St. Therese of Lisieux and Roses Question

[Humility]

Many people who say the St. Therese of Lisieux Novena

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus
Please pick for me a rose
from the heavenly garden
and send it to me
as a message of love.

O Little Flower of Jesus,
ask God to grant the favors
I now place with confidence
in you hands
( mention your special prayer request here )

St. Therese, help me to always believe
as you did, in God’s great love for me,
so that I may imitate your “Little Way” each day.

Amen

report that they ask her to send them roses in different colors as a sign that their prayers are being answered: a certain color of roses if they should do x and a different color of roses if they instead should do y.

I was wondering, is it actually okay to do this or is this crossing the line from legitimate prayer/asking for intercession into divination? And is it okay to ask for a certain color of roses as a sign that the prayer was going to be answered by a certain time period, or would that be wrong?

Thank you.

 

[Jen7]

I know someone who did it & based a major life decision on the color of the rose. She seems happy with the outcome. I’d just be careful about doing it because, well, it seems a little like asking St Therese to be a vending machine.

 

[Irishmom2]

And also, what if you received a rose and it was neither color?

I always thought a rose was not always an answer but an acknowledgment that she heard your request.

I think that clinging to the hope of getting a specific answer sounds a bit superstitious and not like someone that trusts in God’s will happening.

 

[Irishmom2]

And is it okay to ask for a certain color of roses as a sign that the prayer was going to be answered by a certain time period,

I have never heard of anyone doing this. That sounds too much like a demand, or that there is an expected timetable. No one should be thinking that is going to get answered.

 

[MNathaniel]

I can’t speak to the specifics of your question, and personally I’d be wary for the same reasons as you just gave: treating something like divination. And sort of expecting something to work mechanically.

I will offer my personal anecdote related to Thérèse and roses though; after a nine day novena (prayed to both St Thérèse and Mary Undoer of Knots), I forgot about the novena entirely. Then, months later, I received roses at the exact minute when the message came in to me that the problem was resolved (though I wasn’t checking my messages during that minute, but I realized later in the day). And this was a problem that had been going on for years.

So, random anecdote. I hadn’t asked her to send me roses or anything. I had just asked her to ask God (on my behalf) to help me with my problem. I’ve always just taken the roses to be the sign that this problem really was finally resolved, and St. Thérèse was involved.

So that’s all I really have to add: a 'St. Thérèse sends roses!" anecdote to add to the pile… but it doesn’t really answer your particular question and I’d keep looking for a more authoritative answer.

 

[Limoncello4021]

I have never heard about the color of the rose. That seems bordering on the superstitious to me.
Therese is one of my patron saints. I have said many a novena to her, and never once received a rose. Yet, many of those petitions were answered, I am convinced, by her. So pray for what you want in strong faith and let getting or not getting a rose be a nice possibility, but not something that will shake your faith.

 

[Humility]

It doesn’t shake my faith , because I actually “received” the kind of roses I was asking for (really, I saw them in an interesting situation, didn’t physically receive them). But then afterwards, My conscience started bothering me that maybe I had done something wrong by asking.

 

[tootle_toot]

When the young lady with red hair shows herself in your dream and then you notice the scent of roses when you wake up in the morning, you want to believe that you have had a visit from St. Therese.

 

[Dorothy]

I can’t help but share this:

I had made a novena to St. Therese about a particular problem, and was sitting at my kitchen table when my son, a young teen, came in with a red velvet rose that he found in the street and gave to me. I didn’t ask for one, and was quite surprised. And, the next day the problem was solved!