Opening

Gracious God,

let my life blossom like a wildflower,

in concert with an eternal rhythm

flowing toward you

in love and faith.

Readings

We were enclosed,

O eternal Father,

Within the garden of your breast,

You drew us out of your holy mind

like a flower.

                        (Catherine of Siena, Prayers)

For see, winter is past,

the rains are over and gone.

Flowers are appearing on the earth.

The season of glad songs has come.

                        (Song of Songs 2:11-12)

Reflection

What form expresses the abundance of love better than a flower?  Flowers ripen and blossom, pulse with loving energy.  They are revelations of grace uncurling like the hand of a child, invitations to beauty and freedom.

            It is easy to see how the flower could symbolize new life, the unfolding consciousness of a unified harmonious self.  The rose represents Christ, the thousand-petaled lotus, the “One.” Flowers remind us that our lives are nothing more than the blossoming of love.  No wonder we are invariably drawn back to this realization when we walk among wildflowers—snapdragons, violets, columbine, wood lily, iris, painted trillium, jack-in-the-pulpit—and see their petals, brilliant, almost translucent in the sunlight, waving in the breeze like small faces.

            The important thing is not to merely look at a flower but to let yourself become absorbed in its color and shape until it takes form within you.  Gaze at its exquisite center, and let it draw you inward. Become the flower completely and it will invite you to unfold and blossom without restriction.  All your cares will be forgotten, at least for a while, and you will discover your heart singing praise to the Creator.

Song

These are thy wonders, Lord of love,

To make us see we are but flowers that glide:

Which when we once can find and prove,

Thou hast a garden for us, where to bide.

                        (George Herbert, “The Flower”)

Closing

Lord, you are like a wild flower. You spring up in places where we least expect you. The bright color of your grace dazzles us.  When we reach down to pluck you, hoping to possess you for our own, you blow away in the wind.  May we come to expect you anywhere and everywhere.  May we rejoice in your beauty. Far from trying to possess you, may you possess us.

                                    (Henry Suso, “Like a Wild Flower”)

"Wayne Simsic is a professor at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio. He is the author of several books, including praying with Thomas Merton and St. John of the Cross. He and his wife live in Northeast Ohio."