In Rome, in a tradition so old that no one can say when it truly began, the pope blesses a rose crafted from pure gold. In churches all over the world priests and deacons wear rose colored vestments. Why is the rose so closely associated with this Sunday, halfway through the Lenten season?
The rose has a rich and complex symbolic meaning in Christian history, but in general terms we can say that the rose is a promise of the joy that follows suffering as the flower follows the thorns.
Pope Innocent III put it this way. “As Laetare Sunday represents love after hate, joy after sorrow, and fullness after hunger, so does the rose designate by its color, love, by its odor, joy, and by its taste, satiety.”
In 1948 Dr. Howard Rusk founded the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York City. Before Dr. Rusk, the field of rehabilitation medicine simply did not exist. But Rusk took an innovative approach. His goal in treating the handicapped and the severely injured was to treat the whole person. Through what he called “the phenomenon of hope,” he trained people to look beyond their suffering to the heights of their latent ability – to help them live the very best lives they were capable of despite their disabilities.
On a wall at the institute is a plaque with these words.
“I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey…
I asked for health that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity that I might do better things…
I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise…
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of others.
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God…
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life that I might enjoy all things…
I got nothing I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among men, most richly blessed!”
Today we are invited to look beyond the crucifixion to the glory of the resurrection, we are invited to look beyond the privations of Lent to the bounty of Heaven, we are invited to look beyond the thorns of suffering to the beauty of the rose.
Pax Vobiscum
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