Ladybug

"She has helped make me whom I am today," my brother revealed. A ladybug flew into the flower patch I was watering in our convent garden. It was Anh Quí's birthday and I had called to wish him blessings. Like the rest of the family, he lived in Sacramento.

"Anyone can tell Chị Mai is a lady by the way she speaks, dresses, and works... oh but sometimes she bugs me to do stuff I don't really want to do (soft chuckle and pause) but in the end, it's all for good," he continued reverently. Three children, 15 years of marriage, and several job losses erased all doubt of the sentimentality of his comment.

The ladybug glowed in the late evening sun, its scarlet coat scintillating imperceptibly as water droplets flecked its wings. It ate an aphid that was gnawing at a flower petal.

Ladybugs.
A lady that bugs?
Or a bug?

Chị Mai may be offended if I called her a ladybug.
And yet, a ladybug is not a bug.
It is an insect.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, insects were destroying the crops. Catholic farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Soon the ladybugs came, ate the plant-destroying pests and saved the crops. The farmers began calling the ladybugs "The Beetles of Our Lady" and they eventually became known as "Lady Beetles"! The red wings represented the Virgin's cloak and the black spots represented her joys and sorrows because many religious paintings depicted Our Lady as wearing a red cloak.

Do you think Mary would be offended if I called her a ladybug?
Does she not remove pests from our life?
Is she not a lady that bugs?

Look at Guadalupe (1531), LaVang (1799), and Lourdes (1858).
Mary appears all over the world and throughout the centuries,
gently reminding us of Jesus' love.

ps1. More about Mary's apparitions http://www.marypages.com/
ps2. More about ladybugs http://www.ladybuglady.com/LadybugsFAQ.htm
ps3. Photo credit http://www.planetnatural.com/site/photo_25.html

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