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Intro Mary Garden
.
Parish Mary Gardens of Devotion
and Prayerful Work
John S. Stokes Jr.
Through the years since the first U. S. Parish Mary Garden was
planted at St. Joseph's Church in Woods Hole, on Cape Cod,
Massachusetts, in 1932, by Frances Crane Lillie, numerous Mary
Gardens have been planted at other parishes - many with assistance
from Mary's Gardens of Philadelphia, founded in 1951, with the
blessing of Mrs. Lillie, to spread the custom of growing Mary
Gardens world-wide.
As at Woods Hole, such Parish Mary Gardens have mostly been
established - with approval of the Parish Council and/or pastor -
through the initiative, work and funding of a few parishioners, who
have undertaken full responsibility for their planting and care.
Now that the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens have become an
increasingly familiar part of Catholic culture, and books
describing them have been written, Parish Mary Gardens are coming
to be more fully incorporated into parish spiritual life, as
accepted aspects of devotion and prayerful work.
Those taking initiative in the planting of early Parish Mary Gardens
have been typically experienced gardeners who, on learning of the
Flowers of Our Lady, first planted Mary Gardens at their homes
around a back yard sculpture or shrine of Our Lady; and then
undertook, or were asked to undertake, the planting of such a
garden at their parish church or school. While these Mary Gardens
were combined expressions of the love of Mary and of gardening
for those planting and caring for them, they often were not
generally conceived of, and adopted as, integral to the devotional
life of sodalities or other Marian parish societies.
On the other hand, those writing to Mary's Gardens of Philadelphia,
after learning of the Flowers of Our Lady through word of mouth, or
through reading press notices or articles, have typically been
members of parish Marian societies with loving, interior, tender,
holy, devotion to Mary, our Mother - who kneel before her statue in
church in prayer; place flowers and light candles before it; and
enter into spiritual communion with her in veneration and
supplication. In further devotion to Mary, they pray the Rosary and
novenas; attend sodality prayer meetings; and may have consecrated
themselves to Mary's Immaculate Heart or wear the Miraculous Medal
or a Marian scapular; and may undertake works of mercy such as
those of the Legion of Mary.
What is now to be desired is a fuller marriage of such traditional
parish Marian devotion and Mary Gardening. According to the
teaching of St. Louis de Montfort, true devotion to Mary - simple or
highly educated - is in its foundations interior, tender, holy and
constant. But, for those whose devotion is interior, there is an
unending search for further exterior expression of their interior
devotion - "of Mary there is never enough" (de Montfort) - for
which Mary Gardening affords new and ever fresh opportunities.
Two Parishes where Mary Gardens have become integrated into overall
parish life and devotion are St. Mary's Parish, Annapolis,
Maryland and St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Portage, Michigan.
For the introduction of the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens,
for home or parish, to those of simple faith and devotion we
recommend the presentation at parish lectures or sodality meetings
of the "Introductory Slide Lecture", now being converted to
computer projection format, with distribution of print copies of
the "Introductory Annuals Mary Garden Pamphlet" - of brief
background information, color photos of 12 popular Flowers of Our
Lady with accompanying traditional meditations for each; a
'planting' of these around a statue of Our Lady in a virtual Mary
Garden; and simple planting instructions for a small annuals Mary
Garden.
For those who would like to start with an even simpler home Mary
Garden we offer the illustrated article, "Patio Container Mary
Gardens". For those who already garden, an example of loving,
imaginative, childlike reflection on the flowers of Our Lady in a
home Mary Garden is found in the article, "In Mary's Garden". For
those who would like to grow a larger Mary Garden, we offer the
"Lists of 100 and 200 Popular Flowers for Mary Gardens".
For those more highly educated, intellectual, Catholics who may see,
or are concerned that others of their acquaintance will see, simple
devotion to Mary, including that of the Mary Garden, as unlettered
or exaggeratedly sentimental or pious, we offer the more historical
and theological articles, "Flower Theology I" and "Flower Theology
II" and "Flower and Human Symbols of the Trinity".
In these articles we carry the intellectual approach to Mary to
its culmination in the theological demonstration that through her
fidelity to the divinely bestowed graces, privileges and
prerogatives of the Immaculate Conception, Annunciation, Divine
Maternity, Perpetual Virginity, Spiritual Motherhood, Assumption,
Advocacy, Intercession, Mediation and Queenship, Mary is blessed
with the fullest personal fulfillment of the divine loving purpose
of Creation, for which we are all created in the divine image and
likeness: the human sharing, showing forth and magnification of
the divine goodness, attributes and action.
Once Mary is seen in accordance with her ordained and accepted
exalted place and participation in the divine plan of Creation,
Redemption and Kingdom, intellectual-minded persons are liberated
from the critical and scrupulous blocks to Marian devotion and are
enabled to see that in all her divine exaltation Mary remains our
loving spiritual Mother whom we approach simply, directly and
intimately in interior, tender, holy and constant devotion - with
emulation of her life and mysteries, in praying the Rosary or as
symbolized and quickened for our reflection, meditation and
imitation by the Flowers of Our Lady.
For those who may have experienced a falling off of simple,
constant, everyday, interior Marian devotion and practices through
exerior devotional preoccupation with Our Lady's appearance
shrines, or apocalyptic 'end of times' private revelations, we
affirm the return to the simple practices as a response to Mary's
appearance exhortations, as supported by Flowers of Our Lady
symbolism in the Mary Garden.
Guadalupe - Mary, Ever-Virgin and heavenly Woman Clothed with the
Sun, with the moon at her feet.
La Salette - Mary, Sorrowful Mother weeping over the weight of
sins, calling for repentance.
Lourdes - Mary, Immaculate Conception, mediating healing
grace, calling for praying of the Rosary.
Knock - Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, with a rose at
her forehead beneath her crown, and her hands
channeling prayers rising from earth to the
heavenly Altar of the Lamb.
Paris - Mary, Our Lady of Grace, Miraculous Medal
Fatima - Mary, Immaculate Heart, Rosary prayers of reparation
for world conversion and peace
For those who have made the de Montfort consecration to Mary, in
which all the spiritual merits of our actions are offered to Mary
for distribution as she sees fit in the world, this consecration
gives heightened meaning to all our prayers, acts and work in the
Mary Garden - serving as a model for all life's activities. Those
wishing to make this consecration are referred to St. Louis de
Montfort's book, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
For those who have set out on the ascetical/mystical illuminative
way to God, the wide variety of flower symbols of Mary's life and
mysteries offers supports for reflection and meditation as they
work in the Mary Garden, and elsewhere as they lovingly embrace
them in their hearts and imaginations. This spiritual path is
described in the article, "Gardening With Mary".
Finally, there are those in unitive spiritual mode, whose every
thought and act, in communion with Mary, is directed, with recourse
to all her spousal, motherly, and queenly priveleges and
prerogatives, towards the Divine Plan for the world - the building
of God's Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven - and who direct all
their thoughts, prayers, acts and works, including those of Mary
Gardening, and their merits, to this end through Mary.
All these modes of Marian devotion build on the simple, tender,
interior, holy and constant beginnings learned in Catholic
chidhood, and through the years engender an increasing sense of
spiritual communion with Mary, and of her presence as Mediatrix in
all places where grace is distributed. With this in mind, Frances
Crane Lillie, foundress of the first U. S. Parish Mary Garden in
Woods Hole entitled her garden booklet, "Our Lady in Her Garden."
Those thus motivated to participate in the devotion or work of the
Parish Mary Garden, then join together to this end in a
self-perpetuating Parish Mary Garden Guild, as described in "Parish
Mary Garden Care."
Copyright, Mary's Gardens, 1999