Flowers for the Immaculate Conception (Not tender snowflakes, edition)

Those are not tender snowflakes on that tree outside the house of one of my stops on the Sunday Communion Call circuit. No, no. Those are flowers for the Immaculate Conception, and those at this stop are stalwart soldiers in the Church Militant, humbly thankful to stand next to Mary as she stands under the Cross of dear Son, Jesus. Good souls with purity of heart and agility of soul may seem like pushovers to the world, easily manipulated, but no. They have steeled themselves in God’s grace, and withstand all the fires of hell. They do not melt like tender snowflakes. And those flowers they provide the Immaculate Conception cannot be burned. They are like the three young men – Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego – thrown into the great fiery furnace of King Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 3). The flames do not touch them, and one like the Son of God joins them. And the Immaculate Conception says: “Well, yes, of course!” We pray for each other: Hail Mary…