No flower could be a better emblem of the resplendent virtue of Mary
and her singular privilege than the lily; whose three petals may
signify that she was a Virgin in her conception of Jesus, a Virgin at
His birth, and a Virgin ever afterwards._--Nouet._
Mary is the Mystical Lily without spot, in which the Eternal Word
espoused our nature.--_The same._
The flower falls from the tree when the fruit is formed; but the
Mother of God, who is the tree of life, preserves her flower and her
fruit, and by an unheard-of miracle unites maternity to virginity.--
_The same._
As the lily lifts its stem on high, so the soul who often receives
Jesus Christ should direct its hopes towards heaven in imitation of
Jesus, Who is the Flower of the field and the Lily of the valley. The
virtue of such a soul has roots deeper than the cedars of Lebanon,
which defy the winds and the storms. In the fruitfulness of her good
works and in her charity towards the poor, her glory is like that of
the olive. The fragrance of her holy life and of her sweet
conversation is spread around like the odour of the flowers which bud
forth on Mount Lebanon in spring-time.--_St. Cyril._