Silver Rose Relay
Throughout the month of June in the United States, gardeners, florists and rose lovers celebrate National Rose Month. The rose is the state flower of Georgia and the national floral emblem of the United States as declared by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 who said:
Americans have always loved the flowers with which God decorates our land. More often than any other flower, we hold the rose dear as the symbol of life and love and devotion of beauty and eternity. For the love of man and woman, for the love of mankind and god, for the love of country, Americans who would speak the language of the heart do so with a rose.
The rose also has a special place in the heart of the people of Mexico and the Americas because of the role it played in the story of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Blessed Juan Diego in 1531. Castilian roses miraculously appeared atop a barren, frost-covered hill in December. Those roses helped to prove the identity of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the Mother of God.
To deepen devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, a program called “The Silver Rose Run” was initiated by the youth organization of the Knights of Columbus in 1960. Similar to an Olympic Torch Relay, which creates awareness and enthusiasm before the Olympic Games, the annual Silver Rose Relay is designed to create awareness and enthusiasm before the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. The relay, which crosses North America, is also meant to highlight Our Lady of Guadalupe as the patroness of the Americas and to foster intercontinental unity. The roses are made from silver because silver is one of Mexico’s precious metals.
This year’s Silver Rose Relay began in April in Canada. Six roses have been traveling via six separate routes throughout Canada and North America. One of those roses will travel through Georgia next week with a stop at St. Thomas Aquinas. That rose will be placed in front of an icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe next Sunday during the 10:30am and 2:30pm Masses before it moves on to the next location. The relay will end on December 12 in Mexico.
