Our Lady of Guadalupe

Word for the day

“A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Revelation 12:1

Life

In December 1531, ten years after the fall of the Aztec capital, the Virgin Mary appeared, according to the tradition of the Church in Mexico, to the indigenous layman Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac. She asked that a church be built there, where she would show her love and compassion to all who called on her.

As a sign for the bishop, her image appeared on Juan Diego's tilma. It shows a young woman with features of the native peoples, standing on the moon, clothed with the sun, with her hands joined in prayer and a sash that, in the culture of the time, indicated a woman with child.

In the years that followed, very many indigenous people received Baptism. The image is venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world. Popes have honoured Our Lady of Guadalupe as Patroness of the Americas and of the unborn.

Lessons

A mother for every people

Mary came as one of the people she visited.

Christ at the centre

The image shows Mary with child, bearing Christ.

Hope after defeat

She came to a wounded people.

Stories

The image on the tilma (tradition)

According to the tradition, when Juan Diego opened his cloak before Bishop Zumárraga, the flowers fell to the floor and the image of the Virgin was seen on the cloth. The tilma is displayed in the Basilica of Guadalupe.

Mother of the unborn (history)

Because the image shows Mary with child, she is invoked today as protector of unborn life.

Homily

1. A woman clothed with the sun

The image recalls Revelation 12.

2. Mary carries Christ

The sash shows she is with child.

3. Compassion for a wounded people

She came to the poor and defeated.

Dear friends, today we honour Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 1531, according to the tradition, Mary appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico and left her image on his cloak. The image recalls the vision of Revelation: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet (Revelation 12:1).

In the image Mary wears a sash that, in the culture of that time, showed that a woman was expecting a child. Mary comes carrying Christ. All true devotion to Mary leads to her Son.

She came to a people who had just been conquered and humiliated. She spoke their language and looked like them. She brought them not weapons but consolation, and through her millions came to Christ.

Today let us pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe for all mothers, especially those expecting a child in difficulty, for the protection of unborn life, and for all peoples who suffer. May she bring Christ to them as she did in Mexico. Amen.

Prayer

God of mercy, you placed your people under the special protection of the Mother of your Son; through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, may we seek your justice and peace and defend every human life. Amen.