Friday of the Second Week of Advent

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

Saint: Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 56 The Abbot's Table

Mass: Is 48:17-19; Resp Ps 1; Mt 11:16-19  

Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.

(Is 48:17)

Welcome to Friday of the Second Week of Advent. This holy season marches on and it may be a good day to remind ourselves to do whatever it takes to awake from sleep, arise from any stupor, throw off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light (see Rm 13:11-12). We certainly do not want to be walking around in a coma, numb to what swirls around us. Should Jesus, as He suggests in today's Gospel, compare our generation to others who no longer dance when it is time to dance, and mourn when it is time to mourn? (see Mt 11:16-17). Our saint of the day, Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin "singing eagle", thankfully was alert that morning when he hurried off to Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception nearly 500 years ago. It was then that the Virgin Mary appeared to him, "the ever-perfect holy Mary, who has the honor to be the mother of the true God," as she told him. She, most blessed, the compassionate Mother of Juan and all the people that lived in his land. Mary asked Juan to go to the local bishop and tell him that she wanted a church to be built on that site, one dedicated to her Son Jesus Christ. To make a long story short, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe now stands on that site, said to be the world's most-visited Catholic shrine (see Catholic News Agency, "Saint Juan Diego"). Be prepared, for at the hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come (Mt 24:44).

The Lord asks everything of us, and in return offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence.

(Pope Francis, Gaudium et exsultate Rejoice and be glad, 1)

SAINT JUAN DIEGO,

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Our drive. Whatever he does, prospers.

© Gertrude Feick 2022