Our Blessed Lord was walking in the Garden of Gethsemane, where there
were many beautiful flowers growing, and each as He passed bowed its
head in love and sympathy for Him in His hour of pain and sorrow.
But when the tall white lily saw Him coming, she said to herself: “I
will hold up my face for Him to look on, and the sight of my beauty will
comfort Him; and I will not bow my head like all the other foolish
flowers.”
So when Our Blessed Lord came to where the lily was, erect in all her
proud beauty, He stopped and looked at her, and the lily was so overcome
with shame at having been so vain and boastful, that she blushed crimson
and hung her head, as we see her descendants in the garden now.
[Illustration: Color illustration set within a large blue heart shape,
showing two winged cherub angels looking down from clouds onto a young
child nestled among blooming lily of the valley stalks.]
[Illustration: Flyleaf: Color illustration of six joyful, naked child
figures emerging from the centers of blooming iris and yellow rose
flowers, dancing below a brick wall where a young girl sits playing a
violin.]
[Illustration: A symmetrical, endpaper design featuring a repeating Art
Nouveau grid pattern of stylized blue irises and yellow roses on a muted
olive green background.]
[Illustration: Back cover illustration featuring a central yellow
circular vignette of a winged cherub sitting on the grass and playing a
double pipe for a leaping baby goat.]
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