Location: Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ; today’s Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe resonates deeply with the faith and culture of our community. It is a day to reflect on God’s boundless mercy and the maternal love of Mary, who draws us closer to her Son.
The first reading, from the Book of Revelation, presents the vision of a woman clothed with the sun, a radiant image that evokes the beauty of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This woman, crowned with twelve stars, reminds us of the Church’s triumph in Christ, a victory over death and sin. As she appears to Saint Juan Diego, clothed with the Sun, Mary embodies this hope for all of us. Her heavenly glory assures us that heaven is not a distant dream, but a promise within reach for all who trust in God.
The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe unfolds as Mary appears to Juan Diego, an indigenous man who is at once humble and honorable. She speaks not to the powerful but to one considered insignificant by the world. “Am I not here, I who am your mother?” she asks, offering words of tenderness and protection. Finally, the proof of her identity – which she deigns to send to the bishop through Juan Diego – are fresh and radiant roses that she asks him to cut among frosted thistles and cacti.
“This ‘being’ of the Virgin,” says Pope Francis, “this ‘being there’ is to remain permanently imprinted on those poor garments that emanate virtues gathered in a world that seems incapable of producing them. Virtues that fill our poverty in the simplicity of small acts of love that illuminate our ‘tilma’, without us realizing it, with the image of a Church that carries Christ in her womb.” (end of quote).
Mary’s message uplifts the lowly and fills the humble with hope.
When Mary visited Elizabeth, her soul burst forth in the Magnificat, proclaiming the greatness of the Lord. Similarly, her appearance at Tepeyac is a Magnificat for the people of the Americas and the world – a song of liberation, unity, and faith. Through the “tilma” bearing her miraculous image, Mary speaks to us across centuries: “Count on me, for I am the Mother of all.”
The tilma reminds us that God works through the ordinary to reveal the extraordinary. Juan Diego, the humble messenger, became the bearer of a divine message. We too are called to be messengers of hope in a world longing for peace and healing.
Today, let us stand before Our Lady of Guadalupe with open hearts. Like Juan Diego, may we embrace her message and carry it into our lives.
She calls us to trust in her maternal care, to bring Christ’s love in haste to the poor and marginalized, and to proclaim that heaven is always waiting for us.
May Our Lady of Guadalupe guide us, protect us, and lead us ever closer to her Son.
