Our Lady of Guadalupe

"My dear Juanito, let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Am I not here as your Mother.....I want to show my loving clemency and compassion to thse who call upon me in their sorrows." So Mary, the Mother of God, reassured the humble man of simplicity and faith, Juan Diego, when she appeared to him on this day in 1531 on a hill in Tepeyac, Mexico, told him to tell the Bishop to build a church on that hill, and as a sign of her presence, asked Juan to pick roses (not usually blooming in December) and take them to him. When Juan let the roses drop from his tilma in front of the Bishop, he knelt in wonder and awe, not at the roses, but at the magnificent image of the Holy Mother which was painted on Juan's tilma. To this day, no one can explain how the image of the prayerful young Indian woman came to be on the coarse material, nor how it retains its original color 478 years later. The little original church was replaced by a magnificent edifice, which in the late 20th century was declared unsafe and was replaced by another huge church. Millions of pilgrims have found their mother, her compassion and solace, and her gift of healing in this holy place. Their faith has brought them there. Their faith has saved them.
It is so easy to become encrusted in cynicism and look upon such events as merely fantasy, but time and time again, Mary has tried to make it known that she is our loving mother, and as such knows our needs and is right here with us to remove our burdens. She asks only that we believe. How fitting a message as we proceed in these days of Advent toward the miraculous and saving birth of the Son of God as one of us. Let us pray for an increase of faith, let us heed the comforting words of Mary to Juan Diego as addressed to us as well, and be assured that truly, God is Emmanuel, God is with us!
Bro. Rene