Weight of One Million Flowers
Ash got in her car, ballot in hand and drove her usual route toward work until she veered off to take the several blocks to the ballot drop off. Rounding the corner, her jaw fell open. Her eyes widened. Unbidden, she slammed on her brakes, nearly bumping her head into the steering wheel.
The street was transformed into a wild meadow of abundant flowers. Purple, red, yellow, white, blue, orange. Symphonic color overwhelmed her.
“What are these flowers?” she gasped.
A woman, adding a flower, overheard through the cracked window. “A flower for every precious life lost,” she said simply, making the sign of the cross.
“To what? What horror did I miss?”
“The slaughtering of innocents,” the woman said. Seeing the look of confusion on the driver's face, she added, eyes downcast, “Babies, aborted.”
The driver's face drained, becoming ashen.
“Are you alright?” the flower woman asked, taking a step toward the woman in her car.
“No. Yes. Uh, I don't know.” She paused a long while. “So many?”
“One million babies in the US every year who never get to breathe.”
“Why ... why are you placing a flower?” the overwhelmed driver wondered of the young woman, grasping for something small she could understand.
“For my brother or sister who my mother aborted,” she said, tears streaming down her eyes.
A man and a woman had both placed their flowers and walked over to the car in support.
“For the baby I aborted in my youth,” the middle aged woman said tearfully.
“For any babies I might have fathered who were then aborted, and the women I put in that position,” the old man said sorrowfully.
The driver looked up, the flowers shinning gloriously in the mid-morning sun, lighting up the street, the weight of their petals overwhelming any good her pro-choice candidate might do. She looked at her ballot envelope. “Thank you,” she said simply. “I had no idea. Do you know if I can vote in person here? I can no longer cast this ballot.”
“The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity.” – Saint Thérèse the Little Flower, Story of a Soul
“Anyone who would even actively promote the legalization of abortion and euthanasia is not eligible for election as a Catholic, religious person or someone faithful to God, even though he may otherwise do good.” – Cardinal Müller, September 23, 2020 interview with National Catholic Register
Join the organic #OneMillionFlowers movement and pray for our nation to return to life. Place a flower in the public sphere, pray the rosary, vote, and invite a friend to do the same. May God startle you with joy!
Distribute freely. This story, by Deacon Patrick Augustin Jones, is not copyrighted. Please see www.ShepherdsandHalos.org.
This story also appears in The Catholic Herald