ROSES AND THORNS

Mary’s Maternal Tenderness for each believer (then and now) is apparent at every moment in this little gem of a book. The “thorns” or sorrows of the Blessed Mother are an expression of this tenderness. She invites us to receive the “roses” for our consolation and surrender, keeping the “thorns” for herself, so that we might discover her motherly love and might keep her company as she reflects on her separation from Jesus following the Ascension. Conchita has Mary say, “The sorrows were all for me, but the precious fruit derived from them—for you.” As you read this book, you feel invited to live in union with Mary, so that, with her help and by her example, you can better grasp the love and sentiments of the Lord. “Roses and Thorns will be a classic Marian devotion, as The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort and The Glories of Mary of St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori already are.” Msgr. Juan Esquerda Bifet, Professor, Urbaniana Pontifical University, Rome, Italy.

About the Author: The Veneralbe Concepción Cabrera de Armida, better known as Conchita, was born in San Luis Potosi on December 8, 1862 and died in Mexico, D.F. on March 3, 1937. Wife, mother, foundress and lay apostle, the cause for her beatification is well under way today. Along with the present work, ST PAULS has also published: Holy Hours (2006), Seasons of the Soul (2005), A Mother’s Letter (2004), and I Am: Eucharistic Meditations on the Gospel (2001). Other works inspired by her and also published by ST PAULS include Conchita by M.M. Philipon, OP (1978) and Irresistibly Drawn to the Eucharist edited by Juan Gutierrez Gonzalez, MSpS (2002).