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FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, DECEMBER 12, 2025




GOSPEL

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”


And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”



REFLECTION

“Am I not here, who am your mother?”


Everyday brings uncertainty. What will today bring? Perhaps old problems have not gone away and there might be new ones at our next turn. We can feel comfortable, though, that no matter what, wherever our walk in life takes us, we will always know who will be there with us.


The good Lord and His Mother are always helping and reassuring us that we are not alone. Nothing remains outside His power. We see Him in action and in people introduced into our lives.


Juan Diego, of the Chichimeca tribe, was on his way to Mass when Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to him on December 9, 1531. She asked Juan Diego to ask the Bishop to build a church in honor of her Son. The Bishop wanted proof. She appeared to Juan Diego three times and on the third day while he was on a mission to get help for his uncle, she appeared again. She reassured him that his uncle would be okay.


The Guadalupana came as a mestiza (mixed race). During this time there were human sacrifices to the Aztec gods. The Spanish effort to convert Mexico was difficult.


“Am I not here? Am I not your mother?”, she said to Juan Diego.


On her third appearance to Juan Diego, Mary told him to take roses growing nearby (unusual in December) as a sign for the bishop. He wrapped the roses in his cloak and upon unfolding his cloak before the bishop, imprinted was an image of the woman who had appeared to him. The Tilma is most famous as the cactus-fiber cloak onto which the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared. This sacred tilma, housed in Mexico City, is renowned for its miraculous preservation and unique properties, like no visible brushstrokes and an image that defies scientific explanation. It has remained intact for centuries despite its fragile agave-fiber material and attempts to destroy it.


The Virgin Mary of Guadalupe wants to meet us, too, as she met Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac. She wants to stay with us. As our mother she opens our lives to her Son, Jesus, and His message to love like Him. (Homily by Pope Francis, 2022)


A decade later after her apparition there were 8-9 million conversions, ending human sacrifices and transforming a nation.


Today begins our Advent Retreat 2025 Come and celebrate with us. Roses to our Mother who tells us, "Am I not here who am your mother?”


So many books and articles are written about Our Lady of Guadalupe, her clothing, the Tilma. Please research her message, her miracle Tilma.



God bless you




 
 
 

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