The Legend of the Flowers of the Holy Night

Dear Friends,

We are ready to gather with you for the celebration of Christmas! The church is adorned with greenery, white hangings, and the familiar scents of a winter holiday. There are also beautiful poinsettias! (I am particularly fond of these leafy red plants at Christmastime, perhaps because of how popular they are in Houston, where I lived for many years.)

There is a Mexican legend about this plant, which helps explain why it holds such meaning in Mexico and has shaped its Christmas symbolism far beyond its place of origin.

The story goes that a poor girl named Pepita had no present to offer the Christ Child on Christmas Eve. As she walked to the church for Mass, she felt sad. Her cousin Pedro encouraged her to offer whatever gift she could, even a humble one, trusting that it would delight Christ’s heart.

Pepita knelt by the roadside and gathered a small bouquet of weeds. Seeing them made her feel even sadder—and embarrassed. As she entered the church, she was on the verge of tears, but she remembered her cousin’s words: “Even the most humble gift given in love will be acceptable in his eyes.”

So Pepita knelt and placed her simple bouquet at the foot of the creche. And as she offered it, the weeds burst into brilliant red blooms. Her meager gift was blessed and transformed into a sign of God’s love. It was the kind of miracle we might hope for whenever we bring our authentic selves—and all that we have, however big or small—to God in devotion and faith.

I pray that the Flowers of the Holy Night (Flores de Noche Buena) remind us that God delights in us, welcomes us, blesses us, and makes our offerings signs of beauty and hope wherever we go.

Merry Christmas.

Scott+
The Rev. R. Scott Painter, Rector