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Mary of Nazareth

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Parish Dedication and Blessing , September 8, 1991 -  Background

     The Annapolis Mary Garden, developed from an original plan
by renowned horticulturalist Tony Dove, then Curator of the London
Tower Public Gardens in Edgewater, Maryland, was originally
dedicated and blest on the Vigil of the Assumption, 1988.

     Today's dedication of the newly installed focal Garden
sculpture of Mary of Nazareth - a major work especially designed for
this garden by renowned sculptor, Leo Irrera, in residence at the
Pius VI Religious Art Center in Washington, D.C. - is a fulfillment
of the hopes and prayers of the parishioners who have founded the
Mary Garden, and brings it to a national and international stature.

     Bringing the visitor to reflection on Mary and Jesus, as they
were in the Nazareth countryside, the statue quickens hearts and
minds to meditation on the rich symbolism of the Flowers of Our Lady
in the beds around it - as we pray in the words of the Blessing of
Images from the Roman Rite:

     "Almighty and eternal God . . . as often as we look on
     this image with our bodily eyes, so often do we consider
     the actions of your saints with our mind's eye, and ponder
     their sanctity for our imitation.  Be so good, we beg of you,
     to bless and sanctify this statue . . . that whoever in the
     presence of this image humbly pays devout reverence and honor
     to your only-begotten Son and his Blessed Mother, may through
     their merits and intercession win grace in this life, and
     everlasting glory in the world to come. . . ."


     Today, the Feast of Mary's Birth, is the traditional day also
for the Roman Rite Blessing of Seeds, Flowers and Crops for the
coming year.  Through it we renew the blessing of the entire Garden
as a holy place:

     "Almighty, everlasting God, sower and nourisher of the heavenly
     Word, you till the ground of our hearts with spiritual tools.
     Hear our prayers, please, and pour your blessings upon the
     fields that have been sown . . ."


     Through these blessings of the Church we are assisted in
re-entering the piety of the medieval Christians, for whom all areas
of life were transformed for the sanctification of souls and the
building of God's Kingdom.

     With the installation of Mary of Nazareth, the Mary Garden and
the work of its tending have been especially dedicated to peace in
the Holy Land, in our own country and throughout the entire world.

     The turning of our thoughts to Nazareth reminds us that rural
Nazareth, in which Mary and Jesus lived as the New Eve and the New
Adam, became in effect the New Garden of Eden, according to the
lines from the liturgy for today's feast of the Nativity of Mary:

     "When the most holy Virgin was born,
     the whole world was made radiant."


     It is this illuminative view of nature which is the basis for
the transforming symbolism of the Flowers of Our Lady of the Mary
Garden.