Chris Gammell 

January 2024

“Saint Thérèse, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore, and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more.”
 
Parishioner Chris Gammell first discovered this prayer over thirty years ago, at a time when her life was filled with problems. She’d heard about Saint Thérèse and her promise to send roses from heaven. With all the troubles she was facing, she figured a novena to the Little Flower might help.
 
For nine days she prayed to Saint Thérèse, asking for assistance with a particular issue. An answer came one busy afternoon as she was backing out of her driveway. She happened to glance to one side and noticed that the rose bush in front of her house had burst into bloom. Stunned, she couldn’t remember it ever blooming before, but now it was covered with red roses. Was it a message from Thérèse? “That’s it,” Chris thought. “She’s going to help me.”
 
Inspired, Chris prayed the novena a second time to ask for help with a legal issue. Then one day as she sat waiting inside the courthouse, her attorney excused himself to pick up an anniversary gift for his wife. Moments later he returned with a bundle of roses, which he plopped onto the table in front of Chris. “They weren’t for me, but it was a sign,” Chris says—and although it took time, the legal issue was eventually settled in her favor.
 
The following spring, still plagued by problems, Chris prayed the novena again. She was busy guiding her high school students through year-end activities, and one afternoon three senior girls surprised her with a gift. “Thank you for being a good teacher,” they said, handing Chris a bouquet of red roses. Through them, Thérèse had sent another message of love.
 
Over the years Chris drifted away from Thérèse, but recently, a discussion about saints sparked her memory. “All this spilled out of me,” Chris says of the meeting last November when she felt an urge to share these stories with Sacred Heart’s Bible Sisters.
 
The meeting was a catalyst, and for the first time in years, Chris prayed a novena to Saint Thérèse. By day four, the roses had started coming--first, a friend she saw at Adoration handed her one; then a college friend showed up for dinner with a bouquet; then her daughter sent her an arrangement. Thérèse had apparently been waiting.
 
Chris got the message and renewed her devotion to the Little Flower. She’s been praying to her daily, and even though she knows answers can take years to come, she says her belief in Thérèse is stronger than ever. “She wants me to stay with her. What she’s trying to give me is hope.”