Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Memorial of our Lady of Guadalupe)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the second feast of this month celebrating Mary, the mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, that is Mary, who appeared approximately five hundred years ago to a simple and devout servant of God, St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin at what is known now as the site of Guadalupe, where a great Basilica now stood, the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe.
The Mother of our Lord appeared to St. Juan Diego in a series of visions, all of which related the concerns which she had for mankind, for the people of our Lord, her own adopted children by virtue of our Lord Who had entrusted us to her, and how she wanted as many as possible to repent from their ways of sin, and she showed that as our mother, she cares for us and wants for us to be saved and not fall into damnation.
The story of the devotion to our Lady of Guadalupe began with St. Juan Diego himself, who received the visions from the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the place where now stands great the Basilica dedicated to her. She herself asked that a church ought to be built at that site, and this was truly a premonition of the time to come, when countless peoples would pass through its gate, and how through her, many were saved.
St. Juan Diego related what he had seen and heard, the visions he received, and how miraculous things had happened, including the miracle healing of one of his relatives, but the governor and the Archbishop would not believe the visions that St. Juan Diego had received. He asked for a sign and a proof. And when St. Juan Diego related the request to the Blessed Virgin, he was instructed to gather rare flowers that then miraculously grew on the site, and place them into his tilma of cloak.
And after he had returned to the Archbishop, he laid down the flowers before him, and not only that those flowers did not belong among the local flowers, but also that, the tilma that St. Juan Diego wore became imprinted with the image of the mother of God herself, which since then had been known as the image and the icon of our Lady of Guadalupe.
And today, as we commemorate that moment, some of us may ask why we gave so much honour and attention to Mary, even though she was just a human being like us, similar in flesh and blood, and having the same Spirit of God dwelling in us. However, we honour her because firstly, as we have just commemorated another of her feast a few days ago, she was special, for she was conceived without the taint of sin, pure and immaculate since the day of her conception.
She had been prepared ahead by the Lord to be the vessel and the bearer of our Lord, as the Ark of the New Covenant. But it was not just because she was conceived without sin that she is honoured, but because of her actions, where she faithfully carried out her duties and all that has been expected of her and even more, carrying herself properly and faithfully as inspiration for many others.
By looking at her and what she has done, how she had lived her life, how she had loved her Son, Jesus our Lord and Master, and correspondingly, how she also loves all of us her adopted children, as proven by her numerous and countless apparitions to men, in various places and at various times, pleading and calling on them to repentance and to change their ways lest they be swallowed by sin and darkness.
The celebration of our Lady of Guadalupe today is a reminder for us, and a wake up call for many, that all of us ought to reflect on our own lives, on our own actions and deeds. Have we been faithful in what we say, in what we do and in what we commit ourselves in our own lives? Or have we been rather disobedient and following our own hearts’ desires as the first men were, and thus risking falling into sin and damnation.
Let us realise how important it is for us to seek God’s forgiveness for our sins, and for us to do that, we need to have genuine repentance and change of heart, or else, we will remain in the trap of sin, and we will remain in darkness forever. And in this, we have a great ally in the mother of our Lord, Mary, our Lady of Guadalupe. After all, which good and faithful son does not listen to his mother? And Jesus too will surely listen to His mother praying for our sake. Now what matters is, for us to make the effort for the change for the better.
Let us all devote ourselves, our time and our works for the sake of the salvation of our souls. Let us no longer be filled with sin, evil and darkness, but instead replace these with obedience, faith and light. May God Who loves His blessed mother Mary, will love us all too, who devote ourselves with equal love to her. Amen.
