Petals Falling on my Head

This past Sunday, I was at 9 am Mass with my two daughters, which in itself was a treat since I always go to Sunday mass alone. It was Pentecost Sunday, which is the birthday for the Catholic Church and also a reminder of the outpouring of gifts from the Holy Spirit in the church. The vestment color that the priest wore was red, representing the Holy Spirit.

 

Fr. Harry Nichols, the pastor of St. Stanislaus mentioned at the beginning of mass that there would be a special surprise later on.  That was all he said. While mass moved on, I completely forgot about the surprise, and started to participate at mass, alternatively thinking about where I would eat breakfast afterwards.

 

Mass concluded, the congregation sang the final song and before anyone knew it…something started falling from the grate in the ceiling of the church. At first I thought the ceiling was falling, since St. Stanislaus has been undergoing a continuous renovation project, and then I thought are those were leaves drifting down. But they weren’t. Red rose petals literally came drifting down from the ceiling. My daughter picked up one and handed it to me. I touched it and smelled it and it was real, and along with the petal was the beautiful fragrance of the rose.

 

Like me, everyone at mass was surprised and everyone was in awe of the sight. The surprise was indeed a beautiful sight. The memory has stayed with me for days and every time that I think about what happened at the end of mass. It has brought a happy smile to my face.