What is a spiritual bouquet? Here's what you need to know

(OSV News) -- For each day of one spiritual bouquet she made, St. Thérèse of Lisieux paired a flower with a prayer. Beneath the name of every white bloom -- white rose, white iris, daisy, lily and jasmine -- she wrote a little "aspiration."

"My God, I believe in you, I hope in you, I love you with all my heart," said one.

"O Jesus, I only want to taste joy in you alone," said another.

Then she presented the little booklet to Sister Marie-Madeleine, a nun in her Carmelite convent who was preparing to take her perpetual vows.

Making spiritual bouquets, like the one created by St. Thérèse more than 100 years ago, is a time-honored devotion that can take many forms. Often, an individual or group of people will offer prayers and sacrifices on behalf of someone or something. The collected prayers might be listed in a card or accompanied by flowers. They are typically given on a special occasion, such as a birthday or anniversary, or when the recipient is facing some sort of hardship.

A spiritual bouquet was one of the most meaningful gifts ever received by Raquel Rose, a Catholic mom and the owner of an online Catholic gift shop. Back when Rose was 21 years old, she found herself unexpectedly pregnant and unmarried. She felt anxious about being judged by her church community, and was surprised when her friends offered to throw her a baby shower.

One of the gifts she received from her friends was a spiritual bouquet in the form of a series of notecards with written prayers.

"I started opening them and just was immediately bawling," she told OSV News. "It was so healing to know that people were praying for me and taking my intentions to the Lord, especially at a time where I obviously felt down on myself and unworthy of that type of a gift."

Rose still has the notes saved in a scrapbook.

Now, she loves making spiritual bouquets for others. Her website, TheLittleRoseShop.com, offers a printable spiritual bouquet template with images of flowers accompanied by messages such as "I prayed a rosary for you" or "I fasted for you."

She also has a tutorial of how to attach the notes to wooden stems and "plant" them in a flower pot.

So much of the Catholic faith involves physical reminders of the spiritual world, Rose said, explaining that making spiritual bouquets is another way to make the supernatural tangible.

"It makes it easier to encounter God that way," she said.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022, members of the Diocese of Venice, Florida, quickly mobilized to donate food, water and other supplies to those who had been displaced by the storm. But they also knew their efforts would be incomplete if they didn't provide spiritual support as well.

"Sometimes people think that the spiritual is not practical," Jim Gontis, director of evangelization at the diocese, told OSV News. "But that which is authentically spiritual is always practical, because it's concerned with the most important things -- the good of people and helping them to get to heaven."

So, led by Bishop Frank J. Dewane, the diocese's Catholics were asked to contribute to a spiritual bouquet for the victims of the hurricane. Gontis shared with OSV News that participants in their spiritual bouquet submitted 2,399 offerings, including 821 rosaries, 141 Stations of the Cross, 203 novenas and litanies, and 222 acts of penance.

It was beautiful to see how individuals, families, schools and youth groups from all over the diocese joined in, said Gontis.

"In the letter to the Hebrews, the saints are referred to as a 'great cloud of witnesses,' and here you have all these witnesses to the Christian life who are living it out," he said, revealing in this way "both love of God and love of neighbor: the two great commandments."

At the heart of spiritual bouquets is intercessory prayer, a practice that dates back to biblical times, said Ron Bolster, dean of the School of Theology and Philosophy at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.

"St. Paul in his letter to Timothy urges Timothy to offer prayers and petitions and intercessions and thanksgivings for all people," he told OSV News. Bolster said spiritual bouquets "are certainly consistent with the practice encouraged by Our Lord and St. Paul to pray and offer sacrifice on behalf of each other."

The Catholic Church's teaching on intercessory prayer, as described by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, calls it "a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did." It goes on to teach that intercession, or "asking on behalf of another," has also "been characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy" since Abraham; and for the church, it is also "an expression of the communion of saints."

Making and giving spiritual bouquets is a common practice on Franciscan University's campus, said Bolster. Third Order Franciscan Father Dave Pivonka, the university's president, presented the late Pope Francis with a spiritual bouquet from the campus community when he visited the pontiff in 2024. At the end of one of his own courses, Bolster said, his students presented him with a spiritual bouquet. It was a surprising and touching experience.

"I only survive on the prayers of the students that I hope I've helped," he said.

For those looking to make a spiritual bouquet for the first time, Bolster said he advises starting with a simple card that can be signed by whomever wants to participate in the bouquet.

But, he added, there are any number of prayer apps that allow users to make a commitment to pray together with others for a specific intention, too.

Spiritual bouquets can be simple to carry out, too. Raquel Rose said she has made elaborate spiritual bouquets with prayer cards and flowers in a vase; but more often, her bouquets consist of scraps of papers from her to-do lists with notes about the prayers and sacrifices she offered on behalf of someone else that day.

"It's so powerful when someone gets to actually know someone was doing something for them," she said. "And I think that's the real gift."

In the spirit of St. Thérèse's spiritual bouquet, Carmelite Father Christopher Kulig, assistant coordinator of the National Shrine and Museum of St. Thérèse in Darien, Illinois, told OSV News that he advises making a spiritual bouquet in preparation for an important event, such as a first Communion, wedding, the start of a new job or an upcoming surgery.

Although there has been a long standing association between prayer and flowers in the church, Father Christopher said Catholics can think of their offerings to God also as precious jewels or courses in a delicious meal, or anything else really that speaks to them.

"The possibilities are endless," he said.