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| The Easter Lily |
The world of art and literature are full of stories and images that
speak of the beauty and majesty of the Easter lily. One of the most
famous biblical references is the Sermon on the Mount, when Christ
told his listeners: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:
they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these."
Often called the "white-robed apostles of hope," lilies were found
growing in the garden of Gethsemane after Christ's agony. Tradition
has it that the beautiful white lilies spring up where drops of
Christ's sweat fell to the ground in his final hours of sorrow and
distress. Christian churches continue this tradition at Easter by
banking their altars and surrounding their crosses with masses of
Easter lilies to commemorate the Resurrection and hope of life
everlasting.
The pure white lily has long been closely associated with the Virgin
Mary. In early paintings, the Angel Gabriel is pictured extending to
Mary a branch of pure white lilies, announcing that she is to be the
Mother of the Christ child. In other paintings, saints are pictured
bringing vases full of white lilies to Mary and the Infant Jesus.
The legend is told that when Mary's tomb was visited three days after
her burial, it was found empty save for bunches of majestic white
lilies. Early writers and artists made the lily the emblem of the
Annunciation, the Resurrection of the Virgin: the pure white petals
signifying her spotless body and the golden anthers her soul glowing
with heavenly light.
In yet another expression of womanhood, lilies had a significant
presence in the paradise of Adam and Eve. Tradition has it that when
Eve left the Garden of Eden she shed real tears of repentance, and
from those remorseful tears sprung up lilies.
-- Unknown |
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