Smelling roses & Mary's presence - Page 5

miguelmtz · #61 Apr 2, '13, 12:55 am

I was praying the day before and crying for the holy spirit to descend upon me. My prayer was to Mary and God. I also asked Mary to teach me to love and respect a woman and a wife now that I am 22 years old. Before this prayer, I was stressed out that women peers have been identifying me as a "sexist/patriarchal" over a question on social media about portraying quality for both men and women. A long story short, a few people took offense to a question of mine.
On the next day, which was Easter, in mass for a baptism, I prayed again with openness and to the Virgin Mary asking for her help and intervention. During my prayer, I got a strong sent of roses. I knew it was a miracle.
The day after Easter I was walking from a conference for my cousin's confirmation and as I was telling him the miracle, suddenly, we both smelled a strong cent of roses. We looked around for a rose bush or bushes.. nothing. I work in landscaping and have not got a smell of roses so strong and beautiful. The smell was as if roses were right under my nose. It was beautiful. My cousin Ivan said, "It is the virgin Mary, she is with us." I believe this stressful experience with my women peers has made me close with the Holy Mary. I am thankful for two miracles in the span of two days and for the fact my cousin experienced it too.
God Bless all of people

SammySSS · #62 Apr 4, '13, 1:45 pm

A Friend and I were talking after a weekly Cursillo meeting. I smelled something and asked her to come into the room where I was and asked if she smelled anything (I didn't say what I was smelling). She said she smelled Lilies. There were NO lilies around anywhere. She went home and then called me and told me what she'd read. This is what she and I found that night:

Blessed Mother and Lily

Roses and lilies became Mary's flowers. The Virgin Mary is often pictured as receiving white lilies. The Angel Gabriel brought them to her when he told her she would bear the Christ Child. Various saints are also shown bringing them to Mary and the baby Jesus.

The upright leaf of the lily represents the omnipotence of God the Father, and the two leaves which bent down, the wisdom and love of the Son and the Holy Spirit, to which the Virgin approaches so nearly.

The lily of the valley was a symbol of the Virgin Mary because of its pure white flowers, sweet smell and humble appearance. It symbolized Mary's Immaculate Conception and represented the purity of body and soul by which Mary found favor with God.

Then the Blessed Virgin made known to her that if anyone salutes Her devoutly as the white lily of the Trinity and vermilion rose of Heaven, She will show how She prevails by the omnipotence of the Father, how skillful She is in procuring the salvation of men by the wisdom of the Son, and with what exceeding love her heart is filled by the charity of the Holy Ghost. The Blessed Virgin added these words: "I will appear at the hour of death to those who salute me thus in such glory, that they will anticipate the very joys of Heaven." From this time the Saint frequently saluted the Holy Virgin or her images with the below words:

"Hail white lily of the ever peaceful and glorious Trinity!
Hail, effulgent rose, the delight of Heaven,
Of whom the King of Heaven was born and by whose milk He was nourished! Nourish our souls by the effusions of thy Divine influences."

The faithful saw Mary's attributes in the herbs and flowers growing around them and named many plants after her. Legends about the flowers developed as people sought to connect them with events from Mary's life.

Mary was associated with this passage from the Song of Songs: "I am the Rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys." (2:1)

Roses and lilies became Mary's flowers. A legend from the second century says that when Mary's tomb was opened to show Thomas that her body had been assumed into heaven, it was filled with these flowers. The Venerable Bede (673-735) compared Our Lady to the lily... the white petals signifying her bodily purity, the golden anthers the glowing light of her soul....

Then Jesus came for her and her sould went forth out of her body and flew upward in the arms of her Son. As Mary rose, she was surrounded with red roses and white lilies. Three days later, her body came forth from the tomb and was assumed into heaven, accompanied by a chorus of angels.

Thomas, however, was not present and when he arrived refused to believe that this had happened. He asked that her tomb be opened and when it was opened it contained only lilies and roses.

Roses and lilies have been symbols of Mary since earliest times. The rose, emblematic of her purity, glory and sorrow, was her attribute as Queen of Heaven and a symbol of her love for God and for Christ, her son. The lily represented her immaculate purity, her innocence and virginity.

CatholicofAgora · #63 Apr 4, '13, 1:48 pm

My rcia instructor told me about this experience she had! Amazing i found it on here, too!

CatholicofAgora · #64 Apr 4, '13, 6:05 pm

I can't believe how common this is! I thought it was just a thing that happened to my rcia instructor while praying the rosary! Amazing!

maxdouglas402 · #65 Apr 4, '13, 7:36 pm

When I was running around in sin, for some reason I felt compelled to get a tattoo of a rosary wrapped around a rose. I had never seen anyone with the same tattoo before, so I was surprised when I came across this thread.

Now that I think about it, I know Our Mother was with me even through my struggles of serious sin.