Flowers for the Immaculate Conception (Even in winter, edition)

We had one freeze, 27F for just an hour after sunrise. That was enough to kill all the kudzu, which makes me think that if someone had a directional freeze machine that could be put on a semi-trailer and dragged around the roads of WNC every couple of weeks, that would solve a lot of difficulties for the road crews fighting the kudzu from making roads unpassable. Wishful thinking, right?

Meanwhile, yesterday temps were in the mid 70s. The sun even felt hot. But that’s relative to the 27 degrees hours before, not to the temps of high 90s some months ago. We can get used to anything, right?

But no one will ever get used to hell. Every moment will be hell, forever. And ever. Dante depicted a sign over the gates of hell: “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.”

For that matter, no one will ever get used to the paradise that is heaven, whose ardent charity is ever ancient, ever new, full of life, life who is God. Dante might well have spoken of a sign over the gates of heaven: “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” Heaven is hopeless; there is no hope in heaven because one has attained one’s hope, though the fulfillment of that hope… well… we will never get used to it! Thank you Jesus, thank you, Mary. A flower for Mary, then, created by Jesus.

The flowers at the top flourish when it gets cold. For a while. Then, with an insistent winter, they are gone as well. The fierce color of the trees in the face of cold – as if trying to heat up the atmosphere – last for a much shorter time even than that. Then they drop.

• “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ described by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house. And let no one in the field return for his cloak. How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not occur in the winter or on the Sabbath. For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again. If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.” (Mt 24:15-22)

So, at least a shorter “winter” if it happens in winter. Mind you, there are many kinds of winters, including those which are used in analogies. Such is the case here. In context, there are 3.5 years +45 days. There are three winters in the time allotted for the worst persecution ever.

There is a “winter” of true shepherds in the Church. There is hardly a one who is happy to teach clear doctrine, clear morality. This is the worst persecution of all. Genocides are merely a symptom of the death of the souls of those bringing about a bloody persecution, the actuators of any physical deaths in the hundreds of millions. But the deaths of the souls that bring about the persecution itself, who set up the conditions for it, are the fake shepherds in the Church, those who commit the heresy of blah, blah, blah. More on that later. But know this: they are more deadly for eternal souls than all other mere sinners put together. And these fake shepherds are now legion, to use a term from the Gospels, and a “winter” is upon is, “The Winter” is upon us. But still pray. Pray all the more. And, as always, the best advice to all, especially to the fake shepherds: Go to Confession!

Today, early this morning, I got this together…

So, I say, give a flower to the Immaculate Conception. Can you do that? No, really. While you can. Winter is setting in. Actually do that. No, really! Go outside, pick a flower, put it in a vase of sorts. Put it in front of a statue or image of dearest Mary. She already saw all the hell to come beholding her Son on the Cross. And, because of that, say “Thank you, Mary. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”

• “But Father George! Father George! You don’t understand! Winter is upon us! There are no flowers! I refuse even to look!”

Do we have to call to mind the flowers of winter brought by Juan Diego from our Lady to the bishop?

Do we have to be reminded of the flowers of winter brought by Bernadette from our Lady to the bishop?

After weeks of 24/7 freezing temps with thick ice in Lourdes I myself took pictures of flowers of winter at the grotto, ever so delicately blasting though the thick ice. Yes.

Even in the winter of lack of faith among the shepherds of the Church, the winter of a rejection of faith and morals, there are still flowers to be had for our Lady.

• “But Father George! Father George! There’s literally six feet of snow outside my house due to global warming! I can’t even open the door of my house!”

I get it. So, let’s see… I know! In the winter… as at any other time, get out your Rosary by which roses of Hail Marys are given to our Lady. I mean I carry two Rosaries. I tend to break Rosaries, and to have a broken Rosary is unacceptable. A backup weapon is necessary. And… and… I have two more in the car, just in case. You can never have too many Rosaries. Just make sure you say them as flowers for the Immaculate Conception. For you Mary.