Love is the promise of sweet peas and angels

by Mary Regina Morrell

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

My father loved flowers, and every year, shortly after Easter, he would begin planning what he was going to plant in various places around the back yard.

Inevitably there would be cyclamen, heather for my mom, geraniums, tulips, peonies and, his favorite, irises. One year he built a bird feeder to hang outside my window and included in it a little flower box. I decided to grow sweet peas, and grow they did, up and over the bird feeder and onto the house and hanging down in tendrils where the vine couldn't grab hold.

For that whole summer I had the rich fragrance of flowers and the sweet sounds of birds every day. Then, I didn't know the symbolism behind the sweet pea- the flower of April and of "departure." In the language of flowers it means, also, "I am thinking of you."

I loved that bird feeder, mostly because I loved my father. Still, the memory of it brings a rush of tears and an inclination to drive the 180 miles north to the cemetery where he and my mother are buried just to plant some sweet peas in front of their headstone. But time does not usually allow us to indulge those impulses as they arise, so we are left to find other ways of consoling our hearts and our memories after we lose someone we love so much.

Life seems to teach us that, beyond love and because of it, the most transforming experience we will ever have is that of loss. In those painful experiences we are given a glimpse of the heavy burden and great sorrow that Jesus himself experienced - he, too, lost a father to death and, in his darkest hour, all but two of the friends he had loved so much and in whom he had placed his trust.

But in His moments of anguish and times of fear there was an angel there to offer solace and comfort. Who hasn't been moved by the touching painting of Jesus in Gethsemane resting his head on the lap a beautiful angel? Then, at the time of His greatest triumph, an angel was present as well, perhaps watching and waiting at his side during the Resurrection and sharing in the joy of God's glory. Who is to say that it wasn't that same angel who remained at the tomb to offer such needed words of consolation to Mary Magdalene -- another grieved by loss and in need of hope.

We, too, live in the presence of angels -- here to console, to guide, to invite us to surrender to God and experience God's love and mercy. Some of these are spiritual beings, who, as Pope John Paul II reminds us, are entrusted with our care. Others are earthly beings, those who can take our hands, hold our hearts and give us a comfort only human love can give. It was this comfort that Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and John offered to each other during the Passion and Death of Jesus, and most likely continued to offer to each other in dealing with the physical absence of the one who was Beloved. It is the comfort we must extend to each other when loss seems to entomb a sorrowful heart.

Today when I imagine the loved ones of Jesus visiting the empty sepulcher, as I'm sure they did, I imagine them finding a place full of fragrant flowers, brought to life at the moment of the Resurrection - a poignant and powerful reminder that Jesus, though departed, will never forget those who look for Him, and that, with the company of angels and love of the Holy Spirit, we will never be alone.

And I am certain that an April angel carries sweet peas!

Contact

Diocese of Metuchen
http://www.diometuchen.org NJ, US
Mary Regina Morrell - Associate Director, Office of Religious Education, 732 562.1990

Email

mmorrell@diometuchen.org

Keywords

love, angels, sweet peas, departure, grief

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