St. Louis de Montfort: The Secret of the Rosary — A Mystical Rose Tree

Good and devout souls who walk in the light of the Holy Spirit, allow me to offer you a little mystical rose tree from heaven to be planted in the garden of your soul. It will not disturb the flowers of your contemplation or interfere with your other devotions. Rather, because it is pure, beautiful, and well-ordered, it will help bring greater order, purity, and fruitfulness to your spiritual life.

If this heavenly tree is carefully tended each day, it will grow to a marvelous height and spread its branches wide. Far from hindering your other devotions, it will strengthen, nourish, and perfect them. This mystical rose tree is Jesus and Mary in their life, death, and eternal glory.

Its green leaves are the Joyful Mysteries, its thorns the Sorrowful Mysteries, and its flowers the Glorious Mysteries. The buds represent the childhood of Jesus and Mary. The blossoms reveal them in their sufferings, and the full-bloom roses show them in triumph and glory.

A rose delights us with its beauty, reminding us of Jesus and Mary in the Joyful Mysteries. Its thorns prick us, reminding us of the sufferings contemplated in the Sorrowful Mysteries. Its sweet fragrance fills the air, symbolizing the glory and victory of the Glorious Mysteries.

So do not neglect this beautiful heavenly tree. Plant it in the garden of your soul by resolving to pray the Rosary every day. Through faithful prayer and good works, you will water it, cultivate it, and help it grow. Though it may seem like a small seed now, it will eventually become a great tree.

Its branches will provide shelter, its shade will bring refreshment, and its fruit will nourish the soul. Hidden within this tree is its greatest treasure: Jesus Christ Himself. The Rosary gradually forms Christ within us. It brings our hidden wounds through the mysteries of Christ to be healed, transformed, and raised to new life.

In time, the whole garden of the soul becomes filled with the beauty, fragrance, and fruit of Jesus and Mary. All that is planted in the Rosary grows into Christ Himself, who is its beginning, growth, and fulfillment.