A Shamrock of Hearts

By Sister Rosine Sobczak, OSF 

My dad died on November 21, 1977, at the age of fifty-seven due to a Myocardial infarction, aka a type of heart attack.  I was devastated by this because I loved him and missed him so much that I have contributed to the American Heart Association (AHA) off and on since then. When you donate to these organizations, you get bombarded for donations and, inevitably, you receive a calendar from them for the upcoming year.  I put the ones that I receive on a pile and on December 31,  I weed through the pile and choose one or two calendars to keep and the rest I pass on to others at the local Sylvania Senior Center. Someone there is always in need of one more calendar!  The AHA’s 2023 calendar struck me because its calendar was all based on finding hearts in nature. It has alerted  me to hearts everywhere! Being nick named  “Mother Earth,” I was really attracted to the picture for March, a page of three leaf clovers!  Each of the three leaves in one specific variety is a heart. WOW! I  never noticed that before. When I was a little girl, I lived on the third floor of a three -story apartment with mom, dad and brother. There was no grass to be found, but my parents took us to parks or to our grandparents’ homes that were lucky enough to have a yard of grass. Mom taught me a little song  (see the lyrics below) which I remember to this very day. Here are the lyrics, but you can go online to hear it sung. Back in “ancient history” for most of you, mom was my mentor and even radios were sparse.

For me, that extra leaf represents the God of the Universe, the Magnificent, Generous, All-Loving God who made all of nature –sunshine, rain and roses, for us to enjoy!. Do I need more words to say in order to pray? Find a little clover in your yard and sit with it. Let God speak to you! Prayer is so simple and so profound at the same time. No words are needed to listen with your heart How difficult is that?

I’m Looking Over A Four-Leaf Clover
That I overlooked before
First is the sunshine, the second is rain
Third is the roses that bloom in the lane.
There’s no need explaining
The one remaining is somebody I adore
I’m looking over a four-leaf clover
That I overlooked before.

https://lyricstranslate.com

(Note:. The original hit recordings of the song were made in 1927 by Nick Lucas), Ben Bernie and Jean Goldkette and later other 1948 versions were made by Russ Morgan, ,Alvino Rey The Three Suns, The Uptown String Band and Arthur Godfrey .  https://lyricstranslate.com )

Each of the three leaves of the clover are hearts which represent some item in nature.
For some Christians they represent  the Trinity – God, the Father. God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
God in Nature really speaks to me through these shamrocks. The song says the sunshine, rain and roses represent each leaf, but occasionally, one looking closely at clovers may find one that has a fourth leaf. We say that person is really lucky!  That fourth heart is profound  because it represents “someone that I adore.”