The Rosary smells like flowers?!

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Well, this really surprised me.

Of all the Catholic doctrine and such I’ve been learning lately, I think the Rosary has been the hardest one to swallow. It’s not in the Bible, it’s long, and saying fifty Hail Marys in one sitting just always felt wrong to me. I used to do it for a while, maybe a week or two, several months back, when I was starting to take Catholicism seriously. Then stopped, because I felt I needed to be absolutely sure that God has no issues with it.

So last night, I prayed the Rosary at my bedside, where I usually pray at night. And after the first decade or so, I just out of nowhere smelled flowers.

There are no flowers in my room. Nor have there ever been. Nor does the bathroom soap smell like flowers, so it wasn’t my hands. :rolleyes: So for the first time in my life, in the middle of prayer, I just start smelling the things around me. Bed, pillow, hands, shirt. 😃 It dissipated after a while, and I could not find the source at all.

It came back later as I prayed the Rosary, then dissipated again, came back, etc, until it was finished. So afterward, I smelled the beads as well, which I figured was the only thing different from all the prior instances of praying, and no, they smelled like plastic. And they still do. Today, nothing in my room smells strange at all.

The entire thing amazed me, and even as I write this I’m certain that this is not the sort of thing I, nor my subconscious, would make up. I didn’t ask Mary or God to prove to me that the Rosary was something I should be doing, but now I’m thinking that’s just what happened. 🙂
 
Callin said:
Well, this really surprised me.

Of all the Catholic doctrine and such I’ve been learning lately, I think the Rosary has been the hardest one to swallow. It’s not in the Bible, it’s long, and saying fifty Hail Marys in one sitting just always felt wrong to me. I used to do it for a while, maybe a week or two, several months back, when I was starting to take Catholicism seriously. Then stopped, because I felt I needed to be absolutely sure that God has no issues with it.

So last night, I prayed the Rosary at my bedside, where I usually pray at night. And after the first decade or so, I just out of nowhere smelled flowers.

There are no flowers in my room. Nor have there ever been. Nor does the bathroom soap smell like flowers, so it wasn’t my hands. :rolleyes: So for the first time in my life, in the middle of prayer, I just start smelling the things around me. Bed, pillow, hands, shirt. 😃 It dissipated after a while, and I could not find the source at all.

It came back later as I prayed the Rosary, then dissipated again, came back, etc, until it was finished. So afterward, I smelled the beads as well, which I figured was the only thing different from all the prior instances of praying, and no, they smelled like plastic. And they still do. Today, nothing in my room smells strange at all.

The entire thing amazed me, and even as I write this I’m certain that this is not the sort of thing I, nor my subconscious, would make up. I didn’t ask Mary or God to prove to me that the Rosary was something I should be doing, but now I’m thinking that’s just what happened. 🙂
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Actually all parts of the Rosary prayers are in the Bible.
 
Fr.John Corapi says this about the rosary

Mary is the mother par excellence, for she is the mother of God (#495). This God, who is also true man, gave her to us from the cross in the person of his beloved disciple, St. John. As mother of the church Mary continues to fulfill a mother’s function (#963). A mother is one who says “yes” to life; one who conceives life and gives it the light of day. She then brings that life to maturity by nurturing it: feeding and educating her children.
October is a good time to begin actively praying the rosary for the success of the new evangelization, since that success begins with each of us individually. The rosary is nothing less than the prayer of the Gospels. The Gospel is what evangelization is all about. As we pray the rosary we meditate upon the 15 mysteries, 13 of which are found explicitly in the Gospels, two of which can be deduced from the Scriptures. The main prayers of the “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” are gospel prayers. We begin to interiorize the Gospel, which means we begin to interiorize Jesus Christ, who is the “Good News” of the Gospel. We thus begin to become who we are. In becoming the living presence of Jesus, “the Light of the world,” we also become light for a world sinking into darkness under the weight of its own iniquity. fathercorapi.com/articledet.aspx?articleID=1653799221
 
Isn’t it most wonderful when we do not ask and yet receive? 🙂

Never forget the flowers.

'Flores apparuerunt in terra nostra. . . Fulcite me floribus. (The flowers appear on the earth. . . stay me up with flowers. Sg 2:5-12)
 
The Rosary is accompanied by meditation on the life of Jesus as is evidenced by the titles give to each decade…so you see there is a biblical action going on there with the Rosary.

You are privileged to have been given the gift of perfume! I don’t think the Lord wants to lose you! That you prayerd the Rosary despite your resevations perhaps was a touching to heaven as the perfume of flowers is to you!
 
That’s beautiful! Your story has also helped me appreciate the Rosary even more.

I’m sure Mary had something to do with that also.
 
Our Blessed Mother was with you. 👍 She gave you a sign that she was praying with you…what a blessing!

Same thing happened to my friend who is not Catholic and just decided to pray the Rosary from the leaflet and plastic one that I gave her …
 
I’ve heard of this happening 🙂
flowers especially roses are associated with Our Lady (also St Therese)… since you were praying the Rosary, I’d say this might have been a gift from God and Mary, just to encourage you! 🙂
I used to have some reservations about the Rosary, when I was first considering Catholicism (I used to be Protestant) but the first time I prayed it, I felt so much peace. And over time, God has helped me understand that it IS Scriptural and it’s also from Him… and that it’s a really powerful prayer. He also helped me understand more about Mary and how she leads us to Jesus.
Just keep on praying 🙂

God bless!
 
Callin said:
Well, this really surprised me.

Of all the Catholic doctrine and such I’ve been learning lately, I think the Rosary has been the hardest one to swallow. It’s not in the Bible, it’s long, and saying fifty Hail Marys in one sitting just always felt wrong to me. I used to do it for a while, maybe a week or two, several months back, when I was starting to take Catholicism seriously. Then stopped, because I felt I needed to be absolutely sure that God has no issues with it.

So last night, I prayed the Rosary at my bedside, where I usually pray at night. And after the first decade or so, I just out of nowhere smelled flowers.

There are no flowers in my room. Nor have there ever been. Nor does the bathroom soap smell like flowers, so it wasn’t my hands. :rolleyes: So for the first time in my life, in the middle of prayer, I just start smelling the things around me. Bed, pillow, hands, shirt. 😃 It dissipated after a while, and I could not find the source at all.

It came back later as I prayed the Rosary, then dissipated again, came back, etc, until it was finished. So afterward, I smelled the beads as well, which I figured was the only thing different from all the prior instances of praying, and no, they smelled like plastic. And they still do. Today, nothing in my room smells strange at all.

The entire thing amazed me, and even as I write this I’m certain that this is not the sort of thing I, nor my subconscious, would make up. I didn’t ask Mary or God to prove to me that the Rosary was something I should be doing, but now I’m thinking that’s just what happened. 🙂
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🙂 😉
 
Callin said:
So last night, I prayed the Rosary at my bedside, where I usually pray at night. And after the first decade or so, I just out of nowhere smelled flowers.

🙂
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Had the same experience about 4 years ago in the summer, in-spite of the fact that I had no roses in my garden at the time, or any other flowers, plus the windows and doors were closed.

Many Holy people have the scent of roses from their bodies or tombs, think it’s the “odor of sanctity.” oh and I’m not holy, but rather in a spiritual battle at moment".

Anyway haven’t smelled roses since, apart from the ones that I now have planted in my garden.
 
:angel1: Thank you so much for sharing this very private moment with all of us!
 
I wasn’t aware other people have smelled flowers also. Wow.

Guess this means I’ll be praying it more often. 😉 I’m glad this has helped others appreciate the Rosary, too.
 
One of the promises Mary gives to those who pray the rosary is signal graces.

The summer that I converted to Catholicism (along with my children) my middle daughter and I both smelled roses one day in August around the time we joined RCIA when we opened the door to our minivan and got inside. I had just hung a plastic rosary from the rearview mirror recently.

It was very noticeable to both of us, and we looked at each other and said, “where are the roses?”

I had something else happen that was interesting with the rosary, but it didn’t involve smell. I was slightly concerned that the rosary might be something God disapproved of, due to my Protestant roots, and I said a half-hearted prayer. I said, “if God approves of me saying the rosary, have someone pick up a rosary and give it to me”. Almost immediately after saying this prayer I discounted it, thinking that it wasn’t fair to ask God to do something like that.

The very next day my middle daughter put on a string of plastic purple mardi gras beads and was wearing them around. They broke, and when the strand broke she handed the string of beads to me. It struck me that the strand of beads looked like a rosary when she handed them to me, so I had a thought. I counted the beads, and the number of beads was exactly the same as the number of items on a rosary.

I know that story is a little iffy, but my prayer was kind of iffy too.
 
Angels_Unaware said:
One of the promises Mary gives to those who pray the rosary is signal graces.

The summer that I converted to Catholicism (along with my children) my middle daughter and I both smelled roses one day in August around the time we joined RCIA when we opened the door to our minivan and got inside. I had just hung a plastic rosary from the rearview mirror recently.

It was very noticeable to both of us, and we looked at each other and said, “where are the roses?”

I had something else happen that was interesting with the rosary, but it didn’t involve smell. I was slightly concerned that the rosary might be something God disapproved of, due to my Protestant roots, and I said a half-hearted prayer. I said, “if God approves of me saying the rosary, have someone pick up a rosary and give it to me”. Almost immediately after saying this prayer I discounted it, thinking that it wasn’t fair to ask God to do something like that.

The very next day my middle daughter put on a string of plastic purple mardi gras beads and was wearing them around. They broke, and when the strand broke she handed the string of beads to me. It struck me that the strand of beads looked like a rosary when she handed them to me, so I had a thought. I counted the beads, and the number of beads was exactly the same as the number of items on a rosary.

I know that story is a little iffy, but my prayer was kind of iffy too.
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doesn’t sound “iffy” to me.
 
I also had something interesting happen to me. I went to my first Traditional Latin Mass last Sunday and the Host was extra sweet and had a floral smell to it. It was Low mass, no incense, so that wasn’t it. The oratory is dedicated to Our Mother of Perpertual Help… :ehh:
 
Father Serpa recently answered an “Ask an Apologist” thread about this.

The thread may be found here
 
The Little Flower? I do have her autobiography and a statue of her. 😉 thanks! Now if only I were better at actually following her Little Way…
 
I believe it was St. Louis de Montfort… who said that praying the Rosary is like planting our own rose garden, in Heaven. It’s a garden, that we won’t behold with our eyes… until we reach Heaven.

I love that thought. 🙂
 
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