Maypop: His Glory Revealed In A Flower

Purple Passion Flower

In the year 1609,

an Augustine friar named

Emmanuel de Villegas

arrived in Rome

from Mexico.

He had brought with

him on his journey

 some drawings of a

most unusual and

beautiful flower.

Known in Spanish as,

"Flor de las Cinco Llagas"

"Flower of the Five Wounds"

this lovely plant was

well-known by members
of the religious orders
bringing the Gospel
message of Christ

 to the lands 
claimed by Spain
in the New World.

Friar de Villegas

shared his drawings

with church historian

Giacomo Bosio.

 A brother of the
 Order of St. John of Jerusalem,
the monastic scholar

 was at the time
 busy working on

a treatise on the 

Cross at Calvary.

However, intrigued by

 these beautiful flowers,
Brother Giacomo later decided to

include the drawings in his book.

 "It may well be," he wrote,

 that in His infinite wisdom it pleases Him

 to create it thus, shut up and protected,

 as though to indicate

 that the wonderful mysteries of the cross

 and of His passion

 were to remain hidden

 from the heathen people 
of these countries

 until the time preordained

 by His highest Majesty."

"The Legend of the Passion Flower "

The unique corona
 of the Maypop, 
commonly known as

 the Passion Flower,

 represents the crown of thorns
 forced upon Jesus' head
 by His Roman tormentors

in mockery of Him as

"King of the Jews".

. The flower's ten sepals and petals

 are symbolic of only ten of

the original twelve Apostles,

 the exceptions being Judas and Peter, 

(the former was the Lord's betrayer

the latter denied knowing Him three times

prior to His death on the Cross. )

The plant's five anthers represent

 the five wounds on Christ's body.

The three stigmas are the nails

that pierced His hands and feet. 

 The leaves denote the spear

 that pierced Jesus' side. 

 The tendrils stand for the scourges

 that flayed His flesh.

Mexican Passion Flower

The story of the apostle Peter

vividly reflects the condition

of the human heart.

He not only thought

his faith unassailable, but,
as one of  Christ's
hand-picked disciples,

Peter loved the Lord and

had personal fellowship

 with Him.

 

And yet, when called

to stand with Jesus at

that crucial moment,

Peter failed miserably. 

"Before the cock crows, you

will deny Me three times."

These words undoubtedly

echoed in Peter's 

troubled mind for days,

perhaps years, after the

Lord's death on the Cross.

And yet, we know

that the Lord loved Peter,

and forgave him for his

moment of weakness,

for his lack of faith.

We can take courage

in Peter's story,

and, in the reassurance,

 that when we are weak,

He is strong.

Red Passion Flower

"Come to Him,

that Living Stone,

which men tried 

and threw away,

but which is chosen

and precious

in God's sight.

Come, and like living stones,

be yourselves built

into a spiritual house,

for a holy priesthood,

to offer up spiritual

sacrifices that are

acceptable and

pleasing to God

through

Jesus Christ.

For thus it stands

in Scripture:

"Behold, I am laying

in Zion a chosen

Cornerstone,

and he who believes

in Him shall never

 be disappointed

or put to shame."

1 Peter 2:4-6