Hi, Josh —
Hope you are enjoying the Catechism I
sent you.
I think the saint your Catholic friend
is referring to is Saint Therese
of Lisieux, a Doctor of the Church
and the Novena Rose Prayer devotion
that developed from those seeking
her help.
You can learn more about her on these various websites:
[New Advent][Wikipedia] [Vatican][LittleFlower.org]
Obviously, all saints in
Heaven, are In Christ so
when they ask St. Therese for help,
the Lord is glorified and happy when
He sees his Heavenly brothers and
sisters being called upon for help.
No saint is doing this themselves,
rather their reply to any prayer
is, in Christ Jesus, Our Lord.
I found these pages which should
help you understand (how this rose
thing works):
This posted thread from Catholic
Answers should help:
How
seriously to take a rose from
St. Therese.
It had some very good points, especially
these two:
- We don't control God or the saints,
nor can we insist that, if they
give us signs, those signs must
be unambiguous. They
want us to work out our own vocations
and salvations. Yes, they
may communicate things to us,
but they are not obliged to do
so in the ways we want, and
- I agree that you cannot nor should
not base this decision on this
one thing.
You may reflect back on the whole
thing five years down the road
and realize that
St. Thérèse did
answer your prayer, but don't
allow this to circumvent your
vocational discernment. Discernment
is a process, not a singular, defining
moment (though singular moments
can be part of the process and
provide us with clarity). We
don't want our faith to become
superstition.
Your Catholic friend said:
. . . she will
provide you with Yes and No answers via
a red or white rose.
I couldn't find any thing that mentioned
receiving a red or white rose, though
it may be part of the devotion.
The most important thing to remember
is any (personal or private) (novena
or devotion) has nothing to
do with the teachings, doctrines or dogmas
of the Church.
Any (personal or private) (novena
or devotion) address pious devotions,
allowed by the Church, that are non-obligatory
on all Catholic Christians.
If you have any questions on the Catechism don't hesitate to ask us.
Hope this helps,
and take care!
Mike
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