Roses in Jesus’ garden

By Tanya Connor  | The Catholic Free Press

NORTHBOROUGH – They adorned their church with 850 roses, each representing a person, in honor of St. Rose of Lima. But the flowers weren’t the most important gift, the pastor said.
At 10 a.m. Mass Sunday, St. Rose of Lima Parish concluded a week of devotions to its patroness, a week that drew more folks to church, even from other parishes.
“People responded very well, devotionally,” said the pastor, Father Juan D. Escudero.
The 700-capacity church was packed for Saturday night’s Mass for Healing, he said. At that Mass, he said, he used prayers for the sick, and after Communion led the congregation in a special prayer.
“Since we had just received the Lord, I asked them to talk to him who dwells in their souls, for healing of their suffering in body, mind or heart,” he said. “I prayed through the intercession of St. Rose of Lima, who had a special love for the sick, (to) pour out her blessings on all of us – for healing, for courage, and especially for faith in God, as we unite our own sufferings to the sufferings of Christ, just as she did.” (That Mass will remain available on the parish website, www.saintroseoflima.com, Father Escudero said.)
At the Lord’s Day and weekday Masses, he preached about St. Rose of Lima and blessed worshippers individ ually with the parish’s relic of her, he said.
Her feast day, Aug. 23, drew about 50 people, an increase from the usual 12-15 that attend weekday Mass, Father Escudero said. That day the theme was her zeal for the salvation of souls. On Aug. 24, the theme was her dedication to the sick and her works of charity, and on Aug. 25 the idea that she was the first fruits of holiness in the Americas, as the first person from here to be canonized, he said.
The parish’s Wednesday night holy hour, which usually draws 30-40 people, had 50-60 in attendance, Father Escudero said.
The number of roses also exceeded expectations. Parishioners had been invited to give money for fresh flowers in honor of loved ones and the parish bought the roses. On Saturday, about 20 volunteers made bouquets for the church and vestibule, where the names of the people the roses represented were listed.
“I didn’t know what to expect when we announced it,” the pastor said. “My hopes were for a few hundred” - but 850 were purchased.
“Every single rose in the church has a name, and those are the names of our loved ones,” he told worshippers Sunday.
After Mass, Lee Zawacki, a longtime parishioner, said she and her husband, Dr. John Zawacki, bought 11 roses – two red ones to represent themselves and nine white ones for their deceased parents, siblings and a friend.
“My mother passed away when she was only 49,” Mrs. Zawacki said. The next day, Aug. 30, was the 60th anniversary of her death, “and so knowing that I could do this was very special – to celebrate her short life.”
She said the parish previously honored their patroness with roses and in other ways “but having each rose represent an individual … was something different,” as was celebrating for a week. She didn’t remember having the relic either.
Sister Charlene O’Leary, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, stopped in after Mass with friends.
“I’m from Leominster; I came to see the roses,” she explained. She said she did not attend the services, as she doesn’t drive, but followed what Father Escudero, to whom she is close, was doing.
E laine Ford, who came with her, said she knew Father Escudero, who’d been at her parish, St. Mary in Shrewsbury. She said she attended St. Rose of Lima’s holy hour and the Mass for Healing with fellow St. Mary’s parishioners, and bought roses for family members.
At Mass Sunday Father Escudero used roses and stories as lessons.
He told of a farmer seeing the king’s carriage coming and pondering what favors to ask for.
But the king asked, “What are you going to give?” The farmer figured the king didn’t need his tools; he himself needed them for his livelihood. The king didn’t need his peanut butter sandwich; he had cooks. The farmer found reasons not to give the king anything from his bag except two grains of rice. The king left and the farmer found in his bag two nuggets of gold – the size of the rice grains. He realized that whatever he gave the king was what he would have received back – in gold.
“What are you going to give?” Father Escudero asked listeners. “This is the question our King, our God, asks,” not because he wants to take from us, but because he wants to multiply our gifts. He asks for our hearts.
“That’s what St. Rose of Lima did; she gave her heart to God,” he said. She lived a life of prayer, penance and service to the sick.
The saint, who was named Isabel Flores de Oliva, was born in 1586 in Lima, Peru, 55 years after Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego in Mexico with the miracles of roses growing in winter and the imprint of her image on his tilma, Father Escudero noted. Isabel was called Rose because of her beauty, and had many suitors. He said she feared the nickname would tempt her to vanity, until her confessor asked, “Wouldn’t you like to be a rose in Jesus’ garden?”
“May we too become part of the garden of Jesus,” Father Escudero said – not just through the 850 roses in the church, but in giving Jesus our hearts.

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