‘Rose Petal Drop’

CEDAR KNOLLS  Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, thousands of red rose petals rained down on a group of young worshippers on Pentecost Sunday in Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Church here. They were caught by surprise while leading the recessional down the main aisle at the end of the Family Mass on May 23.

These children attending the Mass, like first-grader Eli Araujo, looked up with wide-eyed excitement as the petals fell on their smiling and laughing faces in this localized shower of 6,000 rose in Notre Dame Church. Just then, some of them remembered part of what might have slipped their minds from the homily at Mass that morning: expect the Holy Spirit to do something special for them.

It was Notre Dame’s first attempt at holding a “Rose Petal Drop” — on a smaller scale than one held each Pentecost at the Pantheon in Rome — to symbolize the descent of the Holy Spirit on the early disciples as tongues of fire upon their heads on Pentecost.

“I was not expecting the rose petals to fall. I tried to grab some of them. It made me feel special,” Eli Araujo said. He said that the rose petals reminded him of some of the lessons in the homily that morning by Father Alex Nevitt, Notre Dame’s parochial vicar and the Family Mass celebrant, and Father Paddy O’Donovan, the parish’s pastor. “The rose petals symbolize the tongues of people, who talk in different languages but understand each other [as One Body of the Church]. God gave us tongues, so we could talk about God. [To do that], the Holy Spirit is always with each of us,” Eli Araujo said.

On that morning, a rose was more than just a rose, as the “Rose Petal Drop” helped crystalize the role of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of the young people and their families, who regularly attend the Family Mass at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays. It was part of an ongoing series of weekly teachings about the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit conducted by Father Nevitt, who said he came up with the Rose Petal Drop for Notre Dame.

The Rose Petal Drop here took its inspiration from the yearly dropping of rose petals from the open oculus atop the dome in the Pantheon in Rome on Pentecost. The petals fill the air of the inside of the church. The tradition possibly dates back to 609 A.D. During the Mass, firefighters of Rome drop thousands of rose petals onto the faithful to symbolize the descent of the Holy Spirit. Father Nevitt said he enjoyed the experience of having attended the event one year, while a seminarian in Rome.

On Pentecost morning at Notre Dame, the cue for the Rose Petal Drop came as the music ministry led the congregation in the recessional hymn “Come, Holy Spirit, Come.” A parish staffer pulled a cord to release 6,000 rose petals held back by a Boy Scout mosquito net, which had been hoisted up into the rafters of the dome of the church, which is designed in the round. The petals fell on a group of the surprised young people at the Mass, as they reached the end of the main aisle, while leading the recessional procession.

In his part of the homily, Father O’Donovan told the children, “At Pentecost, Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit, who will drive you into the world to share the ‘Good News’ of the Gospel.

“The Church is now in a period of renewal. Boys and girls, we must live in the Holy Spirit, who will set you on fire [for evangelizing]. The Holy Spirit gives us great joy,” Father O’Donovan said

The pastor asked the children how they could share the “Good News” in their own lives. One child said he could “love my mom and dad.” Another child, exclaimed, “I feel the Holy Spirit come upon me!”

A few weeks ago, Father Nevitt floated the idea of Notre Dame holding a “Rose Petal Drop,” which was embraced by the staff. They ordered the rose petals and had to separate them from their packaging, so they did not fall in clumps. Staffers — Father Nevitt; Diane Byrne, director of Family Faith Formation for the elementary grades; Maria Cascio, Family Faith Formation support; and Leo Ramirez, facilities manager — conducted three trial runs of the drop, Byrne said.

The “Rose Petal Drop” is part of Father Nevitt’s series about the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. With his engaging and interactive teaching style, he explores a different gift — wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and wonder/fear of the Lord — at each week’s Family Mass. Following each Mass, Notre Dame gives out gifts to the children that corresponds with that week’s Gift of the Spirit to help the children remember. They include Smarties candies for knowledge and flower petals for reverence. Father Nevitt unwraps a gift box with the physical gift for that week at the end of the Mass as the children are sent forth with that Gift of the Holy Spirit into the mission field, Byrne said.

“Piety means having reverence, boys and girls,” said Father Nevitt, after opening the gift box with a rose petal for the Mass for Pentecost. “This Gift of the Holy Spirit helps us to get in the right accord with — and respect — all the things in our lives: God, people like our parents, and the earth,” he said.

After the Mass for Pentecost, Eli Araujo’s mother, Andreia Santos de Araujo, said that she and her son talked about the homily, agreeing that the world — and the Church — are “an international culture with many languages and cultures.” Eli was one of several young children who recited prayers at the Mass in various native tongues, including the one of his family, Portuguese. His mother praised Father Nevitt for making the Family Masses fun for the children and teaching them on a level that they can understand.

Like Eli, fellow first-grader Evan D’Silva was pleasantly surprised by the “Rose Petal Drop” during the Mass.

“I had to look up, because I didn’t know where the petals were coming from,” said Evan D’Silva, who recited a prayer in the Hindi language at the Mass. He added with a mischievous laugh, “The petals are like the Holy Spirit coming down on God’s children — not the grownups.”