Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe

I have a particular devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I hope it's not just because she is portrayed more-garishly than other manifestations.

The festival of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe takes place today, 12th December,

in honour of the apparition to Juan Diego, when thousands flock to the Basilica of Ville Madero.

On December 9, 1531, while traveling along Tepeyac Hill, Juan Diego encountered a radiant young woman who revealed herself as the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. She spoke to him tenderly, calling him “Juanito, Juan Dieguito,” and asking that a church be built on that very spot so she could offer consolation and hope to all her children.

On December 12, the Virgin instructed him to gather the Castilian roses blooming miraculously on the frosty hillside. Juan Diego gathered them in his tilma, and when he opened the cloak before the bishop, the roses fell to the floor—revealing the breathtaking image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, imprinted by no earthly hand.

After the apparitions, Juan Diego lived near the shrine, dedicating the rest of his days to prayer and hospitality, guiding pilgrims and sharing the message the Mother of God entrusted to him. He died in 1548, and was canonized by St. John Paul II in 2002, who praised him as “a model of humility” and “a teacher of the Gospel.”

St. Juan Diego reminds us that God works most powerfully through those the world considers small. His life testifies that holiness is not a matter of status or education, but of openness—of allowing the grace of God and the tenderness of Mary to shape our hearts.

Pray for us, Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for the peoples of The Americas

Collect of Our Lady of Guadalupe

(Episcopalian Church of America)

O God, Father of mercies, who placed your people under the singular protection

of your Son’s most holy Mother, grant that all who invoke the

Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe may seek with ever more

lively faith the progress of peoples in the ways

of justice and of peace; through our Lord

Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives

and reigns with you in the unity

of the Holy Spirit, one God,

for ever and ever.

Amen

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, in your neighbourhood, so that you will courageously try what you don't think you can do,but, in Jesus Christ, you'll have all the strength necessary.

May God bless you to fearlessly speak out about injustice, unjust laws, corrupt politicians,unjust and cruel treatment of prisoners,and senseless wars, genocides, starvations, and poverty that is so pervasive.

May God bless you that you remember we are all called to continue God's redemptive work of love and healing in God's place, in and through God's name,in God's Spirit, continually creating and breathing new life and grace into everything and everyone we touch.