A reflection by Johan Bergström-Allen, T.O.C., based on the 1935 lecture series on Carmelite mysticism given in the United States by Blessed Titus Brandsma, O.Carm. Text © Johan Bergström-Allen.
A beautiful meditation on the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, was written by the Dutch Carmelite friar, and martyr of the Second World War, Titus Brandsma. The following reflection is inspired by ideas in a lecture that Titus gave in 1935, in which he compared devotion to Mary with a sunflower …
We can ponder Mary’s relationship to God, and indeed our own relationship to God, through the image of a sunflower.
Picture a beautiful garden or a wide-open field on a bright summer’s day.
Rising up high above the other plants is a sunflower, which represents the human soul, both in Mary, and in each of us.
The sun, shining bright above, is a metaphor for God, in whose love and light we bask.
The sunflower’s bright colour makes it look like an image of the sun. Every human being, including Mary, and ourselves, has been created in God’s image. Mary radiates the beauty of a person who has fully absorbed the sunlight of God’s abundant love.
The sunflower opens its petals and bathes in the radiance of the sun. Throughout the day, the sunflower turns itself towards the sun, always seeking its warmth and light.
In our metaphor, two suns shine into one another: the sun stands for God, radiant with an unfathomable light; the sunflower stands for the soul of Mary, and every human being, absorbing that light, basking in that light, and glowing like another sun. The soul enraptured by the beams of God’s love shining on it cannot turn away. It knows that it can only live through God, and for God.
The sunflower is a simple flower. It can grow in all gardens, but wherever it is planted, it brings beauty and delight. A simple human life gives great glory to God. Wherever we may be planted, we can reflect God’s radiance.
The sunflower can grow tall and firm because, even as it stretches towards the sun above, it has strong roots that keep it grounded. So, we must draw on the source that truly nourishes us.
The sunflower’s stem is rich in fresh green foliage. Its leaves symbolise an abundance of virtues and good deeds.
The sunflower produces seeds rich in oil that give food and nourishment. So, Mary, and all who turn to God, are able to sustain others, giving of themselves to those in need. The greatest example of this is Jesus, fruit of Mary, and God who shines among us.
May we, flowers from the seed of Mary, rise up towards the sun. For we trust that God, who infused himself into Mary, will shine upon us also the beams of his light and warmth.