

“Why are you so enamored of my face that you do not turn your gaze to the beautiful garden which blossoms under the radiance of Christ? There is the Rose in which the Divine Word became flesh; here are the lilies whose perfume guides you in the right ways” (Paradiso, 23 71-75).But Dante uses also a more general symbolism of the rose, that of the universe (Paradiso, 31, 1-3), like the lotus in Asia. Indeed, with its multiple petals the rose is a beautiful image of our expanding cosmos. Wonderful examples of this symbolism are found in the Gothic cathedrals and their rose windows, the circular, stained-glass windows that enhance the three entrances of these churches. These immense roses symbolize the world of salvation offered and revealed by God to our lost human race through the Old and New Testaments.


May God look with favor upon our world, the rose he created, that it may more expand its petals and so glorify him, our Creator and Father, in imitation of the rose of Nazareth, Mary, the servant of the Lord.

Copyright 2018 Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

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