Say it with flowers

With all the bad news that’s been going around, I think it’s time for an inspiring story.

A friend of ours – let’s call him Bert – had a very good friend who died last week. For several months, this friend who was like a brother to Bert – let’s call him Clarence – lay very ill in the hospital, stricken with a fatal but long drawn-out disease.

Bert used to visit Clarence faithfully every few days, and in one of his last trips to his buddy’s bedside, Bert had an idea.

"Brod," he said to Clarence, "nobody’s sure who of us will die first, for I could suffer a mishap tomorrow. Who knows? Let us make a deal. Everybody wonders whether, when we die, there’s a life after death. Of course, our Catholic faith teaches that – but I’m one of those seguristas, a fellow who wants to make sure. So, paré, if you go first, will you send me a sign?"

Then Bert added: "Both of us also want to know whether there is a heaven, and if one of us made it. So, if you go first and reach heaven, will you send me a second sign?"

They agreed on how to communicate, and that was that.

In the predawn hours of last Friday, Clarence finally succumbed to his illness. Bert and his wife were walking out of their apartment to catch the 6 a.m. Mass, when on the stairs outside, Bert suddenly stopped. He was surprised to find a perfect white rose lying on the steps. This was the sign on which he and Clarence had agreed would signify that, indeed, his best friend had found there was life beyond death.

After the Mass, Bert and his wife returned to their apartment. There, on their bed, was a second white rose. Didn’t this mean that Clarence had been welcomed into heaven?

Think of it. What are the chances of finding a white rose (not red, pink, or yellow) on the steps of an apartment before six o’clock in the morning? Or of getting a second white rose smuggled into the bedroom of the same couple more than an hour later. When Bert had left that room, there had been no flowers in there. Returning, he discovered the second sign.

Bert is the hard-nosed type, a cynic in most other matters. But now he believes, wholeheartedly, that God reminds us, when it’s needed, of His love, His power, and His mercy.

"Say it with flowers" has for decades been a commercial brandished by florists all over the world – you can nowadays even dispatch them by e-mail. This time, the message from "beyond" was said with flowers – two perfect white roses.