The Most Holy Virgin Mary is compared to an orange-tree laden with
fruit, and diffusing the sweetest odour of Lebanon. This means that
all her thoughts, words, and actions were so perfect that, like an
exquisite perfume, they delighted both Heaven and earth: and that,
like the pomegranate, they wore the crown of perfection.--_Pere S.
Jure._
The bee sucks honey from flowers without injuring them, and leaves
them as entire and fresh as he found them. Devotion has this higher
excellence, that it adds new beauty to all that it touches.--_St.
Francis of Sales._
Remember that when the bees make honey, they take bitter food; so,
also, we can never make acts of greater patience and sweetness, nor
form better the honey of excellent virtues than by eating the bread of
bitterness and living a life of tribulation.--_The same._