and also have
pasted in a few Mhuire Flower color clips to give a sense of what
the final leaflet will look like. These, and others would of
course be printed with the text, rather than pasted. I will make
the final layout after receiving your OK or revisions of the text,
as I don't know how suitable you will find my introduction -
inspired by your photos.
I continue to be very much inspired by the familiar use of
flowers for spiritual remembrance of the dead as an introduction
for their other less familiar spiritual meanings. I better
appreciate the widespread use of Tagetes in Latin America as both
Mary's Gold and the (burial) Flower of the Dead.
Also, is there any chance you could supply me with a full
sun photo of the Garden? The ones you sent were half sun and half
shade, which aren't so good for printing out in the leaflet. I can
make and enlarge an excerpt from the sunny partion of one of the
photos, but it wouldn't do justice to the Garden. One approach
would be to go ahead with what I have at hand and then later
substitute a fuller photo when you are able to provide one. And
could you add the Mhuire flowers I have illustrated to the Garden?
If so they could added to the plants and Mary-Flowers listings.
Finally, could you check the botanical and Gaelic spellings, as I
don't have any dictionaries or horticultural catalogs at hand?
Now, I'll finally get this in the Mail.
Here we are, Brother, into this year's early Lent, which I
pray will be an especially holy one for us all.
In the joy of your Garden of Remembrance, which I thank you
for sharing with me, I remain, as ever,
Sincerely yours in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
March 25, 1994
Annunciation
Dear Brother Sean,
Thank you for your letter of March 10th, with its enclosures
and the changes to be incorporated in the Garden of Remembrance
leaflet.
I enclose a 2nd draft incorporating the revisions you sent and
some of my own, and I will await a full sun photo from you for use
in making a color illustration for the lower portion of the front
cover.
In using color I had in mind printing up here an ample quantity
of the leaflets with color, and sending them to you as a
contribution to the garden; while the 8-1/2 x 11 format also makes
it possible for you to make black and white copies on a photo copy
machine locally, as well. However, if you prefer black and white
only, I can print them up that way. So, let me know. In any case, I
can send a black & White original, from which you can make copies
locally if the color copies run out at any time. This would
include a line drawing of Annunciation Lily to eliminate the blue,
which copies dark grey.
In looking at the list of Flowers of Our Lady developed from
your plant list, I notice the absence of some basic Marian
symbolism, so from that viewpoint, rather than a horticultural
viewpoint, I have added Mary's Gold (Calendula officinalis), Our
Lady's Tears (Lily-of-the-Valley) and Assumption Lily (Hosta
plantaginea). I realize they are all short-bloomed, so if you
prefer not to have them on the list, I can remove them.
You will note that I have restored the original 5th stanza of
"Gardens Give Mary Glory" - for which a repetition of the first
stanza was substituted in the Knock leaflet. This 5th stanza seems
to me integral to the Liam's overall thought in the poem, and I
would prefer to print it as written; but if you wish to omit it and
print it with the repeated first paragraph I will change it back to
the Knock booklet editing.
Also, I have revised the paragraph on page 2 about the Flowers
of Our Lady, for greater clarity.
The paragraphs on pages 1 and 2 represent a distillation of my
thought through the years on the reason why a preponderance of the
religious names of flowers on Christian popular tradition refer to
Mary (instead of directly to Jesus), viz. that while Mary's purity,
virtues, excellences, graces and glories were developed through her
assent and fidelity to her special calling, privileges and
prerogatives, they are nevertheless still human spiritual
perfections of sharing and showing forth the divine attributes
through doing the will of God and hearing the word of God and
keeping it - to which we are all called, whatever our vocations, and
for which Mary remains our most exalted model - rather than a direct
showing forth of of divinity through Creation and the Divine Word
Incarnate. In other words they are testimony to our calling to
participate, like Mary, in the divine life and attributes, rather
than "only" to behold, proclaim, praise and adore them in Christ and
Creation.
The Marian flower symbolism bears witness to the the love of
God who created us to share humanly in the divine life and
attributes like Mary, in whom they shine forth so purely and
beautifully, and who serves as our model, intercessor, mediatrix and
mother to this end.
In keeping, therefore, with the ontological correspondence
between moral/ascetical spiritual values and the beauty, purity,
splendor and forms of nature - a correspondence deriving from their
common creation through the eternal Word, and as celebrated through
the centuries by poets - it is fitting and intuitive that we
associate specifically with Mary what is most beautiful and sublime
in nature, as exemplified by the Flowers of Our Lady, and to look to
these flowers, in their beauty and forms, as making tangible for us
the qualities in Mary which we are all to imitate - as we pray in
the closing prayer of the Rosary.
thus our "apostolate" is to affirm that the preponderate
association of flowers with mary in Christian tradition and culture
is not an arbitrary, poetic, fanciful and sentimental exercise, or
merely one of many dimensions of plant lore, but a unique
recognition and expression of an inherent ontological correspondence
between nature, human spiritual potential for graced sharing and
participating in divine life, and the beauty, truth and goodness of
god's revealed trinity, creation, redemption and kingdom - as
uniquely manifested in mary's life, mysteries, excellences,
prerogatives, graces, joys, sorrows and glories, and sublimely
mirrored in flowers.
I consider that today's feast of the Annunciation is of special
importance in this respect in that Mary is our sublime model and
exemplar for the humble openness and responsiveness to actual, as
well as sanctifying graces, required to move the world towards
Kingdom. If, as the theologians point out, the guidance of actual
grace was necessary even in Eden before the fall for inspiration and
prompting to choose, among alternatives, the greater good for
increasing and multiplying and filling the earth and moving it
towards Kingdom, how much more is it needed today?
Brother, it is now Holy Saturday, and I am cutting this thought
short so I can get this new draft to you quickly by Federal Express,
as the season is upon us.
With all best wishes to you and all your community and family
for a joyous Easter season, I remain, as always, your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
(Postings in Process)