A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Flowers of Lent and Crying Babies


Tradition holds that St. Patrick used shamrocks to explain the mysteries of the Christian faith to the people of Ireland. In the New World, Spanish missionaries used the passion flower, which is indigenous to the tropical Americas, in much the same way.
The priests christened the flower they encountered in the Caribbean “la flor de las cinco llagas” — the flower of the five wounds — for its various parts were seen as symbolic of various aspects of Christ’s crucifixion.
The spiraled tendons of the plant were taken as symbols of the lashes Christ endured, and the central flower column as the pillar of the scourging. The 72 radial filaments of the flower were seen as the crown of thorns; the three stigmas as symbols of the nails used in the crucifixion, as well as the holy Trinity; the five anthers, as the five wounds of Christ; and the style as the sponge doused in vinegar used to moisten Christ’s lips. Taken together, the five petals and five sepals were used to refer to the ten apostles who did not either betray or deny Christ. The fragrance of the flower helped recall the spices used to embalm the body of Christ.Finally, its globular egg-size fruit was taken as a symbol of the world that Christ saved through his suffering.
We celebrated the 2nd Sunday of Lent today. Our Mass was a little different than usual. Our new Priest likes to baptize babies during the Mass...not after like Priests before him. We had a set of beautiful twin boys. They looked like they were just weeks old. Dressed in little satin suits. Tiny bald heads.Proud parents, God parents, and a row of family behind them. A little boy about four was in the group also. The Mass started in the back of the Church, where Father blessed the babies and they were brought forward. The family sat down and the music began. Not only the beautiful soprano and organ, but the music that only twins can make. The cried and cried all during the Mass. What sets of lungs those babies have! Family looked a little frazzled...passing them from one to another. The howling continued. Father was reading and the little boy decided to venture out of the pew and joined him up front. Grandma went up to the rescue. The Grandma started out the door with one of the howlers and Father said, "Not so fast...we aren't finished." He was smiling...he has the happiest face. When the baptism was over the babies were taken out the door. At the end of the service the family entered again to go to communion. The babies were little angels and not a peep was heard. We older women looked at each other and thought how precious these little bundles were but...we agreed that we are glad that those days are behind us and the young women can take over the reigns of childcare during Church.
Balisha

6 comments:

OhioMom said...

LOL ... babies do tend to cry or giggle during Mass. BTW one of my daughters is being baptized on Easter Sunday, since she is a grown woman I think she will be allowed to stay for the rest of the service :)

Balisha said...

I've heard babies cry during Church, but never like this...it never stopped. The poor Mom.

I think your daughter will be OK. How many kids do you have? I had two boys and a girl and then later in life I got 2 grown stepsons.

Elenka said...

Great information about the passion flower. Who knew?
Little twin boys...ah, yes...a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there!

Tara said...

Hi Balisha. How funny that you should ask about printing out the list I posted and also copy and pasting for friends in an email. I did the same thing. Actually my daughter sent that list to me in an email and I copied it and posted it to my blog. Great list, huh? You are very welcome to send that list along to others!

Judy said...

Twins can certainly raise a ruckus. Mine used to do that, too.
They can do all kinds of things together. Once, I was checking out in a store like Walmart. I looked around and they were both urinating in the floor at the same time!

Balisha said...

Hi Elenka,
I always thought it was a strange looking flower...I was never to crazy about it. I thought the story interesting too.
Hi Judy,
I used to babysit twins, when I was a girl, and had so much fun with them. They did do things at the same time and had their own little language, it seemed.
Hi so blessed,
I made a copy of the list and it's on my frig.There is always room for improvement...a nice reminder. Thanks for reading.