Our Lady of Fatima's Rose Opens

Our Lady's Rose opens today 7.2.2013
for the first time this year

Last year on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima members of the Children's Rosary planted a Peace Rose at St. Thomas the Apostle Church as a gift to Our Lady.  The children prayed that with each petal that forms on the rose that 1,000 families would begin family prayer.  All spring we have been watching Our Lady's Rose.  While many of the roses in the rose garden at St. Thomas were blooming our small rose was bare.  But then just last week I spied two buds.  Today as I walked to daily Mass the blossoms were gloriously open.  After a day of heavy down pours yesterday it was clear the blossoms had just opened as there was no damage to the two beautiful flowers.  

Our Lady had another beautiful gift in store for the Children's Rosary group today.  It came with an inquiry about the Children's Rosary.  The individual contacting us was from East Timor a country in South East Asia.  He was excited about the idea of starting a Children's Rosary.  When I wrote to him and asked his parish he said, Our Lady of Fatima.  Both of us were deeply touched to realize the beautiful timing of his inquiry and the opening of the Rose planted last year in honor of Our Lady of Fatima.  Another wonderful gift was to see this new connection in Asia after Our Holy Father had released his missionary prayer intention for July which was: "That throughout Asia doors may open to messengers of the Gospel."

The plans of Our Lady and Our Lord are so beautiful that as they unfold there is a wonderful excitement and joy at the realization of how intricate they are and impossible to predict.

The Peace Rose being planted as a gift to Our Lady
on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima 2012

Little Peter one of the members of the Children's Rosary
helped with the planting and watering of Our Lady's Rose