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Today’s Saint of the Day, Our Lady of Guadalupe, reminds us of the importance of Mary as our mother and intercessor. When I visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, in 2010, I saw countless pilgrims making their way to the basilica doors on their knees. It was an amazing display, not only of devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe but of the shared and deep understanding of Mary’s role in leading us to her Son. In 1999, Saint Pope John Paul II named Our Lady of Guadalupe the Patroness of the Americas and Star of the New Evangelization.
With profound gratitude,
Deacon Matthew Halbach, PhD President & Publisher,
The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the 16th century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story.
A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower, and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.
Juan was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared, and within it stood an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.
Eventually the bishop told Juan to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Juan to try to avoid the lady. Nevertheless the lady found Juan, assured him that his uncle would recover, and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.
On December 12, when Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground, and the bishop sank to his knees. On the tilma where the roses had been appeared an image of Mary exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac.
Reflection
Mary’s appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary—and the God who sent her—accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for the indigenous population. While a number of them had converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days when we hear so much about God’s preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God’s love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patron Saint of:
The Americas Mexico
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A desert becomes a marshland, and a wasteland flourishes with cypress and pine trees. A thirsty people find refreshment there. So, Isaiah today describes God’s care for Israel. Roses bloom in the winter and a miraculous image of a young Native American woman garbed as an Aztec princess appears on the cloak of a poor man in Mexico in 1531. Through it, the peoples of the Americas come to honor Mary in a new devotion that has flourished for almost five hundred years.
Anyone who has lived or worked in Latin America or in the United States among Hispanic Catholics knows the warmth of their love and affection for Our Lady of Guadalupe. Pilgrims flock to the great church built on the site where Juan Diego, a Native American convert, whose Indian name was Cuauhtlatohuac, saw the vision of the young woman on Tepeyac hill near Mexico City and carried her request to build a church to the local bishop.
The bishop’s demand for a sign led to the miracle of the roses that fell from Juan Diego’s tilma, which revealed the image of the woman in the fabric. Appearing there as she does, in the image of the native Aztec people, reinforces our faith in the fundamental truth of God enfleshed in humanity—the truth we will celebrate at Christmas.
In a world of violence, hatred, and division, Jesus implores us to work for peace. As we hope against all odds, believing that Divine love will one day have the victory, may we pray the prayer of peacemakers.
Pray
God of love, bring your peace to this earth, to every country that is war-ravaged, to every family torn apart, and to every community plagued by injustice.
Make me a peacemaker in my own spheres. Show me how to not give way to despair, but to repair the breach that is mine to restore as I follow th
e Prince of Peace. Amen.
Act
What is one relationship that God is calling you to make peace in? Take one small step to do so today.
Today's Pause+Pray was written by Shannon K. Evans. Learn more here!
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