14. Christ’s Bouquet
The Flowers of Virtue
From far away
Angela's joyful voice could be heard, as she came home from school. Sophia saw
her little daughter from the kitchen window and a wave of joy flooded her
heart. She was always touched by her kind-hearted character and her great love
for God. She was an adorable child who everyone wanted to spend time with
because of the joy she was spreading around her.
As soon as she
entered the house she ran quickly to her mother, embraced her and gave her a
sweet kiss. Then she looked in the other rooms to find her little brother
Joseph, to embrace him and kiss him. They were devoted siblings and they tried
not to embitter each other. If a disagreement tried to spoil the harmony of
their fraternal love and create complaints and turmoil, easily, they humbly
apologized to each other and serenity was coming immediately.
To withdraw first
in a quarrel for the sake of peace, was one of mum Sophia's basic lessons
taught to all her three children from an early age. Both the older daughter,
Christina and the second, Angela, competed many times to see who would withdraw
first with humility for the sake of their beloved Jesus and ask for
forgiveness. They had learned from their mother that our bad egos don't easily
let us humble ourselves for the mistake we made and to ask for forgiveness, but
wants us to always put the blame on others for the mistake which happened and
for ourselves to find all the excuses in the world. For this reason, if we want
to always conquer our bad egos and the demons which tempt us, we must first and
without excuses ask for forgiveness for the mistake. Then we shame the demons
and make our Christ so happy that He gives us even more blessings.
Christina and
Angela, as older children, were trying to carry out their mother's advice and
leave no room for selfishness and Satan who
was feeding this selfishness to tempt them. Even little Joseph had
started to imitate his sisters and asked for forgiveness whenever he did
something bad and upset someone.
Sophia knew by
experience that this spiritual struggle isn't easy. It is very difficult for
man to be humiliated in order to confess his mistake and ask for
"forgiveness". On the one hand, is the selfishness and self-love of
man and on the other, the war of Satan who wants to make man like him with
cursed pride that makes this spiritual struggle for the acquisition of
humiliation a very difficult thing.
Humiliation is the greatest virtue that
can easily destroy Satan's insidious plans and drives him away from every
humble soul. Whoever manages to obtain this, wins the most important battle
against the devil. That's why Satan doesn't easily allow any soul who made a
mistake to be humiliated and confess their mistake and ask for
"forgiveness", because in that way his satanic net, which he has made
with so much effort around the soul, is broken.
Sophia wanted to
help her children to love the queen of virtues, which is humiliation, in order
to learn how to bravely fight their personal selfishness and not allow it to be
fed with silly excuses. For that reason, even since the children were very
young, with true wisdom of God she used a clever trick. She made her children's
spiritual struggle, for the accumulation of virtues, into a daily game of
happiness and blessings for them. She told them that every virtue that they
would put into practice but also for every bad habit they would give up is like
a flower, so every time they did something good or they avoided something bad,
they would gather a flower. If they gathered lots of flowers they would be able
to make a beautiful bouquet of flowers which, at the end of the day, they would
offer to their sweet God Jesus Christ, as proof of their love and adoration for
Him!
The children,
excited by this nice proposal, immediately started this beautiful, blessed
game. You were glad to see them struggling to give up some of their bad habits
and becoming even better and kinder children. Every time they succeeded they
felt so happy because in this way they had the opportunity to collect these
wonderful spiritual flowers of Christ. The more flowers they gathered, the
bigger and nicer their bouquet would be. They even gave it a cute name. They
named it: "Christ's Bouquet".
So every night,
after the evening prayer and before going to sleep, the children gathered
around their mother to tell her what flowers each one had collected in order
altogether to make the beautiful bouquet for Christ. Every time she heard their
childish efforts to become good, kind and blessed children, their mother could
not hide her joy and happiness.
However, since
Christina went to university and had to live far away from them, only Angela
with her little brother Joseph were left to tell their mother every night what
flowers they had collected in order to make "Christ's Bouquet". But
Christina, even if she had grown up and maybe from habit, or because she
believed that this pleased her beloved God very much, she hadn't yet stopped
this nice game of happiness even now when she is at the university.
Angela's Flowers
-Mum, today I
gathered many flowers for "Christ's Bouquet"!
-Well done, my
Angela, I'm so happy about this! Every time you tell me about the flowers of
virtue you have gathered for our beloved God, my heart is flooding with so much
joy and happiness. You make me feel as our Christ feels for you, very happy! My
sweet little girl, there is nothing more beautiful than for our heavenly Father
to see us living according to His Will and gathering many fragrant flowers for
His sake. He takes them with joy into His divine hands to rejoice with their
fragrance and then He blesses us with many graces from the Holy Spirit. So
don't you ever stop gathering many flowers for "Christ's Bouquet".
However, I would like you now to tell me what beautiful flowers you have
gathered today for our beloved King Jesus.
-Today, mummy, the
flowers were more beautiful and more fragrant, because I had to hold back my
anger many times in order not to hurt our good God.
-What happened at
school today, my child? asked Sophia with some anxiety.
-Today, a child
stole my classmate's pen and she was crying with sadness. When our teacher
asked who stole the pen, no one answered. I had seen who did it, but I didn't
want to tell on him and humiliate him. During the break I wanted to tell him
that what he had done was not right and he should give back the pen, but he
started making excuses for what he did and he lied saying he didn't steal
it. At that moment I was so angry with
his lie and wanted to tell the truth to the other children and our teacher.
But, if I did this, the teacher would punish him so hard and the other children
would call him a thief.
-So what did you
do, my little girl?
-I prayed to Christ
to enlighten me how I should handle the situation correctly and not lose the
serenity of my heart, but also to enlighten the child to understand that theft
is a great sin. Then I took my own pen, which was the same as my friend's and
when no one was looking, I put in deep inside her bag.
-What did your
friend do then?
-She was happy that
her pen was found and apologized for making the whole class upset with her
carelessness. But I was happy too as it was not necessary for me to reveal who
had taken it. You know, mum, I didn't want this child to be blamed because he
is very poor and his parents are divorced. He lives with his grandmother and
maybe he didn't have money to buy a nice pen like the one me and my classmate
had.
-What did the child
who stole the pen do then?
-When he saw that I
didn't tell our teacher about it, but gave my own pen to my friend, he was
ashamed for his bad deed and before we left school, he came and apologized to
me for his mistake. He even gave me back the pen he had stolen. He was ashamed
to give it to my friend.
-Did you take the
pen back, my Angela?
-No mum, I told him to keep it
for himself, because I had already given mine to my friend. I only begged him
not to ever steal anything again that didn't belong to him because in this way
we hurt our good God a lot.
-How did he react
to the things you said, my daughter?
-He thanked me and
told me that I will be his best friend. You cannot imagine, mum, how very happy
I was!
-I am happy too
with your correct behaviour. But I would like to tell you what I liked the most
about the way you acted that made our heavenly Father very happy for you.
-What did you like
the most mum?
-I liked that you started with a prayer in order to
face this problem. Only with the help of
our good God are we able to correctly solve our problems. Without His holy
enlightenment we won't know what is right and what is wrong. Man's life is
full of problems, worries and sorrows and in order for someone to face them
correctly he should have our good God's help and the enlightenment of the Holy
Spirit. So every time we have to solve a problem or face some kind of sorrow or
sadness, we must run first like children into the embrace of our beloved
heavenly Father and ask Him to flood us with the grace of the Holy Spirit, so
that whatever we do or say will be in accordance with His Holy Will. When He
sees us taking refuge with absolute trust in His fatherly heart, He enlightens
our mind to act as correctly as possible in each situation. So, what you did,
praying to your heavenly Father before doing anything, is the most beautiful
and most fragrant smelling flower. It is the rose for "Christ's
Bouquet".
The fragrant rose
-Mum, each time,
that I will pray before doing something, will I be adding a rose to my bouquet?
-Of course, my
Angela! Every prayer we say to our beloved God is a beautiful and fragrant
rose. As the rose is the king of flowers, so prayer is the queen of virtues.
-Mum, why is prayer
the queen of virtues?
-Because if all
virtues are the decorations of the soul, prayer is the life of the soul. With
prayer every man is able to speak with his heavenly Father, as you are now
talking to me and as I am glad to hear my little girl, so our God is also very
happy to hear us talking to Him in our prayers.
-Really, mum, is
our good God so happy when we pray?
-Yes, my little
girl, He is very happy because through prayer He is able, like a father, to
hear the sweet voices of his children. He is glad to hear our love and
gratitude for the various blessings which He gives us every day. But He also
wants to hear the various problems which we have as humans so he can help us,
with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, to face them correctly and even
benefit from them. However, there is a small secret which makes our prayer an
opportunity for peace and joy and to feel secure under the protective power of
our heavenly Father.
-What is this
secret, mum?
-Speak to Him, my
Angela, with childish simplicity, love
and with absolute trust. Only then will our good God, as a sweet and
affectionate Father that He is, listen carefully to what we will tell Him and with
wisdom decide the new blessings that he wants to give us. Some of these
wonderful blessings that he gives us, when we speak to Him like little children
with our prayers, are joy, peace and security which we feel near Him.
-That's what I feel
when I am by your side and you are speaking to me.
-Every soul feels
exactly the same way, my Angela, when it is near its heavenly Father and speaks
to Him! And while we speak to Him, telling Him what troubles us, He answers us
with the serenity He puts into our soul and the confidence of His love which
floods our heart. However, I would like also to tell you about another
wonderful secret of prayer because of the childish simplicity it uses, the
blessings that it will receive and the happiness which will flood His heart
will be wonderfully fantastic.
-What is this great
secret, mum?
-I will help you to
discover it by yourself with a small example that I will tell you. Do you
remember what you tell me every time you come home from school?
-I tell you all my
news from school. My joy when I know my lesson well and I do well in the tests,
but also the sadness when I have some problems. I tell you about my games, my
friends but also news about the rest of my school.
-That's right. What
do I do when I hear all those things you tell me? Do I listen to them
indifferently or do I show by my attitude that I hear them with great interest
since they concern my little girl?
-You listen to them
all with a great interest, because they concern me, who you love. You should
know that I am very happy every time I tell you what is happening at my school
and you listen to me carefully and with interest, because in that way I share
with you every joy and every event which takes place there.
-Exactly the same
thing, my child, happens with our heavenly Father. With much joy and interest
He wants to hear from our own mouths, when we are praying, what has happened to
us during the day. To hear the good things we did and be happy, but also the
problems we faced in order to help us. But when is His joy so great, that He
wants to take us into His arms and cover us with His divine kisses?
-When, mum?
-I want you to tell
me, when do I take you in my arms to cover you with my sweet kisses?
-You do it many
times, but mostly when I tell you how much I love you!
-You spoke
correctly, my little girl. Every time you tell you me how much you love me, I
want to embrace you tightly and sweetly, and to cover you with my kisses.
-Now, I understand,
mum, what you want to tell me. I imagine that this will be the greatest secret
of prayer. Our good God wants us not
only to tell Him all those things that concern us, but also to tell Him how
much we love and trust Him. Did I find the secret of prayer, my mum?
-You found it, my
treasure! This was also the secret of all the saints. Those who wholeheartedly
loved our good God, didn't neglect to tell Him continuously through their
prayers how much they adored and loved Him and that He was the only king of
their hearts. And our good God, seeing their souls burning with divine love for
Him, like lava in the volcano of their hearts, was sending the grace of His
Holy Spirit to cover their souls and lead them to the paths of holiness. That's
why prayer is considered by all our saints as the path of holiness.
-Mum, during prayer
can we ask our God for whatever we want?
-Yes, my child. But we shouldn't ask Him, like silly
children, that our will and desires be done, but His own Will. That's what
is always wanted by those who really
love Him like His own children and trust Him absolutely as the Father of their
souls. Our saints, my sweet little girl, had only one desire in their hearts.
They wanted to always do only His Will and to adore Him with the whole power of
their souls. The only fear they had in their lives was not to ever do something
that would hurt their heavenly Father. They only allowed themselves to have one
desire and with that desire they lived like angels on earth.
-What was the
desire they had, mum?
-To live every moment and every minute of their lives
only for their much beloved God. They didn't want to do anything that would
sadden Him. Many times they gave up their will or their desires if they
realized that these wouldn't help them to live according to His Holy Will.
Therefore, every time you will also give up your will in order to do your
beloved Jesus' Will, you will be adding one beautiful fragrant flower to
"Christ's Bouquet".
-What does it mean,
mum, to give up my will?
-It means to allow everything with absolute trust in
the hands of your beloved God and in your life to do that which He likes and
not what you like.
-Can you tell me
some examples so I can understand it?
-Yes, my child. We
give up our will and gather many flowers of virtue when we forgive someone who
has been unjust to us. When we don't reciprocate the evil to someone who has
harmed us. When we behave with spiritual kindness to those who are rude to us.
When we don't judge someone who made a mistake. When we are careful not to say
bad words. When we avoid seeing things that would pollute our souls, and so
many other things that our God would inform us through our conscience.
-So, mum, when a
child at school without any right is insulting and mocking me and I don't want
for the sake of our Christ to reciprocate with bad words and taunts, then am I giving
up my will?
-Yes, my Angela.
Then, you give up your will but also add one more beautiful flower to the
bouquet for our Christ. Many times a day you will have such opportunities to
give up your will and gather many flowers for Christ's Bouquet.
-Finally, mum, our
good God gives us many opportunities every day to prove to Him how much we love
and trust Him! Every day all of us His children are able to show Him with our
lives that we are His princes and princesses. We can make Him very happy every
day, so He will be proud of us in front of His saints and angels. Every time
you will be giving up your will to do His own Will, His joy will very great,
because with this simple way of obedience to His Will, you will show Him how
much you trust Him. Because, my child,
giving up our will for the sake of our beloved God the Father is the greatest
proof that we love and trust Him. From now on, mum, I will struggle every
day to give up my will and to live with spiritual kindness as my beloved Jesus
wants. I want every day to fill the vase of my heart with the most beautiful
flowers that will give Him much joy.
-I'm sure, my
Angela, that you will make Him very happy, like me who feels so happy that you
are my little girl!
The Pure White Lily
-Mum, except for a
rose which is prayer, which of all the virtues is the most beautiful flower
which our heavenly Father likes the most?
-It is the pure
white lily which you gathered today at school and made our beloved God flood
you with the grace of His Holy Spirit.
-What is the pure
white lily I gathered which gave Him so much joy?
-The pure white
lily you added to Christ's Bouquet is because you did not condemn the child who
stole the pen and instead with love and kindness hid his mistake from your
teacher and classmates so he wouldn't be punished or shamed. By doing this you
charmed the heart of our beloved Christ, because you did what He did while He
lived amongst us on earth, who loved all people and never judged anyone. Even
those who crucified Him, He did not condemn them, but instead begged His
heavenly Father to forgive them. He wants us His children to have this love and
compassion towards all people, even those who hurt us with their words and
actions.
-But this, mum, is
not easy for everyone. That's right isn't it?
-Yes, my Angela, it
is not easy for all people. For the children of Christ, though, who only care
about giving up their own will and doing only what He did while He lived
amongst us on earth, it is not at all difficult. On the contrary, it is a
spiritual challenge to be holy as He is holy. Our God, my little girl, is
nothing more than Love and Compassion and
whoever lives his life with love and compassion, lives in God and God lives in
him. That's why our holy Church teaches us that the secret of holiness is found precisely in the virtues of love and
compassion. This is the essence of Christian life. Our beloved Jesus when
He came to earth to tell us about the heavenly Father, He told us how much love
and compassion He has for all His children here on earth, even the most sinful.
Therefore, from those who believe in Him and want to live according to His Will,
He is asking us not to criticize anyone but to be merciful to all. From the love
and compassion that we show to all our fellow men, even our enemies, it will
show who will be His own children.
-Is that why in the
lives of the saintly martyrs that we read, no saintly martyr ever said anything
bad against his torturers, despite the many ways they were tortured?
-Yes, my child. The
saintly martyrs were simple people like us. Many of them were even small
children. All of them, despite the many ways they were tortured by the pagans,
never condemned them but begged God to forgive them and enlighten them to see
the truth. And we are, my little girl, descendants of the saintly martyrs and
we must have them as an example to follow.
-Today, though, we
don't have pagans to torture us and to suffer like them!
-I agree, that
today we enjoy all the Christian peace in our Christian countries. Also, we
must admit that all people have heard the word of God, which means that
everyone should live according to the Will of God, like Christians that we are.
But do we live, my child, according to the Will of our heavenly Father or
according to the evil desires that Satan puts in our hearts? See how many
people, who call themselves Christians, refuse to live according to "the
spirit of love" which Christ taught us. The lips of menkind don't speak
words of honey any more but the bitter poison of condemnation and many times
slander. You should know how much these bad actions hurt our God!
-I will try, mummy,
not to ever hurt my good God with the poison of condemnation and slander.
-I hope so, my
child, with all my heart. Every time that you will not condemn any person and
don't put bad thoughts about him into your mind, you will add to our
"Christ's Bouquet" a beautiful pure white lily. I want you to know,
my Angela, that the children who don't criticize any person are dearly loved by
our good God and He keeps them deep inside His divine heart like the most
precious gems in His treasury!
-I also want to be such
a precious gem in His heart!
-Then, my Angela,
you must live all your life according to "the spirit of love" which is taught to us in the Holy Bible by
our much beloved Jesus. Live with spiritual gentleness, kindness and love as
befits children of God. Then you will gather many fragrant flowers for
"Christ's Bouquet"!
The Imitation of Christ
Mum, I want to live
as our good God wants, but sometimes I don't know if I am doing it correctly. I
can imitate you because I can see you but how can I imitate our good God who is
invisible?
-It's true, my
little girl, that our heavenly Father is invisible. But He sent His only
begotten Son to earth to become human like us, to live among us and to show us
through His personal life how we should live, according to His Will. In this way, the invisible God became, in
the person of our Lord Jesus, visible to all people. Now, all people can
live according to the Will of our heavenly Father, if they decide to imitate
the holy life of His only begotten Son.
-Can we, mum,
perfectly imitate Christ's life, since He is God?
-Christ, my little
girl, is not only God, he is also human. By being born as a man, He became, as
well as the Son of God, the Son of man too. As a man, He lived on this earth, to show us how we should live
according to the Will of God the Father. He showed us the true path which those
who want to become holy, as He is, should walk. When this happened, that is
when the Son of God became man, the greatest mystery of the divine mercy of our
good God towards us humans, was revealed. So, whoever wants to live according
to the Will of God, is able to see through the Holy Gospel how our beloved
Jesus Christ lived as a man here on earth and imitate him! Christian life is nothing more than the imitation of Christ. And the
imitation of Christ is nothing more than the true life according to the Will of
our Holy God. Many pious people lived this life of spiritual struggle and
became saints. They also gathered every day many beautiful flowers of virtues
for Christ's Bouquet and with them adorned their holy souls. And we, if we want
to be like them and be sanctified, should imitate their holy lives and the
beautiful spiritual struggle they did. It's up to us to gather flowers for
Christ every day.
-Mummy, like our
saints, I want to live as our beloved king Jesus lived on earth and gather
every day more and more flowers of virtue to make our "Christ's
Bouquet".
-My wish, my sweet
girl, will always be with you so that you succeed in the most beautiful
struggle you chose for your soul! I'm sure that you will gather every day the
most beautiful and fragrant flowers for our Christ's Bouquet.
