Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Month of December Dedicated to Advent and the Coming of Christ

Saint: Saint Finian of Clonard (470-549)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 58:17-29

Mass: Zechariah 2:14-17 or Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Resp Ps (Jdt 13); Lk 1:26-38 or Lk 1:39-47

Blessed be the Lord God.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, PATRONESS OF THE AMERICAS,

MARY, QUEEN OF HEAVEN,

MARY, QUEEN OF ANGELS,

MARY, QUEEN OF LIFE,

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

Know, beloved son, that I am the immaculate ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who is the origin of all life, who creates all things and keeps them in being, the Lord of heaven and earth.

(The Virgin Mary to Juan Diego, 

very early one Saturday morning at the beginning of December 1531)

Welcome to Monday of the Third Week of Advent and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In a 1999 visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Pope Saint John Paul II (he visited the shrine four times during his papacy) entrusted the cause of life to Our Lady's loving protection and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those in danger of not being born. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas; Central America; diocese of Colorado Springs; diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas; diocese of Dodge City, Kansas; Estremadura, Spain; diocese of Gallup, New Mexico; New World; diocese of Orange, California; diocese of Phoenix, Arizona; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; diocese of Sacramento, California; diocese of Sioux City, Iowa; and Spain. It is said that an estimated 10 million people visit Our Lady's Basilica in Mexico City each year. It is the most popular Marian shrine in the world after Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.* God is praised.

HAIL MARY, FULL OF GRACE!

THE LORD IS WITH YOU.

A virgin in her body

a virgin in her spirit

a virgin by profession

a virgin such as the Apostle describes:

holy in spirit and body ...

She was preserved 

by the angels

prefigured by the patriarchs

promised 

by the prophets.

(Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in Mary Most Holy: Meditating with the Early Cistercians)

SAINT JUAN DIEGO,

SAINT FINIAN OF CLONARD,

PRAY FOR US.

*See Catholic News Agency, "Our Lady of Guadalupe."

Today's photo: For Our Lady of Guadalupe. Not a Castilian rose - it is pretty. And somehow, I think Our Lady is pleased with a rose of any color. Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God.

© Gertrude Feick 2022